Making more memories...

I have very fond and happy memories of those weekends when we, as a family, just decided to do something without all of the stressful planning and preparation. No, we didn't take 500 mile trips. We simply loaded up the car and drove. When we found someplace we wanted to stop; we did, and it was ALWAYS fun. This weekend we did that with MY family. How fun that I can finally do that and establish those memories with my own children. On Saturday we took off in the early afternoon and arrived at Topsey Exotic Animal Ranch. We had a great time and both kiddos got the opportunity to get up close and personal with nature.

I wasn't sure we could duplicate such a fun afternoon the next day, but we managed. After dinner we loaded up the "swagger wagon" and found ourselves at Salado Creek. To say we made memories would be an understatement. Andrew and Clara fell in the creek together when they slipped on a moss covered rock. Thankfully both got up laughing; sort of. It was a great weekend, and we managed to make new memories for all of us!

"Oh wow...Clara Princess!"

Several weeks ago Clara had the opportunity to be a flower girl in a friend's wedding. What a day! I remember when I was growing up that being asked to be the flower girl was a HUGE deal. I had to wait until I was older then I got to be a bridesmaid...but I digress. Well Aunt Carol brought Jak up to the church to see Clara after she was all dressed and ready to go. What a GREAT little brother; he saw her and said, "Oh wow Clara; Princess." Way to go Jak....you're right...she is a princess, and your a great little prince.

They still like each other

Several days ago my husband and I had told the siblings that it was time for bed. They begged and begged to "start off" in our bedroom and then get moved to their beds.....Riiiiggghhhhhtttt. SO we said sure and then literally 10 minutes later this is what we saw.

Work Work Work

I always want to make sure my kids know that they can do anything they want...as long as it's legal and doesn't hurt them. So I encourage Clarabella to try rough and tumble, "boy" stuff and I want Jak to try artistic and creative "girl" things. I don't put those labels on the activities, but others have. So when my children have had "free" time lately here is what they chose...Clara wanted to create some artistic type things...and Jak; yep, he wanted to wash the car with dad. How funny that what I worry about doesn't bother them at all. Jak is naturally a boy and does all of those fun, dirty, crazy, active things that boys naturally do. Clara is naturally creative and artsy. She wants to make things and even if there are directions, she makes it all her own. How funny that what I worried about really made no difference at all. My children are happy being themselves and THAT is what matters. I love being their mother no matter who they are, or what their talents are.

I hope I'm wrong!!!

Here is the conversation Clarabella and I had last night...but allow me to set the stage. She has been sleeping in her her own room for the past few months and things have been going GREAT!!! In the last two weeks she has begun to have issues though. She doesn't want to be alone, she comes up with all sorts of reasons to come out to talk to us about "stuff", and it's starting to affect her day at school. So I laid down with her last night and we talked about her day, how she was feeling, and why we're having problems now. She held my hand and said, "I think it would be a good idea if we had a bed that is big enough for all of us to sleep in." I laughed and said, "It probably would be nice, but I don't think they make beds that big." "But Mommy, I just can't stand to be alone and away from you." I sort of giggled again and said, "How funny. Right now you don't want to be away from me, but in just several years you won't want to be anywhere near me." My sweet beautiful girl actually got tears in her eyes and said, "That will never happen. That isn't nice to not want to be near your mommy." Oh how I wish that day never comes. How I hope that those moments are very few and don't last long. Clarabella has the most sincere heart and her feelings are quite deep and raw (for the lack of a better word) so I know she means what she says. I only pray that she remembers it when she gets older.

They survived the field trip!!!

Grandpa and Clara made it safely to and from the zoo yesterday and had a blast it seems. Clara said that they had another little boy with them as they walked around and it was "ok." What a wonderful way for grandpa to spend his retirement. He is getting the chance to make such a wonderful impact on these kiddos....just like his grandparents did for him. He has such wonderful memories of them and the things they did together. Now Clarabella and Jak have that same opportunity now because we live so close to each other. So after Clarabella and I debriefed after the zoo trip I asked her if there was anything special she wanted to do this weekend and she said, "Go to the zoo." "But you just went there today." I said. She responded, "But Jak wasn't there." Awwwwwww....my little girl loves her brother!

I LOVE her style!

Clarabella got ready on her own this morning and I love that she did. I adore the innocence that she lives with. She was telling us that one of her classmates was "mean" to her today. So I asked her, "What do you do when that happens." I wanted her to say something like, "I tell him that he better not do that to me ever again." But she didn't. She said, "I asked him again and this time I said please." Oh sweet girl....oh I just don't want her to hurt like I did. I don't want her to feel that hurt when people disappoint her. I vividly remember that hurt and there are times when it hurts to near paralysis. How do I help her build that strength? Pray...pray hard!

My "Straight A" Birthday Girl

She is amazing....Clarabella got straight A's on her report card and had a great birthday. She is GREAT! She received stilts from grandma and grandpa. Yes, she asked for them and I have never known a kid to actually ask for stilts. She hopped up on them and walked right away. Wow! What fun!

Ahhhh...Omi visits...and we celebrate!

Growing up I never lived near my grandma for a long period of time. We would visit her for long vacations and we even lived with her for a few months once in between duty stations, but I'm talking about seeing her daily for years on end. My daughter has that opportunity and I'm so thankful for it. We live very close to my parents and aunt so my kids get the chance to see them all, every single day if they would like. On the other hand, she lives 6 hours away from her Omi; my husband's mother. That can make things tough sometimes, but it also allows for fun and exciting visits when they do happen. Omi comes to see us several times a year and when she does everything else stops and Clarabella devotes her time and attention to Omi. This weekend Omi came to see us and we celebrated Clarabella's birthday. What a fabulous time we had. I hope the memory is one my Bella holds onto for ever and ever.

A boy and his Grandpa

I love the way my little boy idolizes his grandpa; my dad. He runs up to him for hugs, he asks about him daily if we don't get a chance to visit, and he wants to talk to him about everything. Jak thinks that "Bapa" hangs the moon and Grandpa thinks the same about Jak. What a pair! I look forward to all of the things Jak will learn from my dad. All the little useless bits of information my dad thinks don't matter, but really do. I hope that Jak has my dad's natural talent for fixing and building. I hope that Jak realizes that his tree that is in the front yard of his grandparent's house was begun from an acorn that came from a tree Bapa had. I hope they both realize how much they are loved...by one another.

Oh what fun we have!

Let me set the stage! We're slowly getting ready to start the day. I'm finally out of the sick bed I have been in for the past five days, and my kids are happily playing while my husband and I get the laundry ready. Both of my children then pick up their hampers and put them over their heads...then play a strange version of "bumper cars." I love their imaginations and I love that they can find fun in anything.

Being sick is the pits; for the MOM!

So we know that it hurts a bunch when our kids are sick, but it's just darn inconvenient when it happens to the momma....and who gets sick over SPRING BREAK? Me...that's who. However, it has given me the opportunity to stay at home and get a lot of things organized along with playing games with Clarabella. She and I love playing Qwirkle Cubes and just plain Qwirkle. So there's my "looking on the bright-side" moment for the day.

This is what happens when there's no nap!

We have a really difficult time on the weekends with nap time. I'm so bad about schedules and keeping track, so the look on my little ones face is my fault...poor little guy.

Oh thank heaven for Spring Break!

It is officially SPRING BREAK and we are so thankful for that. Clarabella and I are officially on vacation. So knowing that it is a Friday, Clarabella of course asked to spend the night at her grandparents house. That means I was left to feed the fish. No it's not a tough job and to be perfectly honest, I like it. I never thought fish had personality but it appears that they just might. HAPPY SPRING BREAK!

Devotions with Daddy

Being the wife of a pastor it's important to us to maintain our devotional life and we don't always do that great of a job as a couple. However, we try to do better with our children. Clarabella's working on the books of the Bible so each night she finds the passages that go along with her devotion. Jak is working on listening and that's all he can handle right now. I'm happy that we have that time as a family and that we work to find the time. We are all able to calm down and listen to each other without TV or computers. It may only last for 10 to 15 minutes, but it's ours, and it's spent doing something we need to do. I find it reassuring that Clarabella is usually the one to remind us that we need to do it. That means it's something important to her. Whew...we've done something right!

Being sick is the pits!!

As a teacher it is quite often more trouble to be home sick than it is to just go in to work; sick. However, when it comes to my kids, I'll deal with the trouble and the work it takes to prepare. Jak surprised us all this morning with rosy cheeks and complaining that his tummy was hurting. Come to find out, his tummy hurt because of all the coughing he had been doing. So mommy mode kicks in and I assess the situation. Hot head? Check. Hurt tummy? Check. Droopy eyes? Check. And a clingy boy who wants to lay down and hold onto his mommy. Yep, he's sick. I run up to school with sick boy in-tow to infect everyone else; I mean, prepare for the substitute that may be coming. Jak makes his rounds, and mommy gets set up.

Eventually we found out that it is STREP. Wooo Hooo! Anyone wanna place bets on how long it will take his sister to get sick? Aw c'mon...join in the fun.

Ahhh...music lessons!

I love music...in almost every form. There is a time and season for every type I think. So Clarabella has expressed and interest in music and I want to make sure she has every opportunity to explore it. When I asked Clara what she was interested in playing she said; in a very matter-of-fact way; the piano, then the harp, then the violin. Then I asked her to narrow it down to one. Which one could be first? She chose the violin. So now we take violin lessons and she's doing pretty well. It doesn't even sound like a dying cat when she plays. She has a pretty decent sound. I'll let you all know when she performs at Carnegie Hall. :)

Tea Parties are for boys...too!

So we got home today and both of the kiddos went to Clarabellla's room to see the new fish. Then things got really quiet. So Great-Aunt Carol went back to check and ended up having a tea party with the kids. Yep; boys can have tea-parties too. Especially if there are cheese crackers!

Reading is cool!

I love the fact that Clarabella loves to read. She'll read to me, her brother, her grandparents, her great-aunt, the dog, her fish...she loves to read. I hope that is a trait she'll always have. Some of my best memories have been when I'm curled up somewhere reading. I remember the summer my family and I moved to Germany. It was so cold and we were living in this adorable little apartment house in Rodalben. My mom and I would curl up on the couch; her on one end and I on the other. We shared a blanket and bundled up together. She was reading the John Jakes series and I was reading Judy Blume or the Archie Comics. When we finished the books we would head over to the post to go to the Stars and Stripes book shop. I LOVED that place. We spent that whole summer on the couch; READING!

Here fishy, fishy!

So we finally purchased the aquarium. Remember I said I thought we would be purchasing a 5 gallon tank. Yeah well we get there and Grandma and Grandpa begin looking at something a bit bigger....a lot bigger. So we have a 10 gallon tank....that is GORGEOUS. There is a fish in there but he's not real happy right now. I asked Clara what she was going to name her fish and she said, "Michelle." "Well," I replied, "It's a male fish." (The only reason I know that is because it's a Betta fish.) "Oh...well then I'll name him Mark," she says. Yep...not bubbles, or blue, or even Jonah; Mark. I LOVE IT!! She is my heart and my life. I'm so proud of her and the progress she has made.

Morning Routines!

So I think it's important to establish some goals for yourself. It just seems that I establish odd ones, but odd goals are still something you can attain. So the new goal....for everyone to leave the house in the morning with a smile on their face. This morning...it worked! I don't count though. I'm NOT a morning person so it's painful for me to smile. I'm working on it though...oh look...another goal!

Bed Time!!!

We are THRILLED!!! Clarabella is sleeping in her room and is sleeping well. We have struggled with her sleeping location for over 5 years. She has been sleeping on her toddler mattress on the floor of our bedroom for that whole time and I was struggling with the guilt over her poor sleep. She wasn't sleeping well and I knew she was exhausted so I did what all good parents do; I bribed her. She has been wanting a fish tank so I told her that if she can sleep in her room for a full week we will go purchase a starter tank. (I'm thinking a 5 gallon.) So tomorrow we shop! Yay us! We'll post a picture of the tank as soon as we can.

And so we begin...

I wanted to begin this blog for my children and for those that love them. I was watching my youngest child just last week and I noticed that he can already see over the back of the couch. Yikes! Where has the time gone? When did he get that tall? Why is he looking at me like that? What has he done and where has he done it?

So I thought about a way that I could chronicle their growth and their daily life, and this seems to be it. My hope is that I will be able to take a picture-a-day in order to keep track of their lives. I'm looking forward to seeing the differences in the pictures and how their personalities shine through. For those that know us, and love us...ENJOY!