Blankets for Ethiopia

In case you were in the dark...so to speak...about this...in Ethiopia, it gets chilly at night. My friend, Sonya, who has the Servant's Heart thing down pat and who has adopted a daughter of her own from Ethiopia, opened up her home yesterday for children in our moms group to go and make blankets to send to Ethiopia. Sonya has a friend who is moving there soon and will be taking them with her along with other much needed supplies.
In my effort to teach my children about those less fortunate than us, I took my kids along to make blankets...or at least for them to watch me make a blanket.
Thankfully, Sonya, in her geniusness (Is that a word? Blogger says it isn't), read a book about Ethiopia  and showed them items from that country while the children had snacks.
My daughter is the one with the fuzzy pink tiara on...the one I was given at one of my wedding showers years ago...she just had to wear this to the playdate because that totally makes sense, right? Don't your children wear tiaras and crowns when they are going to do something for children in an orphanage who don't have any blankets?
You can barely see FJ tucked in the left corner between a little boy and a little girl drinking her juice-

 Some moms and kids working on the blankets-

 Most of the kids with a couple of the finished blankets-

Great Country Farms

We were invited to Lindsley's son's- K's-birthday party this past Saturday at Great Country Farms. We visited this farm last summer and it has tons to do.
As part of the party, we got to ride the cow train! I was pretty surprised that my little guy got into the train and didn't cry at all the whole ride. In fact, I saw him grinning from ear to ear a few times during the ride. (I didn't get to ride in one those cute little "cows"...I rode up front in the vehicle that pulled the train along with two other pregnant mamas.)
Miss A and FJ-

 Miss A-

 Miss A was moved to another cow because "Mollie" didn't have a working seatbelt-

 My view from where I was riding-

By now, my children have pet enough farm animals that they are finally starting to warm up to being around them-

Miss A is even comfortable trying to be a farm animal along with her friends, Z and K-

Next up was storming the castle-
My little man was not afraid to climb that ladder to the top....

And then slide down the slide!

 Miss A did the same-

She had a great time on this little swing-

Then it was on to the largest bouncing sphere ever-

Then we had to get a picture with this chicken because I am 99% sure it's the chicken that this lady is talking about in her blog post here: http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/  (Warning for those that may be offended: she uses "colorful" language)
Here we are with the chicken...I'm laughing because L's mom told me to look at the camera too after they had told A and FJ to look about 50 times-

Lindsley picked a great place for her son's birthday party and we had enough fun to wipe us out that afternoon. Thanks, Linds, for inviting us! Happy 2nd Birthday to K!!!

Why I Shouldn't Judge and Some Encouragement

As the saying goes....I was the best parent in the world...before I became one.
Before I had children, I did the typical thing by saying to myself or my husband, "My child will never do that!"
Then I had children and my offspring did some of those exact.same.things.

I've learned that if I judge another parent...it will usually come back to bite me in the butt.
Yes, the things I have judged someone's parenting skills, have come back around to me and I have seen my children do those very same things.

So, now when I start to judge a parent in my mind, I stop and say, "Lord, save me from myself!" Because I know there is a possibility I may very well see that same behavior in the future.

However, something encouraging I have learned is this (in my 3 1/2 years experience of being a parent which makes me OH SO WISE)-chances are, if you see or hear a child do or say just ONE thing polite during the course of a playdate, that usually means that the parent has worked TEN times as hard for that child to be polite. That means that parent probably tells their child 12 times a day to say thank you, please, excuse me, and any other courteous word. If you see a child respond respectfully to another adult whom is not their parent, that means that parent has worked very hard at home to not let their child yell at them or talk to them disrespectfully. So, I say KUDOS and GOOD JOB to all you moms out there who work tirelessly all day and all week to get your kids to be polite and respectful. It may not seem like they are getting it but chances are, they ARE!

Conversations with Miss A

Here are a few conversations I've had with Miss A over the past couple of weeks:

Conversation #1:

I had just given Miss A a granola bar and made a quick pit stop in the bathroom.

After coming out of the bathroom, I see Miss A picking her nose at the table and this is the conversation:

Me: Why are you picking your nose? You have a snack right there.

A: I put a chocolate chip in my nose and it hurts.

Me: (Trying not to panic.) Why did you do that?

A: I thought it was gonna be fun but it's not.

(The chocolate chip was later blown out of the nose into a tissue and was sufficiently melted. I seemed to forget that a chocolate chip would melt and was having visions of running to the ER.)

Conversation #2:

While riding in the car today, listening to the Kids station on Sirius radio- 

Miss A: What's this song called? 

Me: Yellow Submarine 

 A:Who's singing?

Me: The Beatles 

A:Oh, what are they singing about? 

Me: A yellow submarine 

A: Oh...why not a blue one? 

Me: Hmm...good question...

Conversation #3-

We were in the kitchen and my back was to Miss A while I was putting some dishes away-

Miss A: I love you...

Me: Aww...I love you too baby girl!

A:I was talking to my string cheese.

(I turn around and see her staring longingly at aforementioned string cheese.)

Conversation #4-

E had taken A to the bathroom somewhere else in the mall and as she is returning to the VANS store where I am with FJ, she says this running in (in front of a few other customers and workers)-

A: Mommy! I tee-teed and so did Daddy!! He tee-teed standing up!!

A Trial of Sorts

Last week, my husband was gone on a business trip from Tuesday till Friday. The day before he left I had a super stressful evening and broke down crying.
Thankfully Tuesday evening wasn't too stressful, I met up with some other moms and their kids for dinner and that was just what I needed.
Wednesday evening I had a sitter over to watch my kids so I could make it to my Bible study.
That evening was stressful but knowing my sitter was coming over, I was able to de-stress a little and I put my kids to bed early that night.
Then Thursday night I had dinner with my friend, Lindsley, and her boys at IHOP. So that was my week in a nutshell.

I thought having my husband gone all week would be the most challenging part but I was mistaken.
My husband had left for his trip with some itchy skin but he returned with what appeared to be a full blown rash on his hands and back. He was miserable. The itching was uncomfortable and none of his docs could see him on Friday.

Saturday morning I planned to attend Lindsley's son's birthday party at the farm with my kids and my husband. That was not to be. E did not know if his rash was contagious on his hands and was miserable. The best decision was not to go. However, at this point tears were brimming on my eyelids.
I couldn't understand how I could have my husband gone all week just to not have his help on the weekend. I kept trying not to cry and I succeeded.

Before leaving for the farm party, I texted my mom and Carrie and asked for prayers...I surely needed them.

On the way to the party (it was about a 40 minute drive), I knew the Lord was trying to teach me something...
I cried out to Him and asked Him for help. I knew I needed His help to get through the day and the weekend and I told Him that.
It was then that I realized what he was teaching me.
God doesn't want me to just cry out to Him when I need help and after I have realized I can't do it all on my own. He wants me to come to Him each morning and lay at His feet...to admit that I need Him each day and to stop trying to do it all on my own.

Now, why couldn't I have learned that by now?
Because I keep trying to do things on my own...It's as if, I wake up each morning and without thinking about it...I tell Him "That's okay, God, I've got this one but I will let you know when I need your help."
So that was my trial this weekend and I continue to learn from this trial as my husband's rash has now been diagnosed as severe eczema on his hands and back. He picked up some prescriptions yesterday that have actually made some of it worse.

During the worship portion this morning, the song lyrics were: "You make all things work together for my good..." When we started singing that song this morning, it hit me so hard. Tears came to my eyes and my hands went up almost as an instinctual response to those words and what the Lord was telling me at that moment. That song has been in my head all day. 

So...God, I'm listening and I'm learning.

100 Days...

Till my due date!!! I just saw that in my ticker on my email and just had to put it on here! I'm so excited!!

Papa's Day

Father's Day was splendid around here.
I tried to let my husband sleep in but Miss A woke him up and brought him down stairs.
For E, I whipped up some scrambled eggs, some blueberry muffins (thank you very much, Betty Crocker), and some coffee.  He enjoyed his breakfast and then commenced with opening his presents. Thanks to Martha Stewart and some other google searching, I found some great Dad's day clipart to use on E's presents-

 I, along with a little bit of the kids' help, made this at a craft playdate set up by one of our moms in our moms group (Genny) last week.  Genny is very creative and talented!
I then went and bought a frame at Target and framed it. The largest foot is the tracing of E's flip flop and then the medium sized foot is Miss A's footprint and then FJ's is the smallest footprint.

E waiting on breakfast-

After gifts, we got ready for church. After church, we headed to Clyde's and met up with E's dad.

Miss A enjoyed relaxing in her seat-

FJ enjoyed cheesin-

He also enjoyed his Mac and Cheese with gusto-

Afterwards, we headed out to the parking lot and A and FJ wanted to check out Grandpapa's motorcycle-

Then we came home and (tried) to take some photos-

 I recently had red highlights put in my hair so if it looks a little pink...it's just the red next to the blond-

 I am wearing a necklace that says "Baby" with an arrow pointing down. My mom wore this necklace when she was pregnant with me. My dad gave it to her. It's very special to me and I enjoy wearing it during my pregnancies.

Then after naps, the kids played in the pool or just threw rocks on the ground-

I will repeat what I wrote in my husband's father's day card-
Life with him is fantastic because he understands me.
He knows how to talk to me.
He knows how to love me.
He just gets me.
He has a servant's heart for me and his children.
I am in love with this man and thankful for him...so thankful for him!
Happy Papa's Day, E!

Reston Zoo

Last week was just beautiful so I tried to get outside in the mornings as much as possible with my two children.
So, on Wednesday, we hit up the zoo.
It was one we had never been to.
To us, it was new!

Okay, enough of the very bad impersonation of Dr. Seuss...
Just the 3 1/2 of us went and we enjoyed it. The only caveat I will give is this...to really see the true zoo animals, you need to ride the wagon ride...and if you decide to do that...don't go on a day when there are field trips there...because you will have to prepared to wait.


Starting off, we fed some farm animals...do you think my children have had their fill of feeding farm animals yet?

The reptile room-

Checking out the tortoises-

And kangaroos-

Being sheepish?

Waiting for the wagon ride and having a snack-

Going to feed more animals to pass the time before the wagon ride-

 Seeing some alligators-

 The pied piper with his geese-

Photo op-

The Bobcat tractor is of course something to check out too-

My kids getting a better look at that egret or crane-

Another photo op-

Finally on the wagon ride...Miss A decided to stabilize herself in the wagon and put her hand on the lady's leg next to her so I snapped this shot of her hand...but I didn't realize the cool shot I was getting of Miss A's eyes-

The animals that approached the wagon...Miss A didn't want any part of petting them but FJ was fearless-

The zoo was fun but honestly, I think we had an equally fun time at the Animal Park. I don't feel the need to return to this zoo any time soon but hope to get a chance to take our kids to the National Zoo very soon.