tying shoes.....

Last year when Joseph was in kindergarten they would send home progress reports saying "joseph needs to learn to tie his shoes". I just let it go because I was perfectly content having him be able to put on his shoes, pull the velcro and be on our way.

Last night I received an e-mail from his teacher stating that he would have to stay in from recess each day until he learned to tie his shoes and that it was a skill that should have been mastered in kindergarten.

At first I was upset, because I felt bad that Joseph was going to be punished for a decision I had made as his mom. I knew other moms with 7 year olds that also did velcro and I remember wearing velcro shoes at his age and so I didn't see the big deal. I also felt a little ashamed... I mean was I being lazy in not teaching him? Being the internet junkie that I am I googled it and read how other moms were "appalled that 6 and 7 year olds could maneuver cell phones and computers but didn't know how to tie their shoes".... Yikes!

I could also see their point in wanting him to learn and I began to realize part of the reason he didn't learn was because I was trying to make things a little easier on myself and I thought on him as well. I was worried teaching him would take a long time and that he would struggle each morning to tie his shoes or that at school he would be having to constantly stop and re-tie his shoes. I know I'm a worry wart.... I know it shouldn't be something to get worked up over... but I'm going to use pregnancy as an excuse here! lol :-)

I was texting my best friend Chrissy and she helped me to see that the school wasn't pushing something on us, but that it was something that most children know how to do by this age and they wanted Joseph to master it.

Recess isn't that big of a deal, however to Joseph it's huge and so I thought... well.... why not just start teaching him tonight. I thought I would e-mail his teacher and let her know we are going to start working on it but not to penalize joseph for my decision as a parent and that we would work on it with him each night.

Well..... he learned in about 30 minutes! I was so shocked and it made me think "Why did I wait so long?"..... Mike took our other 2 boys upstairs to play and joseph put on one of my shoes.... and he learned. He said he wanted to wait about 10 minutes to show his dad to see if he still remembered, and 10 minutes later he tied his shoes for his dad... then this morning before school he did it again.

I'm also thankful that Joseph didn't care at all that he didn't know how to tie his shoes yet, he was just worried about missing recess!! What a motivator! :-)

I don't know if there is a "moral" to this story or not.... but I know I learned something as a mom.... I was putting it off thinking it would make life harder,but I underestimated my son.... he did great and we are going to buy some shoes with laces probably this weekend. Samuel my 5 year old is now begging to learn to tie his shoes..... :-) My babies are growing up on me!

Almost there!!!

Wow I haven't blogged in a while! Well here's what's going on with my life. I am currently 33 weeks and soooo looking forward to my first little girl coming into the world. She is a very active baby which brings me much comfort as I feel her moving alot during the day. Due to high blood pressure I go twice a week for non-stress test, but I don't mind at all because I get to hear her heartbeat and it just comforts me knowing she is doing good.

We have had her first name picked out since my first pregnancy... "Anna" however the middle name is still up in the air. Hopefully we will decide before she gets here! :-)

Last week my husband and my older 2 sons helped me get her room ready. It was as exciting for them as it was for me. They were so happy to see her crib going up and the pink decorations. They even got to help put the crib together.

After we got her room all set up, with the exception of curtains and some pictures that need to be hung, I decided to go through her clothes. As I picked up each piece of clothing I got a little more excited. I was just as excited with each of my boys and this time the excitement is two-fold. I am not only excited about meeting this little baby that I already love so much, but I am excited about the new experience of having a daughter.

Mike is looking forward to having a daughter for the first time. I am excited to see how he is with a little girl. I have seen him with my nieces and little girls at church and he is just so great with them... I just can't wait to see how he is with our daughter.... wow..... "daughter"... I am so excited to get to say that.

Well that's all for now! :-)

How we do Christmas.....

Over the years I have shared and heard others share how they do christmas. Some do Santa and some don't, some buy tons of gifts, others dont. I thought i'd share how we do christmas just in case some young parents out there are looking for ideas.

First off we don't do Santa Claus. I won't go into a deep discussion here about why, but we just didn't feel it was right for our family. Our kids know that we provide the gifts and they know that Santa is not real, but pretend and still fun to watch shows about and see just like Dora, Diego and other cartoon characters, but they also know about the real story of how there came to be a Santa Claus thanks to Veggie Tales! :-) We don't condemn anyone who chooses to do Santa and my children know that other kids believe and they know never to tell another child there is no Santa without first talking to the parents and asking if their child believes or not.

As for gifts when I was pregnant with Joseph, or it may have been right after I had him, I was talking with the wife of our youth pastor at the time, and she shared that they did a birthday cake for Jesus and only did 3 gifts per child representing the 3 gifts mentioned in the bible that Jesus received at his birth. Mike and I really loved that idea. We liked the idea of the focus being on Christ and that the children wouldn't be overloaded with gifts considering they not only do christmas with us but they experience 3 other christmas's because of extended family. So we began doing 3 gifts per child and occasionally we will do some "joint" or "family" gifts as well. It's been a great thing for our family and the kids don't feel slighted. We do the christmas story, sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and have a piece of cake, and then we go around and each open a gift until they are all opened. We take time to savor the time together and we love it!

This year we have also decided we will have the boys get each other one gift. I think it is something they will really enjoy and we are looking forward to doing that.

Well that is how we do Christmas! I hope everyone has a blessed Holiday Season and take time to remember why we celebrate anything at all... because of Jesus!

My first "Girl" room! :-)

With my first 2 pregnancies I didn't know what I was having and I got this adorable neutral teddy bear bedding set that I still LOVE and we left the room white and just decorated it with the new bedding.... With Jonathan we knew we were having a boy so we painted the room blue and used the same bedding.... With this one and finding out it was a girl, although I could use the same bedding and I would be fine, I just really really wanted to do something "girly" and so we decided to go ahead and do it with all the girly features :-)

My awesome Mother-in-law bought me a new bedding set and it arrived in the mail last week so that I could get started on Anna's room. Here is the bedding set we will be using.

We are so excited and I have some friends who have been giving me some paint color tips. Not sure what I will do yet. My changing table and crib are white so I may do either a light pink on the walls with a brown accent wall or a neutral color with a pink accent wall..... if you have any other ideas feel free to share them with me!

Looking forward to getting things started!

Halfway through!!!! :-)

Well this week I am 20 weeks pregnant!!!! :-) I can't believe I'm halfway there. This pregnancy is going by soooo fast, which I don't mind really because I'm so anxious to hold my little girl. We have decided to name her Anna, but can't decide on a middle name. I need to get her room ready and start hanging up her little collection of pink clothes that have started to accumulate in our home. :-)

Here is a picture of me at 18 weeks :-)

I'm feeling pretty good. Doc had to put me on blood pressure medicine because it was getting pretty high, but it's doing alot better now, however the medicine makes me a little more tired. Fortunately my 2 year old still naps and I have a wonderful 5 year old little boy that lets me rest when my 2 year old is napping... so that helps out a lot.

My wonderful husband has been off work since June due to a neck issue. He had surgery a little over a month ago and just got the news he will be returning to work next week. :-( I know he needs to get back to work and our family needs to get back into a normal routine, but I have LOVED having him home. He helps me out soooo much and we have really gotten so much closer these past few months. I am really going to miss him when he goes back.

The boys grandpa and grandma donna came to visit a few weeks ago to watch Samuel play soccer and we went to a pumpkin patch while they were here. We had a lot of fun. :-)

Here is samuel and his friend Teegan at his soccer game

Grandpa before leaving even got to take Joseph to school :-)

So thankful for the blessing of family in our lives!

It's a GIRL!!!!

Most of the people who read my blog are also on my facebook but for those that aren't I wanted to share some great news with all of you! We found out today that we are expecting our first baby girl!

As most if not all of you know I have 3 boys and a stepson, so pink and lace are not seen around my home..... until now! :-)

Today as Mike and I were in the ultrasound room, looking at our beautiful baby on the screen, we couldn't wait for the technician to tell us what our baby would be.... and she looked at me (knowing I had 3 boys) "Do you really want me to tell you" and I of course said "YES!" and she said "you are having a little girl!" My hands went immediately up to my face in disbelif as tears fell from my eyes.... My whole life would be different... not that boys don't change your life, but that adding this little girl would make our every day life..... different. Instead of just star wars and G.I. Joes... we will have barbies and dolls..... instead of just wrestling on the floor... we will now have tea parties.... and it just made me smile uncontrollably. My husband stood there awestruck... and so happy. Although I think he is thinking of when she is 15 and boys are calling... lol :-) We have plenty of time to prepare her that she wont' be dating until she is at least 30... :-)

I LOVE my boys and can't imagine my life without them and now I know I will feel the same way about my daughter.... wow... daughter... I thank God for blessing me with this little girl.... just as I thank God each day for the blessings of each of my boys....

My boys were so excited.... Here is a video I took of them when we told them it was a girl....



and a picture of them showing off their new sisters new clothes :-)

Now i have to distract them so the next 5 months go by quickly for them :-) :-)

8 years..... sometimes it seems like yesterday....

8 years ago today..... I became a Mrs. :-)


Mike and I started dating April 28, 2001 and so we have actually been together for almost 10 and 1/2 years.... wow!

Mike and I have had our ups and downs, we have had to learn alot but I can honestly say I love him as much, if not more than when we got married. He strives hard to be the best Father, husband and man that he can be and he strives to walk with the Lord and lead our family in a way that would please God.

Our wedding day was a beautiful day, bright and sunny and the perfect temperature. I remember I wasn't nervous at all, just extremely excited. I had stayed with my mom the night before and a limo picked my mother, myself and my sister Kelly up and took us to the church about 45 minutes away. Then we proceeded to get our hair done, get dressed, pictures.... and then.... the best part of all... I got to walk down the aisle and marry my best friend!

I love you Mike!! Happy Anniversary!! I love where we are at 8 years later :-) and I can't wait to see what the next 8 hold for us :-)