Happy Birthday, Robot Roscoe

I love my kids' imaginations!  It still kind of surprises me when they make up elaborate pretend games, because I never had much of an imagination (just ask my sister...she loves to tell the story about how I was being assessed for the academically gifted program in elementary school and part of the test was about creativity.  When asked to list all the different ways to use a brick, all I could think of was "1. to build a house and 2.  as a doorstop".  Good thing Jason is more creative than me!)

Anyway, this morning Jackson wanted to make a surprise birthday party for his robot, Roscoe (idea for the robot came from a Backyardigans episode...the same one that inspired Selah's costume).  The robot's legs, as you will see, are made from Jackson's piano stand.  The body is invisible sitting on top of the legs.  Jackson took time to use my pots and pans to make homemade pizza and cake for the birthday party.  Here's the setup and the surprise.

Robot Selah

Inspired by a Backyardigans robot episode, Jackson decided on Sunday to make a robot costume.  We didn't have a box big enough to fit him, but he was happy enough to make Selah the beneficiary (or victim) of his design genius.  The outfit was complete with a control panel in the front and decorations all around for trend-setting robo-girl.  A convienient side entry was a last-minute modification after a preliminary fitting proved that while the original design was pretty easy to get on, it was not so easy to take off.  Selah was a willing enough participant for all of this, but she bounced back and forth between being excited that she was getting all the attention and being nervous about being able to get out of the box.  The final product:

Summer Playtime

When you have kids, even mundane chores (like watering the yard) can be fun.  The scorching hot temperatures combined with the lack of rain this summer has left our yard brown and crunchy.  What happened to all those flooding rains from the spring?  Well, Jackson and Selah certainly aren't complaining about the lack of rain.  They're just happy to get some sprinkler playtime!  Look at the joy on their faces!  Remember how much fun it was as a child to get soaking wet in your clothes and run around in the yard until grass and dirt are stuck all over your feet and legs?  Then come inside for a warm bath or shower, get into your pjs, and climb into bed totally exhausted?  Childhood is awesome!

Kickoff to Summer Vacation

Today officially ended our first week of summer vacation, and we have absolutely squeezed every drop of fun possible out of it!  Here's a run-down:

Friday:  We took it easy at home just enjoying not having to rush out the door for school.  Watched cartoons and pretended it was Saturday.  In the afternoon, we played with Carter and Julia down the street.  Then we drove to Oak Ridge for a playdate with Samantha, Lauren, Anna, Hudson, and baby James.  We used to get together with this group regularly when Jackson was much younger, but now it's only a few times a year that we all happen to not be busy at the same time!  It was great to sit around and catch up with the other parents while our kids played in the sprinklers and dug in the dirt.

Saturday:  We were at church ALL DAY for 6-month planning meetings and working on our new space.  Jackson and Selah were such troopers!  Selah finally fell asleep on my shoulder (way past her naptime) and I laid her on the rug in the middle of the kids' church room.  She slept soundly there while Jason and I assembled a couch from IKEA.  I wish I had a picture.  One day I'm going to assemble pictures like this for a "Life of a PK" post.

Sunday:  church in the morning.  Jackson friend ended up spending the night with us after he informed his mom that he would rather spend the night at Jackson's house than go with them to Carowinds the next day!  His dad is the student pastor at our church and they were taking the teenagers on a trip there.  (Jentezen actually made a great choice because I think he, being 4, would have been miserable at Carowinds all day in the 90+ degree temperatures!)

Monday:  After Jason performed a magic act squeezing Jentezen's carseat between the other two in his car, I took the 3 kids to the Greensboro Children's Museum.  They had a great time playing and pretending.  In the afternoon they watched a movie and popped popcorn.  They acted like brothers all day.  It was so funny to see them hugging one minute and then mad at each other over something trivial the next. 

Tuesday:  We have been trying to beat the heat this week and go for a run or bike ride around 10am before the mercury hits 90.  Tuesday and Thursday I ran with Selah in the jogging stroller while Jackson rode his bike.  He has lost a little of his determination to persevere on the hills so I'm lucky to get 2 miles done.  Wednesday I actually biked with him mostly because Selah was asking for a "bi ri".  Tuesday afternoon we went to the library, and Jackson used his own library card for the first time.  He was SO proud of himself and only slightly disappointed that he could only check out two items his first time.  I assured him that next time he could check them all out.

Wednesday:  The kids spent the day playing together while I cleaned house and prepared for my small group.

Thursday:  In the mornings when we get back from our run/bike ride we've been spending some time in the garage coloring with sidewalk chalk and painting the cement with water.  It amazes me that Selah likes to color so much because Jackson only slightly warmed up to it by the time he turned three.  She really loves sidewalk chalk, color wonder markers (and real markers when mommy's not looking), and the AquaDoodle mat.  I have been practicing shapes and counting with her.  She can now count to 10 and identify 8 shapes!  She surprised me with how easily she learned the shapes.  Because her personality is so different than Jackson's (as I've said before, she's more like a cat) I had thought her lack of response to my "teaching" moments was because she didn't understand what I was doing or wasn't ready for it.  Then one day she casually revealed that she knew it all.  It's almost like she rolled her not-yet-2-year-old eyes and said "duh, mom, it's a crescent, everybody know that."  Oh, excuse me. 

In the afternoon we went to Wet n Wild Water Park and purchased season passes.  I let the kids play for about and hour and a half.  They loved it!  Selah is such a daredevil and amazes me at her courage in water and on slides.  I rarely let go of her hand while we were there.  Jackson was totally psyched about the season pass.  He can't wait for Jason to be able to go with us so he can do the bigger slides.

After Wet n Wild we went to Tae Kwon Do and Party on the Plank.  When he went to bed he declared that today was "a to infinity and beyond fun day!"  I'd say that says it all!

Big Day!

Yesterday was a huge day in our house!

First, it was Jackson's last day of pre-K.  I had been looking forward to this day for a while!  I am really excited about having both of my kids at home together for the summer.  We made a paper chain and hung it from the doorframe in our kitchen to count down the days til the end of school.  We took a link off the chain every day when he came home from school until finally we were down the one last link!!

As I waited in line to pick him up, I was surprised to find that my excitment was mixed with a little sadness.  Partly because I didn't feel like I had any closure with his teachers and friends at school.  I have really gotten to know them through my weekly volunteering.  I'm so glad that Jackson will be in Ms. McCoy and Mrs. Welborn's class again next year!

But part of my sadness was that very familiar sad-mixed-with-happy feeling that I get each time one of my kids hits an important milestone;  they're growing up.  I was trying to tell Jackson about this feeling, and he asked very innocently, "Why are you sad that I'm growing up?"  Good question.  I don't know why it's sad.  I guess I just love each stage they go through so much that I miss it when it's gone.  Good thing there's plenty to look forward to!  It didn't help my emotional state when Jackson climbed in the car with a very sad look on his face and through tears announced that his best friend in school was moving to a different school next year.  He was heartbroken.  That was all the excuse I needed to let my tears come, too.  I just hugged him and told him that I would try to see if they could play together this summer. 

We both started feeling better on the way home.  Then Jackson really cheered up when he found a special "you just finished pre-K" present waiting on him at home: a Leapster!  (you know me...it was purchased at a consignment sale)  He wanted to start playing it immediately, and I've already had to put some limits on his time with it!  I'm so glad he loves it!  =)

After some outside playtime and a special last-day-of-school-is-a-great-excuse-for-ice-cream-cake snack, it was time to get ready for Tae Kwon Do.  Jackson was testing for his yellow belt.  Well, it wasn't a true yellow belt.  He won't start getting solid-color "real" belts until he moves out of the Little Dragons class, which I think happens when he turns 6.  But it was real enough for Jackson!  He had to demonstrate all his blocks, kicks, and punches as well as perform two different combinations of skills.  I was so proud of him!  He really seems to like Tae Kwon Do and I think it has added some tenacity to his personality. 

Yellow belt around his waist, we jumped in the car, changed his clothes, ran through the Subway drive-thru and were off to Party on the Plank, High Point's version of Live After Five.  This is the Party's first year, and our church volunteered to host the kids' play area for the first 3 weeks.  So, although mommy and daddy were working, Jackson and Selah couldn't have been happier to tag along since that meant 2 hours of playtime on an inflatable slide and bounce house.  Side note:  I was holding Selah while policing the end of the inflatable slide.  After every person slid she would announce "Selah's turn!"  Before the end of the night I did take her down the slide 3 times.  She loved it!

Finally we put our exhausted, sweaty kids in the car and headed home.  When I was putting Jackson to bed he thanked me for all his special surprises and declared it a great day!  It makes it so easy to give him special treats when he's so thankful for them.  Even today when he was eating another slice of ice-cream cake he said, "Mom, thank you for making this ice-cream cake.  I know it took you a lot of work!"  Worth it, buddy! 

Let summer break begin!

Selah: 21 months

I cannot believe that Selah will be turning 2 in just three short months.  It seems like everyday she is becoming more independent and growing her little personality.  She says "I do it" when I'm trying to feed her or brush her teeth.  It's so funny to note the differences between how I treated Jackson (the FIRST) and how I'm treating Selah (the next).  I've really tried to encourage Jackson to be independent, try things, experiement, even at the cost of my clean house.  But when Selah says "I do it" my mind immediately flashes to me cleaning up the shipwrecked aftermaths of all her maiden voyages in toddlerhood.  It's just so much easier when "mommy do it."  But I'm really trying to let go and allow her those same shipwrecks that Jackson had.  (I can only imagine how hard this is when they get to be teenagers!!)  As we head towards 2, she is also starting to throw herself on the ground in a temper tantrum when she doesn't get something she wants.  I'm trying my best to remember all those great parenting articles I read about how to deal with these tantrums...you know, when I read articles.  Hmm...might be time to renew that subscription to Parents magazine. 

Selah's blossoming independence is not entirely like a scene from Braveheart, though.  There are two really sweet phrases I hear frequently throughout the day:

1-  I show you

Sometimes I get frustrated when I can't understand somthing she is trying to tell me, so I started saying "show me."  She picked up on this and will use the phrase herself.  I'll be working on something and she'll come take my hand and say "I yo you."  She will lead me to something, maybe a toy she wants me to play with her or something that she wants but can't reach, and say "here."  I love the communication! 

2 - I help you

The first time it happened I was folding laundry.  I was taking a stack of folded clothes to my room to put them away, leaving behind a few other stacks to put in other rooms.  I heard her following behind me saying "I hep you."  When I turned around I saw her carrying what was once a pile of neatly folded washcloths.  It was now a wad of a few washcloths with several other dropped behind her like a trail of breadcrumbs to lead her back to the living room.  Yes, I had to re-fold all of them, but honestly I wasn't upset.  It was so sweet!  She often asks to "hep" me now, and of course I'm trying to encourage that!  Now when I'm putting away laundry I will intentionally give her a few items to carry to make her feel like she's helping without destroying one of my piles!

Last cute thing: She is playing much more independently these days too.  Her favorite thing is to take piles of stuff and move them to another location.  Yesterday she was playing in Jackson's room.  When I found her she had taken all of his suffed animals and piled them in the middle of his floor.  She had also taken all of his shoes out of the closet and laid them neatly in a row.  Here she was carefully lining up all of Jackson's racecars.  She really keeps herself busy! 

And she LOVES her brother!

It's Personal

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine about a certain recording artist.  My friend was telling me that she really didn't like the artist, even went as far as to say she hated him.  "Why?" I asked.  "I've heard he's real jerk.  Very cocky," was her response.  Her reasoning struck me as funny.  Her opinion of the artist wasn't based on his music at all, but on his character, of which my friend had no first-hand knowledge.  If she had said that she didn't like the guy's music I could've respected her view, because at least she's heard the music.  Experienced it for herself.  But how could she judge this man's character when she's never even met him?  Her experience in this situation is far from first-hand.  It's more like "I know a guy who heard from somone else...," or "Someone told me that they overheard or saw from a distance..."  That's hardly fair.  She doesn't know the real story.  Perhaps this artist had a particularly stressful day and lost his cool with someone once....it happens!  Could it be that a casual observer misinterpreted his actions? 

It happens to me all the time!  Picture it: Walmart, 2 kids, missed naps, getting hungry, but mom has just a few more groceries to get before heading home.  In that instance anyone who passes me would make all kinds of assumptions about my kids and my parenting that are completely off-base.  Has anyone ever misinterpreted something you did?  Didn't you wish they would have just given you a chance to explain or that they would've known your heart? 

It got me thinking, how many people think of God the same way that my friend thinks of the artist or the Walmart shopper thinks of me?  Made judgments based on what they've heard.  Written Him off based on third-hand information that is wildly distorted.  They know someone who was hurt by someone who "called themselves a Christian" (forgetting that Christians are humans too and screw up occasionally, but God is perfect).  They've heard about "God's way" and want no part of it (when really they've heard isolated scriptures taken completely out of context).  My hearts aches for these people!  Oh, I wish they would just give God a chance to explain Himself and know His heart.  Well, there's good news for all of us.  God is not some rock star that you have to give an arm and a leg to buy a backstage pass just for chance to meet Him once in a lifetime.  The bible tells us that we have a 24/7 all-access pass to Him personally.  Jesus tells us that we are not considered as servants who only have limited knowledge of the boss' work, but we are friends with the boss himself (John 15:15)!  We can know him intimately. 

Have you judged God from afar?  Then why not take the chance to know Him personally?  Even if you don't believe in Him yet, ask Him to show Himself to you.  Have a first-hand expereience.  Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8).