MY REALITY

It's about 9p.m. and all of my SWEET boys are finally asleep. I decided to sit down and catch up on my BLOG READING...I have so many I love to look at (maybe one day I'll post them)! As I was reading about all of these beautiful houses, families and fun crafts it made me think of my devotion from the other morning...it was on PERFECTION! I think as moms it is so easy to fall into the "perfect trap". We have been talking about "words" at church...devoting this year to improving "one word" in your life...what would yours be?

My is long suffering/patience...it was the word from a sermon this past week. It was not my original word but God had different plans for me...

I originally choose PRAY...my prayer lately has been that God would show me what He wants from me loud and clear...I have actually prayed "wave a banner in front of my face that I can see Your will!"

...well He answered that prayer by changing my word!

Within that one week:

Tanner's home memory verse was ...Psalm 86:15 "Lord you area compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."

Tanner's Wed. night church teacher sent a note home to let us know they would be working on the "Fruits of the Spirit" for the next several weeks.

A school packet came in the mail with this verse...Isiah 40:31-"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

My devotional verse was...Galatians 5:22-"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, patience, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control."

and my husband showed me this all week...1 Corinthians 13:4-6-"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."

 

My desire for PERFECTION leads me to a lack of PATIENCE!

 

I say ALL OF THAT

to

SHOW YOU THIS

...my reality

...in order to have patience I have to LET GO

I was originally going to post about our lovely trip to the zoo today instead I will show you what it took to get to the zoo!

 

 

Sam can now open doors...so he helped himself to stamps and stickers...it's everywhere!

Two sets of Legos are out on the couch...where I just noticed a big brown  marker line!

The pillows and pictures were straight bf I walked out of the room...that means a pillow fight and leaping off the arms of the couch took place.

Look closely and you will see a chairful of socks to sort!

 

Chris cleaned the playroom last night bf bed. I know it doesn't look super messy but the point is they dump from one side of the house to the other!

Oh LAUNDRY...will I ever be finished with you!

HE WAS FULLY DRESSED...that's right... one dishwasher loaded and off come the clothes, on go Bubba's boots and into the Secretary's Desk we shall dig...that's an exacto knife with NO lid...Ugh!

Could everyone please put their shoes away...oh wait are those mine!

and yes

DIRTY floors

in desperate need of a mopping

(which I did manage to do after the zoo trip)

The landing ZONE...library books, Tanner's readers, medicine, magazines, school forms, new shoes, time out for toys, soda can tops...the list goes on and on!

It gets cleaned off about 1x a week only out of necessity to put more stuff on top of it!

NEW DECOR...painter's tape...sweet Sam can open every lock!

This is the game and big floor puzzle cabinet so I tape it at night so when he sneaks out of bed at 5am he won't dump EVERYTHING in the cabinet...oh this has happened...more than once!

So this is my reality...what it takes to get to enjoy my kiddos, give my family my best and honor God by being patient.

We LOVE playdoh!!

I love playdoh. Tanner loves playdoh. Sam loves playdoh.



After playing in the SNOW this morning we came inside to make our own
SNOW playdoh!
We used our regular recipe but added white painted, peppermint and silver glitter!!!
3 cups flour
11/2 cups salt
6 teaspoons cream of tartar or alum
3 cups of water
3 tablesppons oil
Extras...food coloring, scent or glitter
Mix dry ingredients in a large pan. Combine and mixwater, oil and extras in a seperate bowl. Slowly add to dry ingredients, strring well. Cook on medium heat until mixture pulls away from sides of the pan. Turn dough onto counter and knead until smooth. The dough is sticky at first but will improve as its cools and with kneading.

Why I LOVE playdoh:
To make it, the boys take turns measuring, stirring, pouring, and kneading.
It's great fine motor not to mention exploring different textures
and improving hand eye coordination.

Once we've make the playdoh the benefits continue:
squeezing, rolling, cutting, pounding
creativity
sharing
Tanner has made letters, sorted colors, worked on shapes, added and subtracted, patterns and explored halves/wholes.
Sam loves to squeeze it in the garlic press. He is getting to work on strengthening that pincer grasp when he pinches it to throw at us:)

We make playdoh almost every week. It's like a staple in our "PLAY" diet. I know it's messy but get out the hand broom and dust pan and practice some practical life skills: sweeping. Their wives will thank you later!!

Snow Day Survival

About twice a week I plan a few activities and set them up in the living room at night when the boys are sleeping.  The boys love it and it keeps them entertained so I can get a few housekeeping things done.  It's so funny that they will play for hours with a toy because I set it out yet it has been on the playroom shelf for months.



Snow Sensory Bin
...packing peanuts, cotton balls, styrofoam balls, pine cones, straws, scoops and snowmen erasers

Snowman
Tanner-cut a snowman from felt and foam paper.
Sam-He had a felt snowman I had already cut.

Matching colors.

I don't know the technical name for these math blocks but Tanner loves them.  He makes patterns, designs, shapes and now 3-D creations. 

Some other everyday not seasonal things I use frequently include:

for Tanner
floor puzzles
rolling dice and counting out number of objects
his journal(he draws a picture and I write)
writing: name, address and phone number
shape stencils
anything to cut
cards with picture and words/baking pan and magnet letters to spell words on
lacing cards
sewing with plastic needles and yarn **big hit
dominos
rice box to trace letters
scavenger hunt...clipboard with drawn pictures or words...find and mark off
lincoln logs


for Sam
3 piece knob puzzles
color sorting bears and cups
pouring rice or beans from cup to cup
poring water from cups **I know...give them a sponge for the mess
beads to string on aquarium tubing
putting pompoms in ice cube tray using tongs to squeze
using a spoon to scoop pompoms from one cup to another
playdoh with plastic roller, knife and scissors
a dust pan and short handled broom
magnetos
barnyard bingo

Bring on the snow...loving it!

Bring on the SNOW...
we are loving it!
I was sooo amazed at how BRAVE both of the boys were sledding down the GIANT hill at East!
Tanner was standing and riding his sled like a snowboard and Sam loved going down the hill by himself..."daddy go more!" I have to say Chris and I were like little kids too...Tanner had to fight us for the sleds!!!

We came home and made
SNOW CREAM!
yum...yum...yum
Tanner had a snow slushy...lactose free style!!!

...then of course we made our Snowman...

inspired by the "good stuff" page from a favorite book...

SNOWBALLS by Lois Ehlert

...although we had not saved a bag full of treasures to put on our snow man, like in the story, Tanner was inspired by the veggie drawer in the fridge...I LOVE IT!!!

In his element...

I tutor one afternoon a week so Chris, Tanner and Sam get to have "BOYTIME".
Thank you Chris for taking advantage of the semi-nice weather this week
and taking the boys on a hike!


Tanner could spend all day outside...he loves nature and science!
My favorite part about spending time outdoors with him though is listening to him talk about all of the things God made...
of course he thinks God made cars as well as the trees but we'll get there!

Sam does love to be outside...promise however he prefers taking lots of breaks!
Clearly he needed a break in this picture...if you can't tell he is grabbing Chris' legs!