My dad is...

a funny man:) This is where I want to write memories...so I thought it would be fun to write about my dad. My pastor dad! My boys adore him. He does magic tricks with them & tells knock knock jokes with them! He always tells them how much he loves them and how proud he is of them. Chase wants my dad to "bap-ti-tize" him! How cool is that? Anyway, he & my mother are their 2 most favorite people in the world. When anything important happens to the boys, they want to call Granny & Grandpa. Well, we live about an hour from my folks and the boys and I are going to be down their way tomorrow so I told my dad today, "I asked mom if you guys were having a hot & heavy date tomorrow(it is valetine's day) because we are going to be in the area & thought we might come & see you" to which my dad replied...."at our age it isn't so hot & heavy anymore it is more luke warm & slim fast" I am still laughing....so I thought I would blog about it! My dad always comes up with something funny to say:) And as my sister put it "that is out of control"

Chase

So, my Chase, my oldest son, he is in kindergarten. His class celebrated the 100th day of school this week. They came home with a project --to collect 100 things. All 100 things had to fit into a zip lock baggie. Well, my son, he likes to be creative. He likes to be different. He has to be the only one in his class doing whatever. On his "letter" days, they have a brown paper bag & have to bring in something that begins with that letter, he always tries to be the one who stumps his teacher. Like for P he brought a frying pan, a one egg, real frying pan....he loved that his teacher couldn't believe a frying pan fit in his brown paper bag...or the H day when he was the only one with a harmonica, and he got to demonstrate how it worked, on on the F day he took a picture of his Aunt F ara...NO ONE guessed that;) I love that he is creative...I love that he wants to be different, because during this school year, I have seen how peer pressure has affected him, even down to the clothes he wears, so the fact that some individualism is remaining, I think is a good thing. So try desperately to encourage his creativity. And sometimes it is just what he & I need to reconnect. He has discovered his attitude and we have been having a rough go of things lately, it seems I am always "nagging" him to obey or watch how he talks to me, it gets exhausting, so when these projects come up, we both have fun doing them. So...back to his 100 things, this was no exception. My parents took a trip over the summer to Niagara Falls and had sent him & Seth a bunch of post cards. My sister also sent them post cards from her trip to New York. All of these are displayed on their mirror, so he sees them & says, Hey I want to bring 100 post cards. This was no small feet....he only had about 10. I had some saved from my trip to Alaska when I was in high school, so with those we had about 30. So I sent out an email to our family and friends asking if anyone sees any post cards could they please mail them. I only had about a weeks notice. Boy oh boy. Did our friends & family come through! He got WAY over 100 post cards. And it was so fun to get the mail everyday to see where & from whom they would come! I think I have counted he got post cards from 10 different states! And my mom went crazy...she sent him 45 postcards...and not in one big envelope, she sent them individually & wrote them all out! That was so fun reading them all to him! Our favorite was when she wrote "chase my hand is getting tired writing all of these post cards" Or they got a big kick out of her story about me. She sent a Star Wars one, and told them about when they took me at the age of 3 to see Star Wars & R2D2 fell in the water & Luke was frantically looking for him...I yelled loudly in the theatre "he's in the water Luke". Chase & Seth both are still talking about that one:) It was such a fun project. I am so proud of him for his determination & creativity! Although I am afraid that one day he will get disappointed, because up until now, whatever he has set his mind to, he has gotten & then some...one day I am afraid it won't be so. But until then! I feel so blessed to have such a smart, creative little boy! Now our new project will be pulling out a map & showing him all the different states he got the post cards from! I love it! His class had a "circus" on the 100th day. Admittance was his 100 things & they could dress in costumes...something from a circus. He dressed as a ring master...and looked quite handsome! As much as I miss him during the day, I also love seeing him grow & learn.

While I am on the subject of Chase and not doing things the easy way. I have to write about his Bike-a-Thon for St. Jude's. Lest I forget in about 20 years...I don't think I will, but hey, you never know. Last year his preschool participated in a trike a thon to raise money for St. Jude's. He was so excited to hear he would be able to ride his bike at school with his friends, and raise money for sick kids. So he told me he wanted to raise $1000. Well I discouraged him, I didn't want him to get his hopes up. So I said let's try for $100 and go from there. Well, within a day he raised $250. Then we realized there was a conflict. My mother in law had planned to take him & Seth to ride on Thomas the Train...the real one, the same day of the bike ride. So I told him bud you have done a great thing, lets turn in your money & you can go with Gramma & Pop Pop to Thomas. And he said no, he had to "earn" the money he raised by riding his bike. Which of course made me cry. He was barely 5 at the time! So, at the urging of a friend we made a video of him telling people what he was doing! And that video got passed along to people I didn't even know...and before I know it, he raise $1170! One third of what the entire preschool raised! Oh, how excited he was!!!! He rode his bike 22 laps! My parent drove up & surprised him and watched him ride! I still cry thinking about his compassionate heart! We still to this day read about the children at St. Jude's & he says, that is who I helped! What an amazing lesson we learned from our little boy, and what a great thing the preschool did to help us teach him about giving. So... Chase is my go getter! I am excited to see the man he will become. I pray daily that most of all he will Love the Lord with all his heart, all his mind, and all his soul and be a young man on his knees!!!!

Thank you Lord for the blessing of children!

So yeah, I think my kids are great...but who wouldn't with a kid like Chase:)

Oh my Seth

....yesterday when I dropped him off at preschool...he said he would see me in 10months. I leave chuckling every time I drop him off! But now when I pick him up I wonder what did he do today? He has apparently gotten comfortable with his teachers. Yesterday he refused to say the pledge of allegiance and just sat down...oye!

More kid sayings

The previous post mentioned Seth wanting to be like Chase and how he says goodbye when I drop him off at school. The little things are what makes me smile the most. Today when I dropped him off at preschool he said he would see me in 6months! Ahhh...one day I will have to sit the child down and talk about time, days, weeks, months, years....but until then, I get a good laugh at least 2 mornings a week:)

Kids say fun things

My boys never cease to amaze me with the things they come up with to say. At 3 Chase's favorite was was "apparently". Now he says things like, "it seems as though..." like he is all grown up. Well every morning when Chase gets out of the car at school he says, "OK, see you in 6 hours" he likes knowing exactly how long he will be gone from home. So Seth hears this every morning. Seth goes to preschool 2 mornings a week, so he, wanting to be like his brother is trying to say goodbye the same way, he just doesn't get it the concept of time...so Monday at drop off he says "OK, see you tomorrow" and today when I dropped him off he says " OK see you in like 3 weeks" I just say OK, and crack up laughing...oh 3 year old minds...I love it. I love that he wants to be like his big brother, I love seeing his brain work. Or when he just waltzes in to my room one day and says "mom I need to have a talk with you" I said "about what" his reply was "i don't know we just need to have a talk" Or when he was at my mom's this past weekend she asked him how many times she needed to ask him to do something his reply was "ummm four?" he was dead serious, she had already asked him 2 times...needless to say, Seth thinks he is funny cuz my dad couldn't contain his laughter.

Kids say fun fun things! It is so fun to wake up everyday and not know what journey I am going to take with my boys. I do know that everyday I am going to wake up and one of them, if not both of them is going to make me laugh at least once that day...but probably more! I love it, I love laughing with them, at their innocence, I love seeing life through their eyes!

It is so good to laugh....I feel as though I spend too much time say no, don't do that, why did you do that, go to your room, please stop, that wasn't nice, don't hit the dog, get out of the dogs cage, you get the picture. It is nice to stop & just laugh with the boys, and it is really theraputic to write about it, to remember, I really do have some great kids. Smart, funny, amazing boys! I am blessed beyond measure, even when they test me to my limit & beyond!

I love my boys!

Love Notes

So, my 5 year old Chase started kindergarten this year. It has been fun/challenging for both of us. He likes it, but doesn't. He would rather be here playing with Seth & I. But he has made some friends. And I have even had to hear about his "girlfriend". He doesn't even talk to her, but just thinks she is pretty. He once told me he thought she was so pretty because she had hair "like his granny". Which I thought was so sweet. He loves my mom so much. Well, today he gets a note in his book bag. I thought it was for me, he typically will write CJ & I cards on days they have "indoor recess". I initially thought it was for us, but at closer look, it was TO: Chase FROM: MITY(her name is misty, she forgot the s) Now this is NOT the same girl. I said, well, Chase look at this...he says "oh man...that girl loves me, she makes me everything!" I say, do you like her? "NO, she isn't as pretty as Krista" well her note to Chase read "I "heart" you" it was a drawn heart. I was like, wow Chase. He said, "yeah she wrote me this silly note once before with just a bunch of numbers on it, I didn't understand it so I threw it away" My response was Oh...a bunch of numbers...in my head I am realizing a 5 year old little girl gave my son her phone number! I don't know about you but when I was 5 we were playing girls chase boys or visa versa on the playground and that was it....but now, there are loves notes & phone numbers being passed around? I mean, I think Chase is one of the 2 cutest boys ever(Seth being the other) but, I am his mom, and he is 5. Did I tell you that already? 5. I don't know how to feel about this, other than utter fear for what may lie ahead! I mean, I thought I had a few more years before girls started "throwing" themselves at my boys! OYE! I know we live in a different age, I know too, he is in a public school, all of those kids come from all kinds of backgrounds! So, I am laughing, it is cute, but really on the inside I am shaking...I have got to step up my prayers for my boys! But, I must say, I thank God Chase was clueless about the phone number! Who knows, that kid would have probably tried to call her, and I wonder, does she think he is going to call her? Is she sad that he hasn't yet? I mean, Chase calls my parents when I don't know it, uses my cell phone, they are on speed dial, but that is the extent of his phone usage...and I plan to keep it that way for years to come!

*sigh* so I am going to bed processing this....but this is definitely one I didn't want to forget! My baby is growing up WAY too fast!

I remembered...

...something that made me laugh out loud when "Sethy" was sitting on the pot...we talked about how his "bottom likes to explode" and then there would be a break and he would say "get ready mom, its gonna blow again! ahhhhhh BOOM told ya" I know to most, this may sound wierd, gross, or I am just crazy for posting it...but boy was I laughing... hard! CJ & Chase kept saying..."are you guys ok? having fun hanging out in the bathroom should we come join the potty party" it made quite the impression on me!