Paisley and Argyle

Disney, Pt. 1

2012-01-29T19:01:00.000-05:00

Our family trip to Disney was planned months ago. We had time share points to use before April 2012 and January was a good down time to go. We thought we'd be in our new home for a solid month before we left. Ha. Try 2 nights.

But, in all of my time driving and waiting outside of Noah's school I had ample time to read and plan every detail of our trip.

I was dead set against spending money on souvenirs. So, I bought everything before we left. Some items were on ebay, new with tags, others were from good will still in packaging, etc. The night before we left I filled these backpacks that I made with Mickey and Minnie coloring, stamps, crayons, etc. and put them in each of their carseats. When they got in the car there was a note from Mickey and Minnie wishing them a good plane ride. They were ecstatic!! Noah later told me that he heard Minnie's high heels in the driveway during the middle of the night!

Noah was a rockstar the whole way. Maeve had quite a bit of trouble sitting still and screamed for whatever parent was not sitting with her. We made it through alive.

When we arrived it was sunny and wonderful! We arrived at our amazing 4br, 4 bath penthouse and we were in heaven!!!! We were in an area called Bonnet Creek, which is a Wyndham property. It is the only property within the Disney complex not owned by Disney. It is located between the Carribbean resort and downtown Disney with a direct view of the Epcot Illuminations show.

I would HIGHLY recommend staying here to anyone looking to go to disney.

Our spacious living room and kitchen...

I also found great deals at the outlets on pajamas and the kids also received many items for Christmas for their trip. It was awesome to have grandparents there to read stories and snuggle every night.

Happy New Year 2012!

2012-01-29T18:44:00.000-05:00

We had originally planned to move New Year's Weekend but when that fell through one of our good friends invited us over. The kids played wonderfully. We ate sushi and drank good wine. At 9PM we played last year's Apple Drop for the kids and sent them to bed (not so successfully). But was a wonderful celebration nonetheless!!

Transitions -- Extended Stay America

2012-01-29T18:37:00.000-05:00

So... there was a LOT of drama surrounding our new home. It was supposed to be done 12/20 and that was moved back to 12/28 which we adjusted to. As it turned out that was mid Christmas week and lots of the construction staff had the week off, as well as many sub-contractors. The way the calendar fell, people had 3 or 4 day weekends for Christmas week and New Year's Week. This was terrible to do business with contractors, builders and banks.

So, on the 28th, when there was still no carpet or countertops we agreed to move back until the 30th, but then the bank couldn't make it in time to do the appraisal. And of course, they couldn't come over the holiday.

In the meantime we needed some temporary housing and being that we hadn't really been alone as a family in months, we decided to turn down some generous offers from friends to stay with them and we stayed in a hotel for a week. We could run wild and scream and jump on the beds and we actually made a great time of it. I was amazed at how well the kids adjusted.

Here they are doing a fashion show in our room... they had me in tears with their antics!!!

And, I was so engrossed in the Hunger Games at the time that Maeve tried to steal my book at every corner...

Christmas 2011

2012-01-29T18:27:00.000-05:00

Christmas was hectic as usual, but we were blessed beyond measure as always!

We expected to be in our home by Christmas and so we weren't really prepared to have Christmas at grandma's. house. We went and bought a small white tree and put it up on Christmas Eve after church while the kids were sleeping. We put their presents under it and went to bed.

In the morning we woke early and lit the candles on Baby Jesus' birthday cake and had our cake breakfast before heading to see our gifts. The kids LOVED their new puppet theater, Maeve loved her doll pram and Noah loved his lego table.

The day took off from then as usual.

Nana, Mom Mom, PopPop and Uncle Eric came bearing LOTS of gifts and we also had presents from great grandma and great grandma. We tried to space it out but to no avail!

Maeve got a Barbie dress up outfit which I was not too thrilled about but Great Grandma was on her toes and turned it into a salsa outfit and taught Maeve how to do a two step around the house...

Uncle Eric got Noah a 37 step Lego Firehouse and they set off to work on it at the dining room table...

In the afternoon we headed to Aunt Nina and Uncle Chris's house to celebrate together and the children received awesome Mickey and Minnie puppets and had a blast playing with the train under the tree!

The day after Christmas we headed to Tiara Yaz and Uncle Matt's house. Noah got an awesome playmobil barn and Maeve got lots of owl goodies and an amazing homemade spanish/english book that Tiara Yaz made for her.

Tiara Yaz is in love with Wonder Woman and I found the BEST snuggie for her!!!

The kids spent hours playing with their new presents. While Maeve pushed one baby in the pram, Noah put another baby in the carrier!!

So much to catch up on!!!

2012-01-27T20:16:00.002-05:00

So, we moved in January 4th. We left for Disney January 8th. We came home the 15th. We still don't have cable or internet but we set up my phone as a hot spot so I can use the computer finally! I'll do some back posting to catch up! Stay tuned!!!!

tomorrow

2012-01-04T19:02:00.001-05:00

tomorrow tomorrow i love you tomorrow. you're only a day away.

Rules Schmules

2012-01-03T14:41:00.000-05:00

Under the real estate protection act, once all paperwork is submitted, settlement cannot happen for 48 hours. Thursday morning is the plan. Pray for our sanity.

Did I mention we leave for Disney World Sunday morning?

All Ready!

2011-12-29T16:39:00.000-05:00

The house is ready.

Countertops. Range. Sink.

Carpet.

Malbox. Shutters (will stay blue until spring b/c of temperatures...). Yard.

Fridge was delivered today.

Counters were caulked and wooden accents placed. Floors were cleaned today. They still have incorrect light fixtures in the kitchen but they will be changed when they arrive.

And now, because of the delay in the carpet and countertops the appraiser couldn't make it in time. The loan can't be approved until the appraiser says the house is fit to be occupied.

Maybe in 2012?

So close.. and then the catch.

2011-12-22T20:15:00.000-05:00

Today we had our walk through of the house. It looks amazing. I absolutely can't wait to move in!!!!

BUT...

we won't move on the 28th as planned.

The carpet we special ordered was discontinued and they can't get our second choice here on time.

and...

The counter tops are behind schedule.

The general contractor was very apologetic and shared that his hands are tied. Most sub contractors have reduced their work force and aren't keeping supplies in house as they have in the past. Demand is down and things they used to count on simply don't come as quickly. Everyone was working very hard to make this happen but the subcontractors haven't been able to supply what we need.

So, as disappointed as I am, I understand. We are grateful for what we will be getting and we would rather it be done well than done hastily. We are blessed that we don't "need" to move out and we won't be hindered in any way (other than psychologically!) by waiting another 2 days.

December 30th it is.

Teacher Love

2011-12-21T10:16:00.000-05:00

Noah is in love with his teacher. And personally, I think she is pretty amazing too! She has amazing classroom control, tons of love for the kids, and she is just plain fun!!!! Noah made her this beautiful card yesterday. I love it!!! What a great entry to school for my boy!

Busy Busy House Work

2011-12-20T23:15:00.000-05:00

The workers are moving nonstop on the house. Our walk through is only 2 days away! First this week we saw the stone installed on the front. On the inside they stained the steps and railings and finished the stone fireplace.

Today I drove up and I was stunned to see bushes and trees. I was under the understanding that we wouldn't get any landscaping until spring but since the winter has been so mild they decided to go ahead and do it today!

And then after school I came back today and they were rolling out the sod lawn! It was wild to get a lawn in two hours!!!! It looks so nice!

There is still a lot more to be completed. We saw them carrying carpet inside today. Paul peeked after work and there still weren't counter tops. I know that on Thursday not everything will be 100% done but I haven't seen all of the inside work in a few days and I can't wait!

Christmas Crafts

2011-12-20T22:59:00.000-05:00

Noah and I made a list of people we wanted to give things to and we started out making projects. It has been wonderful thinking of ways to give to others that he can really participate in. If you are a potential recipient I apologize for the spoiler!

We cut toilet paper rolls, spray painted them and turned them into poinsettia ornaments:

We went to the good will outlet and bought tons of wool sweaters, shrunk them in the washer which caused the wool to "felt." We cut them into squares and Noah was able to string them into wreaths. These turned out really nicely and he has a long list of people he wants to give them to!

We took more cardboard rolls and pipe cleaners to make these snowflake ornaments:

And of course we baked tons of cookies!!!!!

The crafts were all found on familyfun.com....

13 days

2011-12-15T10:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the hardwood floor was installed. The cabinets are all in place. All of the light fixtures are up. They put the hardwood landing on the stairwell. The tile as done in the shower and the master bath... eeeeek!!!!!! There is still a lot to do, but Paul said there were a ton of trucks there again today.

5 work days until walk through and 13 days until we settle!!!!

I'm still having a hard time picking hardware for the kitchen... thoughts on antique bronze to match the rest of the hardware in the house or brushed nickel to contrast the dark cabinets... hmmmmm...

15 days to go

2011-12-13T22:17:00.000-05:00

We are so close!!! It gets harder to wait each day. There have been five to ten work vehicles on the property every day. Electricians and masons, flooring specialists and excavators. They have been working well past 6pm each night so we haven't been able to get inside.

As far as we can tell, the kitchen and morning room floors are done, the cabinets are in, some of the exterior lights are on, the driveway has it's first coat, the sidewalks are in, it is painted, the molding is done....

We have our walk through on December 22nd and that is 8 days away!!!! Then we have to wait 6 days until settlement on the 28th. boo!!!

In any case, we are very excited!

Oh and there was a teeny rainbow in the sky today above the house!

Live Nativity 2011

2011-12-13T08:45:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we headed to the Birdsboro Chuch of the Nazarene where I had seen a live nativity advertised. We had an amazing time!

Outside they had lots of animals including goats, sheep, a donkey, a llama, chickens and a dove. There was a live band playing Christmas music, a Santa, and a children's barrel ride. Maeve cried on the whole barrel ride after begging to get on!

Outside there was also an inkeeper running around talking about not having space in the inn.e

When we went inside there was a room with tons of cookies and hot chocolate and a craft. After a snack we headed into the sanctuary to see the live nativity. I was sooo impressed! They had a Mary and Joseph and a real baby. There were shepherds with real sheep, wise men, and more chickens and doves ---- in the sanctuary!!!! It was dark and reflective and all the while a video of the Nativity movie was playing with quotes about Jesus birth. Because for as long as I can remember I have been working during Christmas, I felt like I was hearing the birth story all over again..I loved it. After we sat for a while we decided to leave and Noah begged to stay... so sweet.

We took another look at the animals and then headed out. Each child got several books, silly bands with nativity figures, and crayons. I was very impressed!

We then drove around looking at the lights and enjoying all of the decorations. It was a great Christmas evening!!!!!

Jolly Old St. Nick

2011-12-13T07:54:00.001-05:00

While I absolutely love Christmas I have been hung up on Santa for many years (dating well back into my teenage years). I have always felt that the two stories were in conflict... not historically but because of the consumerism of season and because most people don't focus on Jesus during Christmas. I cringe when I hear parents bribe their children with the naughty list and threaten that their presents will be taken away. Noah asks me a lot of questions now and I was dreading my conversations with him. I really don't want to lie to him and yet I want him to have his own sense of imagination. Last year we told him Santa was imaginary and he was so crushed that I felt terrible.

I had a friend once who believed in Santa longer than all of his friends. One day on the bus everyone surrounded him and told him Santa wasn't real. He still believed. He ran home in tears and begged his mom to tell him the truth. She told him and he was so utterly disappointed in her. Over the next few days he came to believe that Jesus wasn't real either because all he had to go on were stories and didn't have proof. This was a pivotal moment in his faith.

I have also have friends that have gone to great lengths and continued gigantic lies to their kids to keep Santa real... One mom made up a series of lies that she had to keep tripping over.

And another friend's daughter is convinced that children on the Angel tree are naughty because they don't get their presents from Santa. Ugh.

So, this year of course Noah is asking again. And as the season approached I cringed. I just didn't know what to say to him.

So, finally when he asked me one day I told him what I believed.

I told him that a long time ago there was someone named St. Nicholas and he gave presents to boys and girls that didn't have presents because he was kind and good. He had a real sleigh that he drove around in the snow to get to people's houses. Everything that he gave he gave in secret because he loved to help people. He gave gifts because he loved Jesus and believed that God wanted him to share his wealth with others.

Noah got very serious and asked why St. Nick would never come to our house. I looked at him confused and asked him why he would say that. He replied that we already have a lot of toys so St. Nick wouldn't come to us. He asked if St. Nick was still alive today.

I told him that St. Nick died a long time ago but his spirit lives on and the Santa that we see everywhere is the magical spirit of St. Nick that is only alive if you believe in it. That sometimes people stop wanting to do good for others like St. Nick did and sometimes people get greedy and don't want to share or help. But if you always remember that the real "santa" wanted to help because of Jesus then the magic spirit of Santa will always be alive. And that sometimes as you grow up people stop believing in the magic spirit. But always to remember that St. Nick gave because he believed in Jesus.

He looked at me very seriously and said: I will always believe in the magic spirit of Santa, mommy!

So, now it has been really fun. When he saw a few Santas this weekend he said, I know they aren't real mommy but I want to go and sit on their laps! We went to a craft fair on Saturday and there was a giant old fireplace. He ran right into it and looked up the chimney for Santa. He seems to know that Santa is real for him and loves being caught up in the fun of it all. It really truly makes me happy to see his joy, to not squelch his enthusiasm, and also to be able to promote something positive, faithful, and sweet.

Family Fun Night, November 2011

2011-12-12T21:38:00.000-05:00

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we were hanging around and the kids were going stir crazy. We decided on a rare whim to use a coupon for Chuck Cheese for 200 tokens for $10. It was wonderful. It's not really my kind of place and Maeve is really too small for all of the games, but they ran around for hours and played and played. I thought Noah and Paul looked like they were in a band here... so cute!

After we left we were driving around. I showed Noah and Maeve my childhood home in Reading, my elementary school, and other places where I grew up. We took them up to the pagoda which they loved. Except... they kept calling it Kai-lan's house (a popular TV show for children about a girl who is from China!).

It was such a fun night and I love sharing bits of my childhood with my kids!

Maeve's Christmas Pagaent

2011-12-12T09:56:00.003-05:00

This past Sunday, we visited a friend's church. The church was having all the children do a Christmas show for the service, and our friend's daughter was singing in part of it. We though we would put Maeve into the nursery during the service, but found that the nursery children were part of the show as well. They asked if we wanted Maeve to be part of it, and upon asking her, her response was Yes! We didn't think she would actually go through with it, but she did! No screaming, no crying ...

I think something different.

2011-12-06T21:01:00.000-05:00

We are in a stage of parenting where our beloved children are practicing "bickering." It is usually something incredibly ridiculous because it is hard to bicker over a toy when you are strapped into a car seat. And it is hard to take it seriously because Noah can't remember the word and calls it "pickering." But inevitably, Maeve will pick something ridiculous and harp on it. For instance... "Noah, I'm bigger than you are." Which she obviously isn't. Or, "I'm a unicorn" which she obviously isn't. But Noah is living in a world of black and white, right and wrong, and Maeve is living in a world of Me, Me, MEEEEEEE.

It has been hard to tell Noah that he is indeed factually correct while honoring Maeve's wild imagination and not telling her she is "wrong." I continually tell Noah that Maeve can think what she likes as long as it doesn't hurt him. And I have told him that instead of getting mad, he can instead stay calm and say "I think something different and that is okay."

This calm and mature response hasn't exactly won in the car time bickering over silly wonderland phrases.

And then today....

The kids were arguing over who was going to go to the bathroom first when they got home. Noah told Maeve that he was faster and would beat her. She argued that she was faster. Back and forth they went.

Until,

Noah said directly, "Maeve, I think something different and that is okay."

I almost drove off the road.

I gave him a big old satisfied and proud smile and told him that was the right thing to do.

He grinned from ear to ear.

22 more...

2011-12-06T20:46:00.002-05:00

Not that I'm counting!

The front of the house is ready for the stone.
The interior doors and crown molding were put on today.
The outlines for the sidewalks have been set.

It can't come fast enough!!!!!

Camp Gathering November 2011, Welcome Molly!

2011-12-04T22:48:00.000-05:00

We had a very nice get together the Saturday after Thanksgiving with my good old friends from Camp Mensch Mill. We got to welcome beautiful Miss Molly May into the crew. It was wonderful to see the big kids play together and just watch how everyone's lives are growing and changing!

PS, maeve had my camera....

Excited and Anxious!

2011-12-02T22:16:00.000-05:00

26 days. Can you tell I can't wait!

We rented our moving truck, hired day laborers, and asked some friends to help on the 29th. Tonight we bought a new fridge. Our mortgage is all set and we will likely never refinance because I can't imagine a lower rate than what we got.

And... I am super excited because we will have some major quality family time... Christmas Monday Paul has off. Noah has off the whole week. Paul works Tuesday and then has off Wed-Fri to move. He has off the following Monday for New Years. So... from the 24th to Jan. 2 Paul has to work 1 day!!!!

And, then on January 8th we head to Disney for 7 days. So, from Dec. 24th to Jan 15th Paul has to work 5 days.

I. am. so. excited.!!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T00:18:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving was very nice for us this year. We usually host the holiday and so my grandparents were nice enough to let us have it at their home. Many of our relatives came and Paul's mom joined us. It was a warm day outside and very sunny.

The kids were great and I will always remember the morning preparations. We were supposed to get three pies from a fundraiser and something went wrong and we didn't get any! So we needed to make some last minute desserts. As we baked the kids were singing silly songs with Paul at the table and we were all laughing and singing as we prepared for the day. There were several times I had tears in my eyes with the beauty of the moment, trying to absorb all of the goodness around me.

The day was great from beginning to end. People stayed and talked and enjoyed each other. I love it when people mingle for a while and don't rush out.

Noah made some decorations to greet everyone at the door.

And some napkin ring holders.

The pie was one I saw on pinterest taking a cinnamon roll can and cutting it into pieces for the crust. It smelled wonderful but actually didn't taste amazing... it was a bit dry!

Noah and Nana went down to the river for a bit.

And after the night was all over the kids snuggled up with grandma and grandpa to watch Monster v. Aliens on tv. Well, at least for a minute or two!!!

We are blessed!!!

30 Days

2011-11-28T21:28:00.000-05:00

Today the counter on my phone said 30 days... yippeee!!!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday the builders finished the stucco. The front still needs shutters and stone, as well as a sidewalk.

They also finished the drywall installation inside. It still needs to be taped and mudded but it is all up!!! It makes the house seem very different and Noah is bummed that he can't walk through walls anymore!

The kitchen looking into the morning room.

The front door looking into the office.

A ghost in the basement!

December 28th can't come too fast!!! We are all very excited!

House Countdown begins!

2011-11-21T14:11:00.000-05:00

We received a notice that our house will be finished on December 22nd for a walk through! We, however, can't move in until the 28th. But in any case, I am very happy to have a date!!!! 37 days from today. And I know it will go quickly as we finalize items for the mortgage and the move.

Saturday the front of the house was prepped for the stucco.

And the inside was insulated.

Drywall is next!!!!!

Proud

2011-11-17T21:30:00.001-05:00

When we were heading out to some house or another, Noah wanted to remember to take some things. He made a list all by himself. Cat. Dog. Pig. Made his momma proud.

November 15th House Update

2011-11-15T22:10:00.000-05:00

We met with the general contractor today for a pre-drywall standard meeting. He walked us through the house bolt by bolt.

Some of the features are amazing to me. The insulation in the home is amazing and we have heard from neighbors that the heating bills are very low.

It is going to be amazing to have so many outlets! I know this sounds silly but in our last home outlets and light switches were a commodity that we often had to add ourselves!

We found out today that a new fire code has been passed very recently and now they must drywall the entire basement ceiling. This might not sound like much, but he said it was more than $5,000 worth of work. The outside wall of the basement is already drywalled because it has windows and a door and now the ceiling and one wall will all be drywalled. This will help us down the line when we go to finish the basement.

We were able to see where every wire and stud is and we took pictures of every wall. There are many places where we can do built ins and put shelves in, etc. Knowing all of this information will be so helpful to us.

The real piece of information we were waiting for was a settlement date which we did not receive.

The beginning of construction was delayed due to the hurricane in August. This prevented them from putting the road in the development in. Then, just this week and last, they have not been able to get the electric installed in the development because large portions of local crews headed to New England to help with power outages. The development can't get someone to come and make their transformer live. In addition, there is a shortage of wire because of the storm. Weird!

So, what this means for us is that our move in date will be either December 23rd or the week of December 26th. It will likely be the latter. We will know in another week or so for sure. So, I'm pretty disappointed. I was REALLY hoping to be together as just our family for Christmas morning in our new home. Plus, all of our christmas stuff (including carefully chosen pajamas, outfits, stockings, even a beautiful red long Christmas coat in a size 2T for Maeve...etc.) are shoved away somewhere in storage. I am fine with it, just disappointed.

In any case, the house looks beautiful and I will surely sit in shock that it is ours when it is all finished. Just a little more than a month!

Our First Parent Teacher Conference

2011-11-15T21:11:00.000-05:00

Last week we had our very first Parent Teacher Conference with Noah's teacher. It was wonderful!

We have had such an amazing experience so far this year. Noah's teacher, Miss Hanrahan is absolutely wonderful.

She shared that Noah is a total joy to have in class. He is affectionate, caring, fun, and very smart. He is in the high level reading group and is breezing through math. She gives him extra work to keep him challenged and often has him helping other children.

She thanked us for making the trek every day from Birdsboro to Downingtown and assured us it was worth it because Noah has already made strong friendships and connections in the class.

A few funny things:

Noah loves to wink. Miss Hanrahan loves to wink back.

Noah has his longish side swept hair. The teachers giggle about how he sweeps it out of his eyes. One day in circle time he swept his hair out of his eye and hit a girl next to him. She squealed "Noah hit me while he was fixing his hair!" He felt terrible.

Miss Hanrahan has a color system as many teachers do. When she sees a child doing something nice without bragging or telling anyone she moves them to blue. It is rare to be moved to blue and it involves peeking in a locked treasure chest and picking out a special surprise. Noah has been devastated that he hasn't been on blue yet. This actually surprised me because he is always doing things for others. Apparently he does dozens of things that qualify for blue but he always runs and tells her and then she can't give it to him. Poor guy!

Noah is well above average for letter sounds and Kindergarten standards.

It was a wonderful chat.

It is good to hear all of these things because we were nervous for many reasons. Every parent must worry about how their child will do in school!

Great job Noah!

Railroad Day, 2011

2011-11-13T22:08:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful day with girlfriends for my birthday on Saturday. Meanwhile, Paul and another dad Ben took the kids to the Strasburg railroad. They had a blast!

House Progress, Nov. 2011

2011-11-11T21:26:00.000-05:00

We still don't have a final move in date for our house. This week they put up the siding on three sides. The front will be stucco. It looks so much more like a house now! The first and last pictures are from the road which is a rear view.

Family Photos

2011-11-08T10:27:00.000-05:00

We had family photos done last Saturday. There was a $39 groupon for a local photographer. It was a risk but we love them!!!!

You can see them all at http://www.ironorchidphotography.com/gallerynov5.html

Halloween 2011

2011-11-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

Noah picked out a giraffe costume a while ago for Halloween. We tried to get Maeve to get on board with a tiger or other animal that went along with a giraffe. Her consistent answer was "I'm a big girl." She didn't want to pretend to be anything else. I came across this cute pig costume and so I picked for her.

I was excited to be in Reading for Halloween because when I was a child we always went to family and friends and they guessed who we were. Living here allowed us to go to a few of our family and friend's houses. The kids had a great time and of course made out with a ton of candy!

Monsters and Pajamas

2011-11-05T00:31:00.000-04:00

As with many public schools, Noah's school is not permitted to celebrate Halloween. The new principal this year offered instead to make it a school wide pajama day, complete with breakfast for lunch, reading stations, and all sorts of great reading activities. Each child was allowed to wear pajamas, slippers and bring a stuffed animal.

Noah and I picked the perfect jammies and then he wanted me to get a dragon stuffed animal out of storage for him. Of course, this wasn't a possibility for us in our current situation. So, I asked him if I could make him an animal to match his pajamas. He drew a monster and we put it together!!!

He named it monstery and he has been toting it around ever since it was done. It certainly isn't perfect but he loves it so that is all that matters.

Maeve also wanted to participate so we dressed her in pj's and slippers and made her a monster too, which she calls Cutie Pie (but it really sounds like Cooty Pie).

The monsters have become quick favorites. They go in the car with us (and have to be buckled). They sleep with us. They have a special chair in the living room... And I'm so glad!

CHEESE!

2011-11-04T13:36:00.002-04:00

My grandmother has cute little garden bench outside. The kids think it is for them although they are way too big for it! They wanted their pictures taken on it....

More House Pics...

2011-11-02T21:06:00.000-04:00

The morning room...

My bathtub

The hallway looking from our bedroom

Looking down on the family room from the hallway

The stairway

The outside with shingles and windows

Cherry Crest 2011

2011-10-28T13:38:00.000-04:00

Last Friday Maeve and I went on her school field trip to Cherry Crest Farm in Lancaster, PA. I was amazed by how many wonderful things there were to do there! It was great to spend the day with just Maeve and do things that she wanted to do without having to balance older and younger activities.

We sat on tractors and wooden horses, we did some swinging, took a wagon ride, and went down a hay slide.

We spent plenty of time just walking around and enjoying the day. And on the way out we grabbed a Maeve sized pumpkin and a cider donut. Yum.

Apple Picking: Highland Orchards

2011-10-20T14:30:00.000-04:00

We spent a great Friday morning at Highland Orchards. My friend Jen picked it out not knowing it was just minutes from Noah's school and our new house! Perfect! So we played on the playground and then drove out to the apple fields. The kids loved picking (and eating) the apples. We got red delicious and mutsu apples. It was just one of those perfect fall days in Pennsylvania....

2011-10-20T14:14:00.000-04:00

We carved some pumpkins this year. The first two are pumpkins from my grandfather's garden. The neighbor planted some compost seeds and just waited to see what she got. We found about 6-8 pumpkins and the kids carved two. We intentionally made Maeve's with a "screaming" mouth for obvious reasons. Noah put flowers in his pumpkin's hair and it did also have giant sticks for moose ears but i don't know what happened to them.

The second round were leftover from a church event. Paul let the kids draw whatever they wanted. Maeve scribbled and wanted her hand traced so Paul carved that for her. Noah wanted eyes with eyeballs. Paul carved his own as well. It looks awesome at night here!!!!

My Maevey

2011-10-18T21:55:00.001-04:00

She loves to color. She loves books. She is independent and fierce. She is coy and silly. I love her so much and I know that this fierce coloring moment is so fleeting.....

Roof and Walls!

2011-10-18T14:46:00.000-04:00

It was really cool to watch the cranes lift the pieces of the roof up to the top of the house! I love being able to see the progress twice a day since Noah's school is right there.

And today they put plywood on the exterior walls....

58 days!

Peas in a Pod

2011-10-18T14:44:00.001-04:00

These two are cuter than cute. Everything Noah does Maeve wants to do immediately. It's very cute and he doesn't seem to mind. They run in circles around the house, they color together, they tickle each other, and they generally enjoy each other's company.

Of course, the other day Maeve did something he didn't like and he said "I hate you, Maeve." After some time alone I went to talk to him about it. I asked him why he said it... and he said "Annie at school said she hates her sister, so I said it too." Of course he didn't know what it meant. And of course, we are learning LOTS of new words from kindergarten that I am confidant aren't on the reading list!!!!!

2011-10-13T12:59:00.001-04:00

Just as I was thinking half way warm thoughts about how our car has become quite a nice living room/kitchen/dining room/storage unit/bedroom.... as we ate take out chinese and watched Yo Gabba Gabba, I made my daily trek to the new house and saw that we have a structure!!!! I was dancing in my living room with the thought that soon enough I will have a real living room to dance in!!!! The official count is 63 more days.

Everday, October 2011

2011-10-03T20:11:00.003-04:00

Today was an ordinary day but there were just some moments I want to remember.

Paul is away for work so we are flying solo and actually having a blast!

Today on the way home from school we were sitting in the car and Noah kept saying Hula Hula which he said is a line from Barney. Everything I would ask him he would answer Hula Hula. We were all laughing and Maeve chimed in with her new line "No, Jose" which is her understanding of "No way, Jose"!!!! So, Noah is saying Hula Hula and Maeve is saying No, Jose over and over and I saw a giant cloud coming down from the sky (it actually ended up being Limerick power plant in the distance) and I said, Hey it's a tornado!!! Maeve yells "A TOMATO!!!" and Noah says Hula Hula to which I say No, Jose. We kept going between these three and laughing hysterically. Noah also threw in Maeve's other favorite right now "libirdy" which is Maeve's version of library.

When we got home we ran around outside until dinner. After dinner the kids played like crazy, as if they were long lost best friends, for a full hour. I just sat and smiled at their silly games and shenanigans. When it was finally bedtime we ran upstairs and I got their toothbrushes ready for them. I walked out of the bathroom and they shut the door and locked me out!!! They were having fun brushing teeth with out me! I just smiled and enjoyed the moment.

I put the kids to sleep and Maeve wasn't quite ready. I went in to calm her and she asked me to pick her up. As I held her she said "Mommy, I mad with you." I was stunned by her ability to say what she was thinking! I asked her if she wanted another song and she said yes and then she said "All better, night night, I love you!"

After they asked for a million extra forks and cups of water at dinner, Noah asked me if it was hard work being a mommy. I said that it was and I just wanted to sit through my meal, but that it was also wonderful.

I love my little monsters!!

Washington DC 2011

2011-10-02T21:39:00.004-04:00

In April we signed up for a complimentary weekend at the National Harbor Resort in Washington DC from September 9-12. We were so exhausted from the move that we really weren't super excited about sleeping in another bed but it was a great weekend overall.We drove down Friday morning and saw that our hotel was beautiful and right on the Potomac River. We got settled and took a stroll around the harbor. It was so beautiful!!! We had a free meal at McCormick and Schmick's and then we all had Ben and Jerry's at the harbor.

On Saturday morning we headed into the city and were at the Air and Space Museum when it opened. Noah had a cursory interest in the planes and sailed through the museum. He had a small peak of interest in Mars and going to another planet, but for the most part he was not super enthusiastic about much! We did try some Astronaut Ice Cream which both of the kids loved! After the Air and Space we headed to the Natural History Museum which was a completely different story. Noah sprinted from room to room naming the animals and which era they came from. He wanted to see every angle of every creature and he was thrilled to be there. We had a lovely lunch on the National Mall and drove to see if we could spy the new Martin Luther King memorial. We quickly double parked and took turns to go see it. It was very beautiful and inspirational! After that we headed home for naps.

We spent a great afternoon at the amazing pool at the hotel and then we took the ferry to Alexandria for the evening. We walked the beautiful old streets and had a lovely dinner outside. Noah was thrilled to keep tally of the dogs and babies that passed by as we ate. After dinner we had more ice cream, got great balloons from a street vendor and took the boat back home.

Sunday we decided to take it easy and walked around the harbor. The neighboring building was a large convention center that had indoor fountains so we did some shopping and watched the amazing fountain shows.

All weekend our hotel window looked out onto a giant pirate ship that had a zip line and climbing structures attached to it. Noah was begging to go so we looked into it. He wasn't old enough for all of it but he did climb to the top of a 25 ft. light house on a rock wall and got to do some rope climbing. Paul did the zip line and had a blast. In the meantime Maeve and I hit the pool again. Of course, on the elevator back to the room she stripped and refused to get dressed again.

On Monday morning we packed our bags and then headed to the DC Zoo for the day. We had a wonderful time looking at the animals. We are always amazed at how different each zoo is and which animals act differently. The gorillas were amazing at DC and performed all kinds of funny family pranks on each other. The lions were amazing... lots of cubs chased each other and played tag!

After a long long day we finally headed back home!

Hurricane Irene

2011-10-02T19:16:00.001-04:00

In August of 2011 the east coast was visited by the infamous Hurricane Irene. My grandparents house is directly across the street from the Schuylkill River and so we were quite concerned. My grandparents lost their home in 73 with Hurricane Agnes and had major damage in 2006 with Hurricane Isabella. We readied the kids for the storm and told them we would be doing inside activities. But, the night of the storm we stayed awake keeping vigil because of the threats of tornadoes and the rising river water. Then at 4AM the power went off abruptly and woke the kids so we were up for a while then. Needless to say we were exhausted the next day so we sent the kids out with their umbrella hats from the beach. They loved it!!

Home Sweet Home, temporarily speaking

2011-10-02T19:06:00.000-04:00

So, even though we consider ourselves nomads at the time, we have set up quite a nice little home. My grandparents have been very generous with their home. The kids have nice bedrooms upstairs and we have claimed their basement and made it into a studio apartment. We sleep on the futon/sofa and the kids have a play area. It is very good for us... we have everything we need and then some. It is a good reminder to me how little we need to get by and how much "extra" I live with normally. Note, there are not rugs anymore because the flooding caused the floor to be wet so we had to throw them out. We're pretty confidant that our digs are bigger than some NYC apartments!

Living room, bedroom and office:

All of our clothes and toiletries

Dining Room

Maeve's first day of Tots

2011-10-02T17:58:00.003-04:00

Our church has a once a week program called Tots for 2 year olds. I was hesitant to put Maeve in because we are in so much turmoil and I thought adding something new would be hard. But, the class has 8 students and 6 of them have been her nursery buddies since birth, so I thought it would be like a playdate for her. Plus it's free for me as a staff person. Her first day was September 8th.Isn't she cute?!

Dizzy

2011-09-26T07:51:00.001-04:00

At church we were talking about prayer. I was teaching the preschoolers that prayer doesn't have to be a certain way but it is most important that we talk to God openly. I told the children that some people kneel, some open their arms, some lay down and that you can even pray when you are jumping up and down. Noah raised his hand and said, "Mommy, God lives in our hearts, right?" I said, "Yes, Noah" and he said, "If we jump up and down then God will get really dizzy, right?"

House Update

2011-09-22T20:36:00.001-04:00

It's been very hard to blog lately with the crazy life we are trying to lead!

2-3 days a week we stay in Oxford with a very dear friend so that I can go to evening meetings.
The rest of the days we stay in Birdsboro with my grandmother.

On any given day we generally drive from Birdsboro to Oxford and then to Downingtown for Noah to go to Kindergarten for 3 hours. During that time I drive to a wi-fi spot while Maeve naps in the car to do work on my computer. Afterward we either drive back to Oxford or back to Birdsboro! Maeve is generally in the car for 5-6 hours a day.

We are generally eating almost all fast food unless my grandmother cooks for us which she does while we are there. It's been nothing short of exhausting!

However, the kids are finally adjusting and not as wild as they were when this journey started. They have grown to call grandmas house home and only occasionally ask to go "home." We feel very blessed to have some great friends and family helping us with many things right now.

The new house is under way. It is 3 minutes from Noah's school so I can check on it every day. They have dug out the foundation, poured the footers, put stone on the basement floor, poured the garage and put stone on the driveway. There are 3 houses being built at the same time with ours scheduled to be done first. The promised date was December 15th. The weather has been good enough to work in and so we are hoping for a little bit of an early delivery which they said is very possible. We are also looking forward to the 3.6-4.0 interest rates right now! We're hoping they'll hold out a few more months which seems to be a reality.

I'm also very happy that we decided to put Noah in the Downingtown district. He and I are already making friends and we have our first playdate next week with a mom who lives in another part of our community. The time up there is allowing me to figure out the roads and the stores, etc. His classroom is amazing... there are 16 kids with 1 teacher, 2 aides and a student teacher! The school has a laptop for every child to use and so he practices his own login and password. Each room has a smart board (a computer that is interactive and looks like a dry erase board). They have online homework (which we haven't had to do yet) that will chart each child's learning style and capabilities so that the teacher can assess them from their homework easily and provide learning opportunities geared toward each child. They have monthly family nights at the school with movies or bingo or bowling nights out, etc. that we are really looking forward to. So, all in all, it feels good to be really excited about his school considering that was a major factor for our move.

If anything, I miss my friends (new and old) because there simply isn't any time right now for anything. And more than anything, I miss Paul! We see each other for about an hour a night and that is consumed with laundry and bills, as well as organizing our calendar. But we know this is temporary and we can't wait for our new home!!!!

Lewes Day Trip

2011-09-19T13:22:00.000-04:00

Our good friends Doug and Lisa were on the east coast for a few weeks surrounding Labor Day so we took a day trip to see them and relax at the beach. We had yet to meet baby Zane and were excited to see Adin again (of course Doug and Lisa too!) We had a great day in the sun, wonderful food, and the kids played and enjoyed each other's company! I thought Adin was the best baby ever but I think Zane might have him beat!!!

Bunny Slippers

2011-09-02T22:47:00.000-04:00

Boscov's had these cute slippers on sale for $1.99. I couldn't say no!

And then I got pummeled by cuteness.

Atlantic City 2011

2011-08-29T22:52:00.001-04:00

Our beach vacation this year was at Atlantic City, Nj. EVERYONE asked me why we went to AC. We entered a 2 year trial to a Wyndham resort club membership last year and AC was the closest resort we could travel to. We are using the trial for a trip to disney next March but we had a few extra points to do some smaller trips, so that is why we chose Atlantic City. The resort was very nice. A 1 bedroom with a kitchen, dining room, sleeper living room and deck. The master bedroom had a huge soaker jet tub and sink, so it was 1.5 baths total. We were 1 block from the beach and the service was amazing. When we arrived, the valet took our car and a nice man took our luggage right upstairs. The kids were greeted with popcorn and lemonade in the lobby!

Of course it was slated to rain all week so we were a little bummed out. On Monday morning we realized we didn't bring a stroller and so we drove around looking for a place to grab a stroller. It was still raining so we used our Groupon for the Atlantic City Aquarium (which I don't really recommend!). The kids enjoyed all of the things to touch but it was small, crowded, and dingy overall.

We headed down to the beach when it cleared up that night and just walked in the sand.

I tried to get them to pose in front of the pier....

We got in one ride before it started to rain again.

In our welcome kit from the resort we got breathe right strips! Noah insisted that he snores so he HAD to wear them!!!

Modeling the sun glasses...

We finally got to take the kids to the Rainforest Cafe which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. They LOVED it! Animals moving in the walls and thunderstorms every hour!!!

The Atlantic City Boardwalk is NICE!!

The kids had a wonderful time on the beach. They played and played in the sand and on the water. They couldn't have had more fun!! Maeve was still a little too daring but she lived!

On Wednesday we were greeted by the Atlantic City Air Show. All day long from 9-3 planes flew up and down the beach doing tricks. It was absolutely amazing to see what they could do!!!

This is my favorite picture... it captures the essence of my sweet little girl:

Thursday it rained in the morning and so I went to the grocery store while Paul took the kids to the pool. In the afternoon it cleared up and we headed to an empty beach. We had the best time building our sand village complete with a pond for our sea dragon Pixie!

We used a Groupon for a dolphin and whale watching boat on Saturday morning. By that point the kids were exhausted but we did it anyway. We saw lots of dolphins but no whales.

And while there were lulls in the dolphins the kids could play with live animals in a touch tank. It was awesome!

It was really a wonderful week for us to relax together. The best part for me was laughing in bed with everyone jumping and dancing. With the house sold we were able to really get away and think of nothing but our family. What a wonderful week!!!

Noah - 1st day of Kindergarten

2011-08-29T22:30:00.000-04:00

We were without power due to Hurricane Irene, so I couldn't make my special guy a great breakfast! Noah's school was in session, unlike many of our neighbors, which I was glad for. We got up and got dressed and headed out early this morning. We drove to a restaurant and got a huge plate of fruit and chocolate chip pancakes. Noah and Maeve were wonderful and all smiles through breakfast. We drove down to where the school is and waited for our 12:30 PM kindergarten time slot. When we got out of the car all of the families were lined up. Noah was SO excited, he ran right up to the teacher, gave her a hug and ran inside. He never said goodbye! No hug or kiss for this emotional momma! I was so sad, but glad he was so excited.

When I talked to his teacher later she said he was an "angel" and she couldn't wait to spend the year with him. He shared tons of details about an awesome book they read, the snack they had, and all of the new friends he met. I am very happy for him even if I am sad that he is no longer my baby!!!

2 sidenotes:

1. He has a big scab above his lip from a fall off of his bike. He looks a bit like Mussolini.
2. I DID get his hair cut the week before school. The lady cut virtually nothing off! Guess we need to go back again!

Dairy Farm

2011-08-29T22:15:00.000-04:00

When we made the move to Birdsboro our family encouraged us to visit the Oley Dairy with the kids so they could see the animals there. I was stunned by how many animals they had! Over 90 different kinds! I can't say they were that well taken care of but Noah was in his glory. We met up with our Mensch friends Joy and co. and enjoyed lunch and ice cream together.

Berry Picking

2011-08-29T22:04:00.000-04:00

We tried to spend the last days before school doing fun things. Monday morning we headed to Weaver's orchard and picked blueberries and peaches. The kids had a wonderful time! We also took some time looking at the chickens they had there and buying doughnut peaches inside!!!

The promise of a rainbow

2011-08-15T17:12:00.000-04:00

I did a funeral last for a friend from a few years back. On the way to the funeral was a stunning rainbow where every color was clear as could be... For me it was a great way to remember that we don't live in the storm forever.

Playground Happiness

2011-08-14T20:23:00.000-04:00

After the settlement day I decided to just lay low with the kids for a day. We rode bikes and laid around and took long naps. In the afternoon we headed to Gibraltar Playground which is a park I used to go to as a child. The kids had a great time... There was a very cool zip line that Noah kept doing over and over again. After a while they reverted to their normal... Maeve played with mulch and Noah collected nature. Noah was finding "seeds" that were falling off of a beech tree. He found something to collect them in and had a giant pile of them. After a few minutes a butterfly came over and landed on his pouch of seeds and just stayed there. Noah was beyond thrilled.... he was grinning from ear to ear. He asked if we could take it home because he was sure it wanted to be his friend. Sooo... sweet. It flew away and then just a second later it came back and hung out on his shorts. He smiled and said "Mommy, this is the best day ever!!!"

While I was enjoying his moment I remembered a quote I used to have plastered on my bedroom wall and it helped me to know I was in the right place...

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Inside Camping

2011-08-13T22:34:00.000-04:00

So, the last few days in the house were a little crazy! We moved everything on a Saturday and then lived in pack and plays and air mattresses for the next few days until we settled on Wednesday. We did a lot of "make do"

Goodbye glorious old house, pocket doors, wood floors, fireplaces and mantles... we loved you well! The new owners are just lovely and we are excited for their adventures!!!

Transitions

2011-08-10T00:05:00.000-04:00

So, I've mainly kept this on the DL so as not to create any hype. But, it's super official now. We have sold our gorgeous victorian in Oxford. We settle tomorrow. In a VERY short period of time we have moved a ton of crap out of this house and cleaned it and it is vacant. It is our last night here. I am teary eyed at the thought of picking this house as an engaged couple, bringing two newborns home to this place, and just developing and emerging as a family.... but, I am super duper excited for what is to come. We are building a brand spanking new home in downingtown, PA near stores and restaurants and people and LIFE. We will be 1 minute from the train to philly and near tons of people in our same place in life. It is certainly bittersweet. So, in the meantime (before our new home is built) we will be in a giant TRANSITION phase and sort of homeless. yeeee haaw! let the games begin!

RIP Tig

2011-08-03T21:48:00.001-04:00

For Noah's 4th birthday we bought him a self sustaining Frog Environment with 2 African Dwarf Frogs. The disclaimer shared that they had a lifespan of 1-2 years. Noah named them Tig and Tog. Each Thursday he and Paul would feed the frogs, as directed. A few weeks ago we found that one of the frogs had died in the tank. Noah was a bit disturbed but generally okay. A few days later we passed a cemetery and Noah completely broke down sobbing hysterically for about a half hour about Tig (apparently he knew who was who). He was so sad for Tog and so sad that Tig wouldn't be able to swim around anymore and that Tog would be lonely. He really truly was having a terrible time dealing with all of this. I said many things that I have absorbed through my life about heaven and God but I wasn't quite sure about what I was saying. I certainly don't know tough answers when it comes to animals and pets, but I did tell Noah about the wonderful place called heaven. He was a little calmer and then insisted we bury Tig. So, Paul lifted him out of the tank and dug a hole in the back yard and Noah made his tombstone. RIP Tig.

Maeve, 2 Year Visit

2011-08-03T09:46:00.000-04:00

This week Maeve had her 2 year well visit ( a little late!) She was 30 lbs and 3 feet or so... (super accurate)..

The doctor's visit was hilarious. Maeve is 99% potty trained and wanted to be naked for the visit. She refused to keep a diaper or underwear on. She ran around in circles the entire time laughing at herself. When the doctor came in Maeve started talking away and Noah started interpreting for her (which is entire unnecessary). When the doctor told her to open her mouth she did and then proceeded to examine the doctor. The same with ears and nose. The doctor loved the encounter and said it was quite rare to have a 2 year old be so compliant.

As a 2 year old our little girl is quite the talker and speaks in complete sentences that really stun me sometimes. She is very ornery but always with a wide smile on her face. When you instruct her to stop whatever behavior she is doing, she puts herself on the step and moans in a teenage sullen voice, SOOOORY MOM. She pouts and huffs, hides behind doors and under chairs, all to make her point when she is not happy about the situation.

She, along with Noah, LOVE to be out and about and do not like to be home. She often stands by the door and says "In the car!!!"

She is incredibly loving and gives great hugs and kisses and walks around the house saying "love you mom, love you dad" all day long.

She is fascinated by her big brother and wants to do whatever he is doing. If he says "more milk" she says the same. If he has a toy, she grabs it from him yelling "MINE" so she can have a turn. She has a great fondness for purses and shoes (really?) and is not discriminatory... all purses and shoes are created equally whether they are cloth shopping bags or Paul's lawn mowing shoes. At the pool recently she went from blanket to blanket stealing shoes and I had to chase her and return them all!

She has such a strong spirit and she is certainly a fighter and we couldn't love our 2 year old girl any more!!!

Chef Noah

2011-07-22T23:42:00.000-04:00

This week was Vacation Bible School at church. There was a morning PreSchool and an evening PreSchool and Elementary. Because I was working there, Noah attended both. I think my kid was made for this stuff... it's as if curriculum writers are gearing this directly toward him!

The theme was Shake It Up Cafe. The kids learned about 5 biblical festivals and how they were a secret ingredient in God's recipe. It is so awesome to see kids shouting and singing to the Lord, with so much joy in their hearts! Often Noah would come up and I would swirl him around during the opening songs. Noah danced the days away and was really sad when we didn't head back to church today.

Each night after everything was over, I had to make sure each child was picked up and that the church was cleaned up. Noah sat quietly and played with a box of old toys under a table. One night I just stared at him endlessly, thanking God for this amazing son. I wish I could capture some of these moments forever....I wish that I could keep a little secret box of these moments and transport myself back there whenever I wanted.

Also, as a part of the festival for the Last Supper, the kids took their fingerprints and made a cluster of grapes on a stone tile to have their very own coaster. The theme for that day was "Remember Jesus Often." Noah is beyond excited to have his very own coaster to use and recites the theme when he sees it. I hope and pray that he can always have such joy for God!

The Diving Board

2011-07-16T08:49:00.000-04:00

Noah has been doing swimming lessons since 6 months old... 2-3 sessions per year, some summer courses and through it all we have not been able to get him to move into a confidant swimmer. He loves the water but has been too easily distracted.

So, we heard about a friend who tried the program at West Chester University. Their son was deathly afraid of the water and by the end of 2 weeks was swimming happily.

We just completed our two week program and I am very pleased! I thought in my head it would be a sink or swim program where they throw them in and make them figure it out. I was so pleasantly surprised... it was the complete opposite! Each teacher only had 3 students and the entire first day was spent hugging them and swirling them in the water. Another positive aspect was that there were absolutely no flotation devices. At all of his Y lessons their were backpacks that kept them afloat and in my opinion hindered them. So day by day the children gained more trust and confidence. By the end of the first week Noah could swim on his back across the pool. The second week they worked on jumping into deep water and safely getting to the closest wall. They also began the transition from back to stomach swimming but did not push that aspect. They encouraged them on their stomach but each time they got scared or tired they could easily flip to their back to gain control.

The big goal for them was to be able to jump off of the diving board in the university pool. Noah was THRILLED to be able to do this and was able to safely make it back to the wall and climb out. We went to the public pool after lessons on Friday and he kept going off the diving board alone again and again.

It made me cry tears of joy to see his confidence in the water. I had hoped that he would be swimming on his belly across the pool but I feel like the skills he did receive were wonderful. They run the program all summer without advertising and over 1000 kids participate with a 99% success rate for kids being able to swim across the pool unassisted.

It was sometimes challenging for me, however, because I had to sit on cement bleachers for 50 minutes with Maeve each day. Most days she did just fine and colored or played with stickers, but some days she wanted desperately to be in the water! I think we'll have lots of those challenges coming up where she wants to do what he is doing.... but at least she'll have something to strive for!!!

In the meantime, great job Noah, we're proud of you!!!

I Scream, You Scream

2011-07-11T22:49:00.000-04:00

On the fourth of July we went to a picnic at my Aunt Carol's house. She got Longacre Ice Cream!!! It made me so happy to eat Longacre again! It is the dairy right near Mensch Mill, the camp I used to attend. The kids loved it too!!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Maeve! Lollipop Party!

2011-07-04T20:03:00.000-04:00

My sweet baby girl turned 2 on June 20th and last Sunday we celebrated her birthday with a Lollipops and Polka Dots Party!

Maeve lots lollipops. I know they are terrible for kids and we try our best to avoid them, but this child is truly obsessed! She calls them "lollitops" and they bring her such joy! So, we decided to run with what she liked for her party. Her invitations were lollipops announcing the date and time.

The sweets table was set up with a lollipop tree, sugar cookie lollipops, cake pops, oreo pops, dum dum cupcakes, lollipops and lots of other sweets!

The party was from 2-5 so Maeve was still sleeping when everyone showed up. We ended up waking her eventually but she wasn't interested in waking up! She hid on the hammock for quite a while.

I gave her some time but when she didn't snap out of it I asked her if she wanted a lollipop and she bounced right up! Look what an oreo on a stick will do for you!

Maeve was a happy camper most of the day. She ran from person to person and shared her charm. We finally sang Happy Birthday to her and she was happy to eat her cake. Of course she then said Happy Birthday to everyone at the party!

In addition to the sweets table we tried to stick with the theme. For food we had meatballs on a stick with thai peanut sauce, marinara sauce, or sweet and sour sauce. This was AMAZING. It sounds so simple, but by putting some meatballs on kebab sticks it changed the whole dynamic of the meatball. We went through an enormous amount of meatballs because people could take a stick and walk around. There was less mess and more ease. I will always serve meatballs this way in the future!

In addition, we had round food... blueberries, grape tomatoes, grapes, and oranges.

After cake it was time for Maeve to open her presents. I think she has gotten used to getting owls because she guessed owl for every present! She loved this little horsey from her great grandma. It was filled with quarters which Maeve quickly decided to eat!

She got cute nesting owls homemade by Tiara Yaz!

Happy "sweet" birthday to my amazing 2 year old girl!!!!!!

Jamaica 2011

2011-06-28T22:43:00.000-04:00

From June 13-21 I spent my time in Spur Tree Jamaica. We traveled with 19 people from OPC to do mission in this remote village in the center of the tropical Island. This was no beach vacation!!!!

We arrived in Montego Bay on June 13th to be picked up by a rackety bus that would drive us for almost 4 hours on tiny roads riddled with potholes on back mountains. It was a treacherous ride to say the very least.

When we arrived at our church camp we were pleasantly surprised. It was a gorgeous plot of land high in the mountains with very adequate facilities. The rooms were tiny but it was just fine. There were over 100 teens attending this trip from various churches throughout the US.

Below is the basketball court which was a favorite gathering place for everyone!

We settled in the first night and braced ourselves for the week ahead! Our group was broken up between 10 different work groups all with different jobs. My job was a pastor's house at a church (Wales New Testament Church). We were building the house so that the church would no longer have to pay rent for their pastor to live. The house was high on a hill overlooking the church and the valley. We carried 5 gallon buckets of cement and cinder blocks all week long. It was very hard work but it wasn't complicated. It just took some mental stamina to keep up.

This is the manse we were working on:

The church had a preschool for children 3-5 and so we were serenaded all day with their songs: Jesus Loves me and He's Got the Whole World.When the children saw us they would come running with shouts "White People!!!" as many of them had seen very few white people. They wanted to touch our hair and hold our hands. It was very very sweet!!

The above picture is the view from the manse. The water is a standard pool that most buildings have to collect rain water. Almost all homes use some form of rainwater for all water needs.

The picture below is the room we created this week. It is a water tank. It will go underneath a bathroom and allow water that is collected to be pumped up. We kept calling it a pit and were corrected because a pit is where you go #2 outside. Wonderful!

Julie, Turner and I on the worksite. Notice all of the bars hanging out of the house. Almost every home in Jamaica had these bars because almost none of the homes are finished! The re-bar helps them to line up the next room they will work on. Homes are built one room at a time and could take 10 years to finish. Families do not have mortgages, but instead work on their homes as they can afford supplies. We were told that the work that we did will equal to four years labor for the families we helped.

On Saturday we had a 3 hour trip on the same buses to the coast. We spent the morning climbing the falls at Dunn's River which was awesome! This is a stock photo because it was too hard to take a camera with you!

The falls cascaded like this for about 1/4 mile and you start at the bottom and hike up.

Many of the kids did them over and over. I found my spot on the beach by the blue carribbean sea!!!

After we left the falls we took a bus into the city of Ochos Rios and visited a local market. We had a nice leisurely lunch by the beach and got to barter for our goods.

Sunday morning we got up and headed to the local church. Church began at 11AM and we were home by 3 (and it was a 5 minute walk!). It was a similar style of worship but slower and more impromptu singing. Everyone was exhausted from the week and so church was rough!

Here is our group shot before church:

Each night while we were there we had awesome worship and preaching. We were visited by local preachers, we had adults share messages, college kids share testimonies, lots of great music... it was very meaningful. The Son Servants organization has a practice of doing foot washing on the last night as a way of humbling yourself to be a true servant. It was wonderful...

The trip was really meaningful for me in many ways. I loved being a part of another culture for a little bit. I loved seeing so many kids grow in their faith and make new commitments to Jesus Christ. I was able to really spend time in devotion and prayer.

Some other random observations

I didn't eat for most of the trip. We had a lot of soggy meat and cheese bread for breakfast which I passed on. One day we had anchovies mixed with eggs. Lunch was always PB and J. Dinner was white rice and some sort of mystery bony meat. I ate white bread and white rice all week.

The soil was red. My legs were so stained that no matter how hard I scrubbed it didn't come off.

Water really does run out. On day 2 we ran out of water in the camp. That meant no toilets, sinks or showers. They managed to get it running again but we had depleted almost all of their resources with our overconsumption.

Our worst possessions were the Jamaicans dreams. We donated our nasty work clothes and 4th string shoes on the last day. No matter how gross or how many holes the items had they were snatched up as if they were designer clothes. The head mason on my worksite had shoes with no toes or heels because they had worn away. Poverty was a way of life.

We visited an infirmary which is the bottom run of the social ladder. This is where people go to die. We each had to take a day and visit with the residents, sing with them, read them the Bible and pray with them. This was very challenging for many of us as most of the residents were straight out of a World Vision commercial. But what we all learned was that each person has a sweet spirit and needs love and care. A blind lady named Linda hugged me for an hour and told me she loved me. A sweet man named Herbert sat blind in both eyes with his bags packed waiting for someone to pick him up. But, if even for a tiny bit of time, we fulfilled the commandment to care for the sick and the outcast. One of our young men struck up a game of baseball with the men... I wasn't there that day but I imagine that it was a dream come true for those neglected gentelmen.

I am still struggling to reintegrate. I'm trying to make some more time for quiet in my life... less time for facebook and my iphone. I'm trying to seek the joy that so many Jamaicans had that evades so many Americans. I'm trying to think again about how to appreciate my life and how to teach my children to appreciate their lives. The gap between the cultures is astronomical.... there is no way to even dream about finding middle ground, but my hope and my prayer is that wherever my heart lands after this trip that it will be closer to the God who gave me this amazing life to live.

A warm send off

2011-06-12T21:27:00.000-04:00

Well, I leave in the morning for 9 days on a mission trip in Jamaica. I made a video for Paul to show the kids if they get sad. Toward the end, Paul must have been bummed he wasn't included...

Sweet Summer Days

2011-06-05T22:12:00.000-04:00

My kids love to be outside!! It is really fun to play in the yard and enjoy all of our fun toys. Noah can now swing on his own, rather high! Maeve loves to climb and can do the rock wall on the swing set by herself (eek). She is enough confidence for a 16 year old! I caught some silly pics of them on the swingset last week, Enjoy!

Memorial Day Camping 2011

2011-06-01T23:01:00.000-04:00

We went camping over Memorial Day with 2 other families at Muddy Run. This is the same campground I used to go to as a child and I didn't remember anything!!! It was super fun to get away and be in the woods for the weekend!

We arrived Friday around 3 and at first it was just the kids and I. I set up the 10 person tent all by myself! It was HUGE and some guys next door offered to help. I said no, that I could do it alone and they laughed at me. But I did it!!!

We threw some quick dinner together when everyone else arrived, got the kids their first marshmallows and called it a night!

Maeve was very mad that she couldn't roast a marshmallow.

We forgot to pack Maeve's pack and play and she has never slept in a bed. We thought we'd give it a try as the tent has 3 rooms, but she wasn't in on the plan. She thought it was party time....and that is an understatement. She ran from room to room laughing hysterically yelling " I LOVE YOU MOMMY!!!!" It was cute for a while but at 4 am when everyone was still awake I decided to just drive home. We were only 25 minutes away and I just couldn't deal! So I took her home and she slept until about 9AM when I came back to camp.

We picked our campsite carefully. We were right next to the playground and our sites were on a circle. We thought this would help with the kids being occupied and it worked wonderfully!!! They rode their bikes the whole weekend and played in the sandbox for hours upon end.

We pulled out the bike trailer and Paul took the kids for some rides.

Here is Maeve and Toby last year:

We relaxed a lot on Saturday. The kids just played and we sat on chairs and talked.

We made hobos and corn on the cob for dinner and banana boats for dessert -- YUM!

Saturday night went much better with Maeve because she had her pack and play and she was exhausted. Sunday morning we woke up and I made pancakes. I was chatting away with Paul and I went to shake the pancake batter and realized the lid wasn't on!!!! It doesn't look so bad here but I was covered!!!

Paul asked his mom to revive their old camp stove so we could use two and it started right up!!

A few of us went to the church service on site and though the service was severely lacking in a million ways, the view was great. The kids were excited and confused about church being outside.

After church we headed back and stopped at a different playground. All of the adults played too and it was so fun to swing and slide with the kids. We ate lunch and then geared up for the big lake trip. A few of us went in a motor boat while others went in a canoe. The ride was adventurous to say the least! We did see some awesome turtles along the shore and a bunch of baby geese.

When we came back on shore Paul worked with the kids on fishing. They were very excited but they wanted to catch a fish big enough for dinner and so they were a bit bummed when they didn't catch anything.

It was blazing hot so a quick stop for "blue goo" ice cream cooled us down! The bigger kids went deeper into the woods to find a better fishing spot while we took Toby and Maeve home to get ready for dinner. We got out the baby pool and they splashed to their hearts content. Their laughs were so loud and innocent... and they were happy to be free of their older siblings controlling them!

Finally everyone returned. We gave the kids a quick meal and then tried to do sparklers which was an epic fail. The kids were too tired. The sparklers wouldn't light. Noah touched his sparkler with his finger, burnt his finger, threw the sparkler into a pile of dry leaves... Toby got burnt as well. Drama was everywhere!!! So, we hurried the little ones to bed again!

We had a great adult ginger wasabi steak dinner, baked potatoes, grilled veggies, and peach dump cake for dessert. We all sat together and toasted to great friends and a wonderful weekend!

We woke up Monday and tore down our campsite. The kids biked and played one last time. I had a wonderful time and I can't wait until the next trip!!!!

PreSchool Graduation

2011-06-01T14:47:00.000-04:00

Noah has spent the last two years at Oxford Community PreSchool, the school in our church. He has really enjoyed learning here and has made some wonderful friends. His progress has just been unbelievable this year... to see him go from ABC's to words to reading... to see him go from counting to 10 and then to 100 and then to simple math. He has grown socially in his ability to read his peers and make good choices.

Throughout this year Noah has planned marriages to three girls, winked his way out of trouble, and charmed everyone in his path. As always, he keeps us on our toes.

My little munchkins before we headed over to the church.

Walking in to "Let them be little" by Billy Dean.

The kids lined up and sang us a bunch of songs and they were very very cute!

Near the end the kids each put on these rainbow glasses and sang "I've got peace like a river."

After the presentation the kids sat down and were each called forward to receive a book and a certificate. Almost none of the kids were listening to their names and one girl was in hysterics because she wasn't called early on. It was very cute to see that they were still preschoolers!

After the graduation all of the families headed downstairs for snacks and a display of all of the wonderful art. Congrats buddy, off to Kindergarten!!

5 year old visit

2011-05-25T21:09:00.000-04:00

Noah had his visit to the doctor last Friday for his check up. This was the first year he was really aware of what was going on and a little nervous.

Our appointment was bright and early and he did great with the vision and hearing. The nurse asked him to take off his shirt for the doctor and he refused and went wild. We finally convinced him to do it and when the doctor came in he was his usual chatterbox. He was in perfect health from head to toe which is a huge blessing and not something that I take for granted at all.

I had warned him that there would be some shots at this visit because Kindergarten requires them. Oddly he wasn't phased by the shots. Taking his shirt off was a much bigger deal! He got 4 Snoopy bandaids which made him very happy.

Luckily his best buddy Zoe was also at the doc at the same time so we all went out for donuts to ease the pain!

Noah weighed in at 44 lbs and a little more than 3.5feet. He is now down to the 50-60%tile and is quite the skinny little thing.

We have noticed that his friends are far surpassing him in clothing sizes. He was wearing 3T shorts the past few days! He needs a 5T in pants for the length but they often fall down. He is still in 4T-5T tops and drowns in the XS boys clothing. We were surprised to find out that some of his best buds are in 6's and 7's already. It is so amazing to see that the little baby everyone called butterball is so thin!

I'm sure he'll have a growth spurt coming up but I'd like to keep him small as long as possible!!!

Duck for President

2011-05-22T22:34:00.000-04:00

Last week Noah and I ventured with his PreSchool to go to the DuPont Theater to see Duck for President. It was very exciting for us! Noah and I went alone into Wilmington all dressed up. We entered the grand DuPont hotel and looked for the theater which was beautiful! As we sat and waited I was so grateful to God for the amazing experiences I get to have with my kids. I feel so blessed!

The show was a culmination of a few children's books brought to life to try to convince a young boy interested in video games to return to reading. Essentially it was a series of "shorts." The titles were: Duck For President, Fancy Nancy, Pirates Don't change Diapers, I have to Go, Babymouse: The Musical and Alfred the Worst Monster Ever. The website called it a "storysalad!"

Noah loved each show and he said that the Pirates who don't change diapers was his favorite. My favorite was Fancy Nancy.

What a great day!

An interesting take on Parenting

2011-05-18T15:30:00.000-04:00

This article was posted on Facebook yesterday. I praise my children a lot and I feel that it provides a warm environment for them and is encouraging. However, I agree with many of these concepts. I don't recall such excessive praise as a child. I do recall having an understanding that my part in the family and the community was a duty and not rewarded as exceptional. Straight A's or a special award were commended highly and I always knew that my parents were very proud of me but I wasn't coddled through every experience. I think I'll probably be more careful about empty praise.....

Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!"

By Alfie Kohn

NOTE: An abridged version of this article was published in Parents magazine in May 2000 with the title "Hooked on Praise." For a more detailed look at the issues discussed here -- as well as a comprehensive list of citations to relevant research -- please see the books Punished by Rewards and Unconditional Parenting.

Para leer este artículo en Español, haga clic aquí.

Hang out at a playground, visit a school, or show up at a child’s birthday party, and there’s one phrase you can count on hearing repeatedly: "Good job!" Even tiny infants are praised for smacking their hands together ("Good clapping!"). Many of us blurt out these judgments of our children to the point that it has become almost a verbal tic.

Plenty of books and articles advise us against relying on punishment, from spanking to forcible isolation ("time out"). Occasionally someone will even ask us to rethink the practice of bribing children with stickers or food. But you’ll have to look awfully hard to find a discouraging word about what is euphemistically called positive reinforcement.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, the point here is not to call into question the importance of supporting and encouraging children, the need to love them and hug them and help them feel good about themselves. Praise, however, is a different story entirely. Here's why.

1. Manipulating children. Suppose you offer a verbal reward to reinforce the behavior of a two-year-old who eats without spilling, or a five-year-old who cleans up her art supplies. Who benefits from this? Is it possible that telling kids they’ve done a good job may have less to do with their emotional needs than with our convenience?

Rheta DeVries, a professor of education at the University of Northern Iowa, refers to this as "sugar-coated control." Very much like tangible rewards – or, for that matter, punishments – it’s a way of doing something to children to get them to comply with our wishes. It may be effective at producing this result (at least for a while), but it’s very different from working with kids – for example, by engaging them in conversation about what makes a classroom (or family) function smoothly, or how other people are affected by what we have done -- or failed to do. The latter approach is not only more respectful but more likely to help kids become thoughtful people.

The reason praise can work in the short run is that young children are hungry for our approval. But we have a responsibility not to exploit that dependence for our own convenience. A "Good job!" to reinforce something that makes our lives a little easier can be an example of taking advantage of children’s dependence. Kids may also come to feel manipulated by this, even if they can’t quite explain why.

2. Creating praise junkies. To be sure, not every use of praise is a calculated tactic to control children’s behavior. Sometimes we compliment kids just because we’re genuinely pleased by what they’ve done. Even then, however, it’s worth looking more closely. Rather than bolstering a child’s self-esteem, praise may increase kids’ dependence on us. The more we say, "I like the way you…." or "Good ______ing," the more kids come to rely on our evaluations, our decisions about what’s good and bad, rather than learning to form their own judgments. It leads them to measure their worth in terms of what will lead us to smile and dole out some more approval.

Mary Budd Rowe, a researcher at the University of Florida, discovered that students who were praised lavishly by their teachers were more tentative in their responses, more apt to answer in a questioning tone of voice ("Um, seven?"). They tended to back off from an idea they had proposed as soon as an adult disagreed with them. And they were less likely to persist with difficult tasks or share their ideas with other students.

In short, "Good job!" doesn’t reassure children; ultimately, it makes them feel less secure. It may even create a vicious circle such that the more we slather on the praise, the more kids seem to need it, so we praise them some more. Sadly, some of these kids will grow into adults who continue to need someone else to pat them on the head and tell them whether what they did was OK. Surely this is not what we want for our daughters and sons.

3. Stealing a child’s pleasure. Apart from the issue of dependence, a child deserves to take delight in her accomplishments, to feel pride in what she’s learned how to do. She also deserves to decide when to feel that way. Every time we say, "Good job!", though, we’re telling a child how to feel.

To be sure, there are times when our evaluations are appropriate and our guidance is necessary -- especially with toddlers and preschoolers. But a constant stream of value judgments is neither necessary nor useful for children’s development. Unfortunately, we may not have realized that "Good job!" is just as much an evaluation as "Bad job!" The most notable feature of a positive judgment isn’t that it’s positive, but that it’s a judgment. And people, including kids, don’t like being judged.

I cherish the occasions when my daughter manages to do something for the first time, or does something better than she’s ever done it before. But I try to resist the knee-jerk tendency to say, "Good job!" because I don’t want to dilute her joy. I want her to share her pleasure with me, not look to me for a verdict. I want her to exclaim, "I did it!" (which she often does) instead of asking me uncertainly, "Was that good?"

4. Losing interest. "Good painting!" may get children to keep painting for as long as we keep watching and praising. But, warns Lilian Katz, one of the country’s leading authorities on early childhood education, "once attention is withdrawn, many kids won’t touch the activity again." Indeed, an impressive body of scientific research has shown that the more we reward people for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward. Now the point isn’t to draw, to read, to think, to create – the point is to get the goody, whether it’s an ice cream, a sticker, or a "Good job!"

In a troubling study conducted by Joan Grusec at the University of Toronto, young children who were frequently praised for displays of generosity tended to be slightly less generous on an everyday basis than other children were. Every time they had heard "Good sharing!" or "I’m so proud of you for helping," they became a little less interested in sharing or helping. Those actions came to be seen not as something valuable in their own right but as something they had to do to get that reaction again from an adult. Generosity became a means to an end.

Does praise motivate kids? Sure. It motivates kids to get praise. Alas, that’s often at the expense of commitment to whatever they were doing that prompted the praise.

5. Reducing achievement. As if it weren’t bad enough that "Good job!" can undermine independence, pleasure, and interest, it can also interfere with how good a job children actually do. Researchers keep finding that kids who are praised for doing well at a creative task tend to stumble at the next task – and they don’t do as well as children who weren’t praised to begin with.

Why does this happen? Partly because the praise creates pressure to "keep up the good work" that gets in the way of doing so. Partly because their interest in what they’re doing may have declined. Partly because they become less likely to take risks – a prerequisite for creativity – once they start thinking about how to keep those positive comments coming.

More generally, "Good job!" is a remnant of an approach to psychology that reduces all of human life to behaviors that can be seen and measured. Unfortunately, this ignores the thoughts, feelings, and values that lie behind behaviors. For example, a child may share a snack with a friend as a way of attracting praise, or as a way of making sure the other child has enough to eat. Praise for sharing ignores these different motives. Worse, it actually promotes the less desirable motive by making children more likely to fish for praise in the future.

Once you start to see praise for what it is – and what it does – these constant little evaluative eruptions from adults start to produce the same effect as fingernails being dragged down a blackboard. You begin to root for a child to give his teachers or parents a taste of their own treacle by turning around to them and saying (in the same saccharine tone of voice), "Good praising!"

Still, it’s not an easy habit to break. It can seem strange, at least at first, to stop praising; it can feel as though you’re being chilly or withholding something. But that, it soon becomes clear, suggests that we praise more because we need to say it than because children need to hear it. Whenever that’s true, it’s time to rethink what we’re doing.

What kids do need is unconditional support, love with no strings attached. That’s not just different from praise – it’s the opposite of praise. "Good job!" is conditional. It means we’re offering attention and acknowledgement and approval for jumping through our hoops, for doing things that please us.

This point, you’ll notice, is very different from a criticism that some people offer to the effect that we give kids too much approval, or give it too easily. They recommend that we become more miserly with our praise and demand that kids "earn" it. But the real problem isn’t that children expect to be praised for everything they do these days. It’s that we’re tempted to take shortcuts, to manipulate kids with rewards instead of explaining and helping them to develop needed skills and good values.

So what’s the alternative? That depends on the situation, but whatever we decide to say instead has to be offered in the context of genuine affection and love for who kids are rather than for what they’ve done. When unconditional support is present, "Good job!" isn’t necessary; when it’s absent, "Good job!" won’t help.

If we’re praising positive actions as a way of discouraging misbehavior, this is unlikely to be effective for long. Even when it works, we can’t really say the child is now "behaving himself"; it would be more accurate to say the praise is behaving him. The alternative is to work with the child, to figure out the reasons he’s acting that way. We may have to reconsider our own requests rather than just looking for a way to get kids to obey. (Instead of using "Good job!" to get a four-year-old to sit quietly through a long class meeting or family dinner, perhaps we should ask whether it’s reasonable to expect a child to do so.)

We also need to bring kids in on the process of making decisions. If a child is doing something that disturbs others, then sitting down with her later and asking, "What do you think we can do to solve this problem?" will likely be more effective than bribes or threats. It also helps a child learn how to solve problems and teaches that her ideas and feelings are important. Of course, this process takes time and talent, care and courage. Tossing off a "Good job!" when the child acts in the way we deem appropriate takes none of those things, which helps to explain why "doing to" strategies are a lot more popular than "working with" strategies.

And what can we say when kids just do something impressive? Consider three possible responses:

* Say nothing. Some people insist a helpful act must be "reinforced" because, secretly or unconsciously, they believe it was a fluke. If children are basically evil, then they have to be given an artificial reason for being nice (namely, to get a verbal reward). But if that cynicism is unfounded – and a lot of research suggests that it is – then praise may not be necessary.

* Say what you saw. A simple, evaluation-free statement ("You put your shoes on by yourself" or even just "You did it") tells your child that you noticed. It also lets her take pride in what she did. In other cases, a more elaborate description may make sense. If your child draws a picture, you might provide feedback – not judgment – about what you noticed: "This mountain is huge!" "Boy, you sure used a lot of purple today!"

If a child does something caring or generous, you might gently draw his attention to the effect of his action on the other person: "Look at Abigail’s face! She seems pretty happy now that you gave her some of your snack." This is completely different from praise, where the emphasis is on how you feel about her sharing

* Talk less, ask more. Even better than descriptions are questions. Why tell him what part of his drawing impressed you when you can ask him what he likes best about it? Asking "What was the hardest part to draw?" or "How did you figure out how to make the feet the right size?" is likely to nourish his interest in drawing. Saying "Good job!", as we’ve seen, may have exactly the opposite effect.

This doesn’t mean that all compliments, all thank-you’s, all expressions of delight are harmful. We need to consider our motives for what we say (a genuine expression of enthusiasm is better than a desire to manipulate the child’s future behavior) as well as the actual effects of doing so. Are our reactions helping the child to feel a sense of control over her life -- or to constantly look to us for approval? Are they helping her to become more excited about what she’s doing in its own right – or turning it into something she just wants to get through in order to receive a pat on the head

It’s not a matter of memorizing a new script, but of keeping in mind our long-term goals for our children and watching for the effects of what we say. The bad news is that the use of positive reinforcement really isn’t so positive. The good news is that you don’t have to evaluate in order to encourage.

Copyright © 2001 by Alfie Kohn. This article may be downloaded, reproduced, and distributed without permission as long as each copy includes this notice along with citation information (i.e., name of the periodical in which it originally appeared, date of publication, and author's name). Permission must be obtained in order to reprint this article in a published work or in order to offer it for sale in any form. Please write to the address indicated on the Contact page at www.alfiekohn.org.

http://www.alfiekohn.org/parenting/gj.htm

A week of Hope

2011-05-18T15:21:00.000-04:00

A long ago Mensch Student, Brianna is now a married grown up... so hard to believe that people keep growing up even if you aren't around to see it! I watch her from faraway on Facebook and noticed she has a blog. Her church is doing a mission fundraiser called Week of Hope where everyone who signs on eats beans and rice all week long and donates what would have been spent on groceries to those in hunger. I loved her insights and reflections. Sometimes we need others stories to ground us and recenter us. Thanks Brianna!!!

http://jeremiahandbrianna.blogspot.com/

Pittsburgh 2011

2011-05-15T20:00:00.000-04:00

We were invited to the commissioning of a friend of ours into the Marines. Jamie was a student of mine at our first church. I confirmed him and he also went on to be part of the Mensch Mill Committee which was something that was near and dear to me. The entire Derr family has always had a special place in our hearts and we miss them dearly. But, as this weekend proved, time and distance don't matter when you are truly friends at heart!

We headed out Friday night after Paul was done work and arrived around midnight. Our hotel was nasty! We booked it on expedia and there was a night club attached and all of these completely drunk people wandering around the parking lot. When we got to our room it smelled like a deep fryer and it was just gross!

We woke up Saturday and headed to the Soldiers and Sailors Museum bright and early. I was waiting for Paul to park the car and Jamie walked up the steps. He was HUGE! He was no longer a skinny kid but instead had grown into a robust and strong man. I was shocked by his stature, but seeing him in his marine uniform brought tears to my eyes for the magnitude of his accomplishment. We sat through the ceremony and watched with pride as he was commissioned.

We felt so blessed to be invited to this event. We were there for their older daughter Ali's commissioning into the Navy a few years back.

After the event we waited outside to see the new officers head out for their reception. The kids were trying to be patient, but there were too many places to run and climb!

When the new officers came out we got some pictures with Jamie and tried to recreate one that happened a few years ago with Ali

After the commissioning we headed to the Pittsburgh Zoo which was really awesome! It was such a nice sprawling zoo with a wonderful array of animals. There were 9 gorillas and 2 elephants and a baby elephant! We had a fabulous time at the zoo... it was the perfect size.

We rented a cart for Maeve to sit in since we didn't bring a stroller. She sat it in almost the whole time but she took a turn in charge (go figure)

The zoo in Pittsburgh also has an aquarium that recently added these AWESOME tunnels where you get to walk under the sharks and polar bears! It was very very very cool!

Noah got to pet a stingray

And in the snake house there was a giant Baobab tree replica. There was an exhibit about how this tree hosts so many forms of life. The children were able to climb up and slide down a tunnel inside the tree!!!

After the zoo we headed back to the french fry room for some down time and to get ready for dinner. The Derr family along with two other families were hosting a nice meal for 3 of the graduates at a local restaurant. It was really really fun to spend time with their family and to talk to Jamie some more about his accomplishments.

I had heard that he was going to be a pilot in the marines. When I asked him about it he told me that he was given choices of what he would like his post to be after graduation. One of the choices was to be a back seat #2 pilot. He decided NOT to apply for this position because he wanted something better. He told me that he knew this was a risky choice and he might end up with nothing he really wanted. A few weeks later a General in the marines called him! He was invited to fill one of 7 open positions nationwide to be a Marine pilot (front seat). Of course he said yes!

At the meal a lot of wonderful memories and stories were shared from the friends and family. I was so happy for Jamie and his accomplishments and just so excited to see the amazing man he had developed in to.

When it came time for the cake cutting the guys were invited to get their swords and cut the cake together! So cute!!!

We couldn't think of a good gift for a young man entering the marines and thought we'd just give him money. One night Paul and I came up with the idea that since he was going to be a pilot we would fold the money into paper airplanes. Lo and Behold there was a book about how to fold dollars into 50 different kinds of planes! This was the perfect gift for Jamie. Paul did all of the folding, but it turned out wonderfully... these were very intricate origami folds!

The kids were great the dinner and so we really enjoyed this time with the Derr's.

We headed to bed after a long and full day.

Today we woke up and wanted to do some more things in Pittsburgh but the weather was iffy. We promised Noah we would ride on the train and so we headed to the Duquense Incline. They LOVED it!!!

Watching some cartoons while we packed... they are so stinking cute!!

Noah excited to go on the train!

Just generally happy!!

The Duquesne Incline is from 1877 (eek!) and is the oldest running incline in the states. I have been on it before but it was super fun to see the kids excitement about being so high up!

We considered doing some other things but it was yucky out and so we just decided to head home. The kids fell asleep peacefully and we all enjoyed the ride!!!

Thank you Derr's for inviting us!!!

PreK Book

2011-05-13T13:38:00.002-04:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Blogger was going through some maintenance yesterday and it deleted this post. This book is a gift our PreK class made for the teachers and I put it on here so everyone could look at it from our class!!!

Photo Book

2011-05-11T22:51:00.000-04:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Mother's Day Tea

2011-05-08T20:01:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday was a special Mother's Day Tea at Noah's School. All of the moms were invited come at 10:30. We had to wait in the hallway until everyone was there. When we were all present they opened the door and as each mother reached the door her child was there to greet her personally with a carnation. The child walked their mom to a special seat that was decorated with a placemat, a gift, and a card.

Noah was "at my service" and took my order for food and drinks. He kept my drink full and kept getting me more fruit and muffins. It was very very special and very sweet!!!! They kids were taught how to be "waiters" and didn't sit down!

When we were done eating they lined up and sang a bunch of songs and looked directly at their mommy while they were singing. The whole morning was wonderful and there wasn't a dry eye in the room! Even Mrs. Hartman was crying!

We snapped a few pics with his buddies before we left!

Invite

2011-05-04T21:50:00.000-04:00

I forgot to post the invitation with Noah's birthday!

We took the Zoo map from the website and photoshopped Noah's picture and party information onto the map. It looked like a real brochure from the zoo!!! I can't figure out how to make it a picture and upload it though!

Paul and I made the envelopes ourselves and we loved the way they turned out.

Life

2011-05-02T22:21:00.000-04:00

We just trek through day by day, but when you calculate the madness of the days it is quite overwhelming.

In the past week and half, aka 10 days..

We celebrated Easter in worship and with both sides of the family (separately)
Paul got sick and was out for 2 days with a fever
Maeve burst her eardrum, which entailed a trip to the doctor and pharmacy
Noah got carsick and threw up in our car
I got Paul's illness and was out for a day with a fever
Noah had 3 birthday parties, which entailed baking cupcakes, cake and cake balls
We drove 2 hours for the zoo party, each way
We scrubbed the house and staged it for a showing.
I held a youth directed worship service and a major fundraiser
My dad had major knee surgery and I went to Reading to Visit him

And we both worked full time jobs

No wonder we are all exhausted all the time

Zoo Party

2011-05-01T23:02:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we took a long trip to the Lehigh Valley Zoo for Noah's 5th Birthday Party. We looked into the Philadelphia and DC zoos first but they were much more money and basically only included admission and a pavilion. For much less money at LVZ we got a party room, admission to the zoo, lunch, cake, a private tour of the zoo, a gift for each child, and a private experience with 3 animals of Noah's choice (off of a select list) for the kids to interact with. Noah also got a t-shirt and every participant got a return ticket to the zoo.

The weather was perfect and the tour guide was patient with all of our little monkeys. Noah knew all of the animals and was able to answer most of her questions.

Noah picked a ball python, a box turtle and a bearded dragon to look at. The kids were so still and patient. It was awesome in every way for them!!!

Of course a stink bug showed up and they were just as excited about that!

After the formal part of the party was over the kids took another tour through the zoo just to spend some more time with the animals. We saw a snowy owl that could turn it's head all the way around in a circle!

Paul noticed a bird exhibit that we didn't go in with the tour and we headed there. It was an area filled with Lorekeets. You could buy nectar and go into the cage and the birds would eat the nectar out of your cup. It was so wonderful for the kids to do this. They were beyond excited and one even landed on Paul's shoulder!

We also spent a little time rolling down hills

Overall it was a wonderful day. Noah was in his glory surrounded by animals and his best friends. I'm so happy for him and for this love that he has. We are heading to several more zoos this summer and he is counting down the days to the next one! We love you little man!

Family Party for the Five Year Old

2011-05-01T18:36:00.000-04:00

Noah had a birthday party Friday night our house with just our family. It was nice to have a small group together. We had pizza and salad per Noah's request. I tried to make "cake balls" as a trial for an idea I have for later. They didn't turn out quite like I expected but it was fun to try something new.

That's Five, not a hand in your face!!

These were the giant cake balls. They looked like meatballs! Yaz got these cute animal inserts to put with them.

These were the rest of the cake balls. They were YUMMY even if they don't look perfect. You take cake batter, bake it, and then let it cool. After it is cool you break it up into small pieces and add icing to the bowl. You mix it all up and then put it in the freezer. After a little while you melt chocolate and then dip the balls in the chocolate. It is so yummy!!!! It was fun because it was more of a finger food item.

Happy 5th Birthday Noah!

2011-04-27T21:59:00.000-04:00

April 26th was Noah's 5th Birthday! Time has certainly flown by.

We had a wonderful, wonderful day!

When Noah woke up his door was covered in streamers and he was so excited about that. I had a card at his place at the table, chocolate milk for breakfast and chocolate chip banana pancakes to eat. We had made cupcakes the day before to take to school. Noah also got a book/animal combo from Nana for Easter. The animal is named Watson and he is a talking racoon that responds to keys in the stories. It is really cool because it seems like Watson is interacting with the book. Noah's class is studying caterpillars and Watson's book was about caterpillars so he took it in for the day. He felt like the king of the world with his cupcakes and his chance to share Watson.

When school was over Maeve and I were waiting with a big animal balloon for him and we went home and we had his favorite lunch, grilled cheese. We put Maeve to bed and Daddy was home sick. Noah and I went to the bank to cash a check he got from an aunt, we went to the post office to pick up a package from Afi and Amma and then we went for ice cream, just us. He got coconut ice cream with M and M's!

He requested pizza for dinner and so we got that. He played in the yard for hours and then we let him stay up a little later than usual watching his favorite show: Busytown Mysteries.

When it was finally time for bed we laid and talked about the day when I realized we had never given him his gift!!! Paul ran up to the attic to get it for him and he was ECSTATIC! We got him a bean bag chair with his name on it. He put it on his bed and slept on it! When he woke up this morning he carried it with him everywhere!! Maeve likes it too!!!

Easter 2011, Part 2

2011-04-24T21:18:00.000-04:00

We got up early this morning to get ready for our day.

Nana came and joined us for pancakes and worship this morning.

We got our first good family photo in a LONG time!!

We went to church and then afterward we had an egg hunt in our backyard. Maeve gets SO excited for each egg. It is adorable!!!!

We quickly changed and headed to Paul's sister's house for lunch with his side of the family. We lined the kids up for the annual photo!

And then, finally when we got home we sat down to give the kids their baskets from us. Happy Easter!!

Easter 2011, Part 1

2011-04-24T20:58:00.000-04:00

We spent Saturday at my grandmother's house for Easter with my side of the family. I felt that this whole Easter weekend was an amazing gift. The weather was predicted to be AWFUL and each day turned out to be wonderful.

We headed to Reading and the majority of my family was there. The kids were very well behaved. After lunch we headed outside and had a little Easter egg hunt for them. Noah was much older than the other two but once his bucket was full he put them in the other kids buckets. My children received so much stuff!!! We all sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather and the joy of Easter!!

I also got to really take pictures since there were other hands to help with the kids. I haven't been able to do that in a while so I was so happy!!

Sesame Street Live

2011-04-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

One of our good friends offered us an amazing deal to see Sesame Street Live. I think tickets were $10 or $11 each which is a steal! Noah was never really into Sesame Street but Maeve likes Elmo so we thought we'd give it a try for that price.

It was a very weird juxtaposition for me to be there on Good Friday morning as I have spent the past 10 years being mournful at that time. I felt a little guilty and a little odd. When the characters came on, I watched my children's eyes grow wide with wonder and I started to cry. I was so happy for their joy and so happy that they had such a great opportunity. I remembered that God created us for joy and not for sadness and I was able to relax and enjoy it a little bit more.

Maeve was not able to sit still very long but she did well for most of the show. Noah was mesmerized. He got worried every time someone left the stage and he hung on every word. I loved watching him imagine along with the show.

PreK Easter Party 2011

2011-04-24T20:34:00.000-04:00

It was a big week for Noah at school. On Tuesday I was invited to come into his class to teach about resurrection. We had a great time reading the Holy Week Story. Then we made Resurrection Rolls. The kids picked up a marshmallow (Jesus) and dipped it in butter, cinnamon, and sugar (for the spices and oils used in the bible) and then they wrapped him up in a crescent roll (tomb). We took the rolls and put them in the oven for 10 minutes. When the kids opened their rolls the marshmallow had disappeared just like Jesus was not in the tomb. I LOVE seeing the kids faces when the marshmallow isn't there! It was a real joy sharing this time with them.

On Wednesday they had their regular party. The kids got to find eggs that were hidden all over the sanctuary (which was a bit of a mental block for me). It is a marvelous trick they use to give each child an egg carton. When their egg carton is full they are done. So perfect!

Then the kids did a really neat snack where they filled a cupcake wrapper with trail mix of pretzels, chocolate chips and chex, then they put some jelly beans on top for eggs, and peeps on top for birds. It was a nest snack! So Cute!!!

They read a story, sang some songs and then they did spoon egg races. Noah had a wonderful time!

Dyeing Eggs 2011

2011-04-24T20:23:00.000-04:00

We had a fun time dyeing eggs this year. I wanted to try some natural dyes so we took out what we had lying around.... coffee grounds, carrots, strawberries and spinach. We boiled them and then let them cool with eggs in them. They did not turn out very vibrant, but they looked like real birds eggs so that was awesome. Noah loved the experience and he wanted to try every item in the house! We also used a marbelizing kit that Nana gave us. Noah made his nests for the eggs to go in but before we could grab enough sticks it started to rain (AGAIN!)

Almost 5

2011-04-18T13:20:00.000-04:00

Noah turns 5 this month. He is convinced that many of his new abilities are directly related to this milestone. Just this week he has mastered the adult seat belt without help, he has learned to whistle, and he can count to 100 without help. We asked him to go upstairs and change his clothes after church yesterday and told him to pick out whatever he wanted to wear. He squealed with delight... I get to pick my clothes now because I'm almost 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tying shoes is next... any suggestions? I have not had much luck with this yet!!!

PopPop

2011-04-13T22:36:00.002-04:00

Cousins

2011-04-13T22:34:00.000-04:00

I grew up very close to my cousins. We saw each other 10 times a year! Some of my cousins even went to my high school.

My cousin Nathan had a baby about 2 years ago and for matters of circumstance we simply haven't met the little cutie! My aunt worked very hard to plan a day that we could attend and we finally got the second cousins together. It was sweet to see them together. Zak looks JUST like Nathan!

You can see Noah off in the distance picking flowers...

April 12th

2011-04-12T22:04:00.000-04:00

7 years ago today I met my husband!!! On a rainy night we met for sushi and stayed up talking until 3 AM. We both knew that first night that we wanted to be together. It's hard to believe that it was 7 years ago already!!!

I'll always remember the date and that in 2004 -- it was the day after Easter. I always considered Paul my Easter gift that year... a true, honest, and beautiful new beginning.

As we sat through a typically chaotic meal here tonight we grinned at each other with the knowledge of how much our life together has evolved. We had tilapia (unintentionally) and just reminisced about that wonderful night so long ago.

I love you Paul!!!

Me at almost 2

2011-04-10T19:38:00.000-04:00

My mom brought these pictures to show me myself when I was a toddler. We can't believe the resemblance to Maeve!!!

Rita's

2011-04-10T19:29:00.000-04:00

I needed to run a few errands and I thought the kids would be more agreeable with a nice snack. It was sunny and warm this week so I grabbed them some Rita's Italian Ice in Cherry. Maeve looked like a murder victim!!!

Another Good Devotion - God's Pencil

2011-04-10T18:11:00.001-04:00

Weekly Devotional

Featuring a weekly devotional from Daily Guideposts.
April 06, 2011

So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
—Exodus 4:2 (NKJV)
The most popular technology in my classroom is an old-fashioned, hand-cranked pencil sharpener. I have to empty the shavings almost every day.

Who could have predicted that a stick of cedar seven inches long would be so useful for so many years to so many people: writers and editors, teachers and test takers, artists and composers, carpenters and puzzle masters?

Perhaps the greatest virtue of the pencil is its abundance. I’m never more than ten feet from a pencil. Almost three billion of them are manufactured every year in America alone.

The pencil is a good metaphor for one of the most treasured of character traits: availability. If I want to be a more valuable and useful person, I need to be more available.

“Will you teach my Sunday school class while I’m on vacation?”

“Yes, I can do that.”

“Can I talk to you for a few minutes; it’s important.”

“Sure, have a seat.”

“Could you give me a hand with these groceries?”

“You bet.”

I don’t need a college degree, movie-star looks or money in the bank to be more useful. I just need to be handy.

When I say yes , I become a pencil in the hand of God and He can write His story through me.

Yes, God, whatever You want me to do today, the answer is yes .

By Daniel Schantz

Liam the Leprechaun

2011-04-10T18:05:00.000-04:00

Please be warned that this post is inappropriate.

Leading up to St. Patrick's Day, Noah's preschool went all out with a leprechaun named Liam. Liam left footprints all over the church, left gold chocolate coins and leprechaun letters everywhere. When St. Patrick's Day actually came Liam left them a huge pot of gold.

All of the kids in the class have been blaming Liam for EVERYTHING. When Noah is in the car with me he blames Liam when the volume goes down on the radio. When Noah can't find a shoe he swears Liam hid it from him. His teachers tried to tell him that Liam went back to Ireland after St. Patrick's Day but Noah doesn't believe them.

The other night Noah was sitting at the kitchen Island with us. He would not get his hand out of his pants. This is a common problem when he has his pajamas on because he won't wear underwear to bed. So, we kept asking him politely to keep his hands out of his pants. Finally he shrieked in exasperation: I can't!! Liam the Leprechaun is in my penis and he keeps tickling me!!!!

Paul and I had to leave the room.

I texted his teacher to let her know that Liam had not yet gone to Ireland. She thought it was hilarious as well!!!!!

Trendy Heels

2011-04-09T20:21:00.000-04:00

Maeve has the typical toddler obsession with adult shoes. I picked these brand new white heels up for a $1 at the goodwill for a fun outing or for vacuuming (lol). Maeve would not put them down!!!

To the tired and overwhelmed...

2011-04-06T14:40:00.000-04:00

This is stolen from another blog. It is the daughter of a woman at our church who is married to a quadriplegic. We all just came back from our women's retreat and this devotion that she wrote applied to us. Her mom shared it with us and I am sharing it with you!

TO ANYONE WHO'S EVER BEEN TIRED OR OVERWHELMED
I read a story in my bible the other day that I can't seem to get out of my head. It's one that I've heard a thousand times over the years, but it is an encouragement to me today more than it ever has been before. The part I read was in the New Testament, Mark 6: 30-44. To sum up, this is what's happening......

Jesus had 12 men that he hung out with, the disciples. He had sent them out to different areas to help others and they returned to him and told him everything that they had done on their journeys.

"And He (Jesus) said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.".....for they had no time to even eat (because they were helping so many people)."

So they get in a boat to get away from people and "recharge" but crowds of people followed them and found them, 5000 people in total. Jesus felt sorry for the people so He started to teach them.....which meant more work for Him and for the disciples who were already exhausted and hungry. After a while the crowds of people were getting hungry and the disciples told Jesus they had nothing to feed them. He asked them to bring Him WHAT THEY HAD, which was 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Jesus looked to heaven and said a blessing and then divided the food to each of the disciples in order to hand it out to the people

"And they all ate and were satisfied."

After everyone ate the disciples picked up 12 baskets full of leftover pieces.

So here is what that says to me as I think about my role as wife of a man who is quadriplegic with intense chronic pain and recurrent infections and a mommy of twins........

If I do what Jesus suggests then my first step would be to
"come away by myself to a desolate place and rest a while"
If that is not possible, as sometimes it is not and the people who I love need me to physically and emotionally be present to comfort them, then my next step would be to
"bring Jesus what I have"
to bring Him whatever energy, ideas, creativity, patience, compassion, love, kindness, and strength that I have (as little or great as that is).....and THEN wait and watch for HIM to bless it and to divided it out to those in need as well as to myself as He sees fit. If He does what He did in this story, I will be satisfied as well as my family.....HE'LL MEET ALL OF OUR NEEDS.

It's another encouragement to me to NOT try to do everything myself, but to give any ability that I have (mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual) to Jesus and ALLOW HIM to be the one to use the LITTLE that I have to provide far more abundantly than I can ask or imagine.

Oh Lord I just ask that you provide for everyone of us who are at times overwhelmed with the load on our plates - the schedules, the committments, the babies, the husbands, the wives, the bills/finances, the work/jobs. We have such a miniscule ability on our own to handle the situations and circumstances in our lives....but You have ABUNDANT, MIGHTY POWER as our Creator....You speak and the world is created.....please care for us as you did the thousands of people who came to hear you on that infamous day that we read about today. In Jesus' Name
AMEN

http://suzieskinner.blogspot.com/2011/03/to-caregivers-among-uscaring-for-others.html

Playdates

2011-03-31T20:25:00.000-04:00

Noah has a cute friend here. It is hilarious to watch the kids.

I had one banana muffin and they wanted it. Sallie said they could share. So I cut it in half. Well, Maeve started to cry so Noah cut his half in half and gave it to Maeve. I congratulated Noah on sharing so well. Sallie then ripped a piece of her muffin off to give it to Noah to share too. Peer pressure works in great ways too!

The big kids laugh at a funny joke. Maeve squeals with laughter 3 seconds later to be like them.

Maeve of course wants to play with big kids. The pack and play is set up in the spare room. Noah and Sallie keep luring Maeve into it and then leaving so they can play alone. She just keeps calling their names until I come and get her out. She goes back in each time they ask her. Oh, this time I found her in the bathtub, which she cannot get out of. She isn't upset. I'm pretty sure she thinks its part of the game.

I remember being the little one!

A day with Hopper

2011-03-26T20:42:00.000-04:00

Noah's preschool has two take home projects going on right now. One is A day with Hopper. Each child gets one day with a frog named Hopper. The child also gets to bring home a book that was made by the students. The task is to have the child read the book to the frog several times in 24 hours. It is really neat to see Noah reading to Hopper.

Noah has an overactive imagination to begin with so he was beside himself with the thought of having the frog. He had to have it with him the whole time. At dinner time he wanted Hopper to sit at the table with us so we put a plate out and a cup with water. Hopper had fish sticks, green beans and blueberries, just like Noah and Maeve. Noah had to run to the bathroom and I was hungry so I grabbed the blueberries and ate them. When he came back he FLIPPED about Hopper eating the blueberries. I almost couldn't contain my laughter. I snagged the green beans when he wasn't looking. Hopper only had a fish stick left and Noah desperately wanted him to eat it so Hopper could get dessert. I was able to snag half of the fish stick but left half. Noah tried to coach Hopper into finishing his dinner but no matter what he did he couldn't convince him.

We did a similar scenario at breakfast, except this time Hopper had Kix and Strawberries. Noah was so much fun to watch.

When it was time to go back to school, Noah insisted that Hopper was buckled tightly with him. Fun Project!!