Spring Break

We actually had a really nice spring break. I was concerned in the beginning that I would go crazy, but it all went very well. Elise was sick and throwing up for a day and half, but she recovered just fine. We visited Mark at work one day for lunch. There were a couple of parties/family get-togethers. We were actually able to attend church service two Sundays in a row! We got to go to Enchanted Forest one day. We had lots of lazy, hanging-out-around-the-house mornings. We got our garden all tilled up with compost and manure. Awesome! And we even got the peas planted. Mark and I watched Fireproof (not Academy Award winning acting and writing, but a great movie!) Shawn slept through the night once. The furthest place we went was Woodburn. The sunniest day out of the whole bunch is today...the last day of vacation. No warm, sunny beaches or vacation trips, but it was good.

It doesn't look like Shawn is getting equal face time on the blog so here's a cute picture of him.

Serving?

My daughter did the sweetest thing this afternoon. We had just returned home after being out for a few hours and I felt drained. Shawn went down for a nap and I told Elise, "I am so tired. I feel like I need a nap. But first I need to get these blocks cleaned up that your brother and I were playing with earlier." She said to me, "Mom, you can go take your rest now. Don't worry about it. Go!" "What's wrong with my child!?" I thought to myself. But she kept shooing me away so I walked off down the hall and crawled into my bed. As I pulled the covers over me I could hear blocks being put away in the living room and I thought, "My daughter is serving me. Wow!" So sweet right? The truth though is that we had just had a conversation about how many points she's been earning for her chores. (We have a chore system where she earns points toward a goal of her choosing. Right now she's working toward a goal of a certain doll. 250 points she's got to earn for this one. So if she does all the things she's asked to do each day without complaining, procrastinating etc. she'll earn 10 points. If she does something extra, something not on her chart for the day, something for someone else, she can earn more points.) So I suppose the motivation to serve me this afternoon wasn't completely genuine. But it still felt so good! Perhaps I could foster this attitude in her a bit more. I think I'll bring it up tonight in our bedtime prayers and thank God for giving her a servant heart today. (I didn't have a picture of her dressed up like an angel so the snow queen had to do.)

Playing

I love when the kids are playing together happily. I love the sound of their little feet running around and their adorable giggling. Just now I was just taking a few minutes to check up on e-mail and stuff while the kids were having a good time together. They sound so joyful. The happiness Shawn can feel for the most insignificant situation compares to me going to Disneyland. His smile is from ear to ear. And I can hear Elise running behind him cheering him on. It's great! Then I look over for a moment to watch them and notice that the joy these two are gaining is from the helium balloon trailing behind Shawn. The end has a loop in it and the loop is around Shawn's neck! And Elise is holding the balloon. Wait! Stop! This joy fest must take a break.

The Unimaginable Happens

How do two crazy, laughing, wrestling kids manage to quiet down and fall asleep together? I don't know, but it happened at our house recently. The kids have this little routine now where Shawn will climb in to bed with Elise for a few minutes before he goes off to his crib. Well, this night Mark went back in to check on them and they both had fallen asleep!

2 Cute Kid Stories

Elise and Shawn are always great at providing us with cute kid stories. Here are two recent favorites of mine.



A couple weeks ago as Mark and I were heading to bed, and the kids had long been asleep, I heard Shawn making some noise. It sounded like he was calling, "Mama!" which isn't at all unsual for him. (The kid doesn't sleep so well at night.) So I quietly tiptoed in to his room to see what the problem was. I soon realized he was not calling, "Mama," he was saying, "Bah! Bah!" Now for those of you who know him well, you know the kid is OBSESSED with vacuum cleaners. His word for them is "Bah." He loves vacuum cleaners. He can find a vacuum in any home he walks in to and he has a skill at finding the vacuum isle in any store. It's scary! So, I looked at him in his crib and saw that his eyes were closed. Shawn was talking in his sleep about vacuum cleaners! Hilarious!



Elise often entertains us with the things she says. Sometimes it's just some silly phrase and other times it's the way she says a word incorrectly because she's just learning. I still have my old Fisher-Price people from when I was little. All the people, the camping trailer, the minibus, the playground equipment, etc. Elise loves playing with them. They stay up high on a shelf and she must have one of us get them down for her. The other day she came to me and asked if she could play with the Fishermen-Price toys. I haven't corrected her yet because it's so cute.

Watch Out Warren Buffet

Today was a big day for Elise! She opened up her first savings account at the bank. She has a "bank" at home for a couple of years now. From the get-go she's always had certain responsibilities with her money. A portion for God, a portion for saving, a portion for spending. A little while ago she asked when she could have a real bank account. I told her we could do that when her savings portion reached $20. Well, this morning she got out her bank and we started counting. After counting all the dollar bills, quarters, and dimes, nickels and pennies . . . the kids had $19.84! So close! But then Genius Mom remembered . . . today is allowance day! Woohoo! So off we went to the bank with $20.09 in a ziploc bag. It was fantastic! She was so proud.

No Free Lunch but 2 Big Bumps on the Head

We have a much healthier household today. We ventured out to do some errands and I scheduled our time so we could have a free lunch at Costco . . . you know . . . free samples. Well, turns out it was a bad day for samples. We only found three and they were all meat. Meatballs, chicken & rice, etc. Bummer! Before we checked out I remembered I forgot to get batteries. So I wheel the kids back across the store to grab batteries. Elise grabs the packs of 40-some AA and accidentally clocks Shawn in the back of the head. He starts screaming, as would I. Poor guy! We finally get through check-out and sit down in the food court to share a piece of pizza. Elise starts to knock her drink off the table. I grab for it and end up throwing Shawn off balance. He falls off the bench backward and into the cart . . .bings the back of his head again. Starts screaming! I felt horrible! Fortunately he now had sustenance to ease the pain.

Sick Little Girl

Mark and I had a lovely weekend at the coast without the kids. After getting back to town, we found out that Elise had come down with something and had a fever and was throwing up. Elise went right to sleep after we got the kids home and slept for a couple of hours probably. She woke up and was happy enough to start reading some books. We got 2 pages in and she goes, "I've gotta go potty!" So she jumped out of bed, ran to the bathroom, got to the bathroom door and threw up all over. Then stood there for a moment and threw up again and again. Shawn was over by the toilet crying out of fear. He had no idea what was going on. So picture this, I'm in the hallway, then there's Elise standing in a pool of vomit just inside the door and Shawn is on the other side of the vomit screaming. I was totally stuck. What do I do?! Mark was outside and I had to call him to come help. Poor kids!