I'm Spoiled

You know the kind of friend who flies across the country and then drives three hours to spend time with you?  No?  Well, I do.  But this time I got the chance to (kind of) return the show of affection by driving to Jacksonville to share a lunch and meet the boyfriend.  It was well worth the drive.

This also happened to be the weekend that my Daddy made me so proud of him (which is not hard to do) by walking the Gate River Run. He and a friend walk every morning before work, and they decided to take on the 15K (a little over 9 miles) challenge.

After my visit with Catherine, I had two luxurious hours to myself in my parents' hotel room before they got there.  Mama, Daddy and I spent Friday night in Jacksonville.  Saturday morning, while Daddy conquered the world, Mama and I laid in the bed and talked.  When Daddy got back we drove to St. Augustine so Mama and I could go shopping for a bit.

After a yum dinner I drove back to Deland with a few new things for my closet and a happy heart.  I'm spoiled and I know it.

Parenting

I think often that parenting is not for the faint of heart.  It is, by far, the most difficult thing I have ever done.  The perfectionist part of me often gets frustrated with the feeling that if someone could come to my house, watch me parent and then give me constructive criticism I could "get it right" and my kids would have a perfect upbringing.  I know, ridiculous, but we all wish we could guarantee that we're not screwing up too bad and that our children will turn out well in spite of our daily, numerous mistakes.

One of the boys had an attitude recently that, quite frankly, broke my heart.  He acted ugly to another child with almost bully-like behavior, just because the child was younger and smaller than him.  It hurt me to see that was in his heart, mostly because I have vivid childhood memories of being the recipient of that type of behavior and even more vivid memories of the times I tried out that behavior myself.  As a result, I have a deep compassion for the underdog, the outcast, those on the fringe.  When I see someone being treated unkindly just because they're different, smaller, bigger or less somehow, I become furious.  So after I pulled my child aside and attempted to explain to him why his behavior was completely unacceptable and a repeat of it would most certainly result in attention to his backside, I sat and contemplated what I was doing wrong as a mother that my child would behave in such a manner.

When I was rehashing my despair with Kris later that night he said, "You're doing a good job.  You're doing exactly what he needs you to do.  What you're doing is giving him a conscience."  He had just that day heard on the radio where a guy was talking about how one of our jobs as parents is to help our children develop a conscience.

Most of you are probably reading this saying, "Duh", but it was really a revelation to me.  I know that my kids are learning everything brand new.  I guess it just never occurred to me that knowing right from wrong wasn't inherent.  Even Judah knows when he's doing something he's not supposed to.  But really, if I think about it, he only knows when it's something he's tried before and I've put the kibosh on.  Even the Bible says that we were given the law to know when we are doing wrong (Romans 3:20), and right now, for my children I am functioning as both the Word of God and His Holy Spirit.  When they receive Him for themselves, they will still need me to guide them and teach them, but they will have His Holy Spirit inside of them, convicting them of sin.

So I trust.  Seems like I finish a lot of posts with this declaration.  Parenting is not for the faint of heart!

Born to Move

This child is in constant motion.  If he's not running, he's climbing.  If he's not climbing, he's hopping.  He even hopped right off the side of the dock at my parents' lake house last weekend.  After Kris fished him out (He said he sank like a rock to the bottom and he couldn't see him at all in the murky water!), he stopped hopping for about five minutes until the shock wore off and then went right back to it.

I love this picture

Back Before I Was Famous

I told Kris I needed to post something, but I have very little time and no motivation.  But I think that's because I like to have pictures to go along with my posts, and these days I do not even have one free finger for a camera.  Judah requires both my hands, eyes, and ears, all twenty of my fingers and toes, every muscle in my back and just about every ounce of my concentration these days.  He is so two.

We have this conversation often:

Me: "Judah, look at Mama.  Do you need a spanking?"
Judah: "Yesh."

He doesn't get nearly as many as he needs because he is so unbelievably cute.  And he knows it.

We have had some fun things going on lately.  Things I'm actually very sad about not having pictures of, but I guess we'll all have to use our imaginations.

About a month ago I took Luke downtown to open auditions for a movie, Ring the Bell, that is being filmed in Deland.  I figured it would be a fun experience.  He's pretty comfortable around people he doesn't know well, always up for a new experience, interested in new people.  He walked in the audition room and, apparently, forgot to bring his personality with him.  He never smiled, didn't talk.  It was pitiful.  We walked out of the audition and he said, "I really hope they call me."  I felt a rock in the pit of my stomach because I could really hear the hope in his voice, but I witnessed the audition and knew he had not exactly shown his best side.  Imagine our surprise when we got home last Sunday night and had a message on the answering machine that they wanted us to come be extras in the movie the next day!

Eli wasn't about to be left out, so he and Luke and I spent from nine in the morning to five fifteen that afternoon shooting a picnic scene at a local church.  It was a long, fun day.  So, if they don't completely cut the scene that we were in, you might see us in the background playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors" on a picnic blanket while Steven Curtis Chapman and the main character have a conversation.  Let me just say that you will see about five seconds of "Rock, Paper, Scissors", but I assure you that there were hours of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" played, a few tears, just as many bribes and at least one vow to never take my four year old to a day long movie shoot again...In case we really do end up being famous and have the chance to be in another movie.

I'll keep everyone posted about whether we actually make the cut or not!

In Training

We like to make sure the boys aren't putting on too much weight, so we make them get in the gym at least three times a week.  You know, the basics.

Shoulder presses

Curls

Pull ups

Push through the pain, Eli!

Punching bag.

(Yes, even Judah has to do it.  You can never start 'em too early.)

Being cute does not get you off the hook.

Being too short is not a valid excuse, either.

And, see?  It's paying off.  Look at those muscles.

When they start looking like they might give themselves a hernia, we know they're really working hard.

For anyone that doesn't know, I'm totally joking. This is just what I found the other night when all the boys disappeared into the garage to "work out" with Kris.  And, as a disclaimer, we did not pay money for the zebra rug.  It was a "treasure" from Kris' dad.