Valentine's 2012

The chocolate, the hearts, the glitter, I love it all.  Valentine's day, for me, has always been a fun crafty holiday that comes with a side candy. Score.

I've never taken it too seriously.  Just another day to get to eat an extra dessert, spend more time in arts and crafts, and force the boys to draw with pink and purple. Presents are nice, but not necessary.

As the boys and I have been crafting and preparing for Valentine's we have been talking about love through the lens of Jesus.  What a wonderful reminder of love this has been for me. I mean it's been good for the boys and all, but I'm pretty sure God was having me teach myself this lesson.

Jesus love never holds back.  His love is LAVISH. It is a box of chocolates and flowers and dinner out and breakfast in bed and jewelry, it's everything. It's lavish on the big holidays, on the hallmark holidays, on the third Tuesday in August and every day in between.

We could not want for nothing more than the crazy love he has poured out on us and desires to pour out on us daily.  Hallelujah!

The Post I Should Be More Embarrassed About

But, I'm not.

No really.  He's the third kid. And if I've learned anything, I've learning the rules change as this parenting thing goes along.  What's important to myself and my family changes. The love is the same, if only deeper, but the details are a moving target.

There are huge benefits and some disadvantages to every spot in the birth order.  This is a post about the advantages of being (currently) the baby.



This is Colin. He's 2, and this is him using 2 iPads at one time.

I did not give him 2 iPads, but he commandeered them and I took a picture instead of stoping him. Because, come on, it's funny.

When he wants to use the iPad or iPhone he wanders around the house saying, "Where go my iPad (or iPhone where appropriate)?"

We correct him, but he still claims ownership.

Colin calls ketchup "dip."  He also calls chocolate syrup "dip."

When I get the milk out in the morning he follows behind saying, "Need dip. Need dip. Thank you."  The thank you is of course because I put the chocolate in his milk, everyday. Don't judge. I prefer to call it a protein victory as opposed to a sugar fail.

Walker and Eli were not allowed to touch our phones at two years old or have sugar or any regular basis, but this one is the baby. My my, how things change.

Dawn

Oh the pitfalls to learning to read the English language. It is really amazing that any of us learn to read.

And the cold hard truth is that being from The Great South doesn't make it any easier.

In college I worked with a first grade struggling reader for one of my courses.  One of my lessons was teaching the short e and contrasting the sound with the short i. You know, in words like pen and pin and ten and tin.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time saying those words into a mirror and trying to hear the difference myself.  You try it.  No really, I'll wait.  Go ahead try and hear the difference in the short e and short i in those words.

Oh, you don't hear it? Now make yourself a beginning reader still trying to learn how to isolate sounds in words. Impossible.

At this point Walker is just breaking the reading code and following the simple rules he has learned. I am treading lightly.

With our curriculum we are getting to the point where Walker is reading words on his own.  One of the assignments is to choose a word from a list and write the word and illustrate it.



The first word he chose - Don.  He asked me how to draw it.  I told him to draw Don however he wanted to.

I come back in and find him coloring wildly with a red and orange crayon.



Me - "Umm, buddy? What are you doing? How is this a picture of Don?"

Him - "You know, don,  like when the sun comes up and it goes from dark to sunshine."

Me - "Right - dawn" - Well - (I say to myself - dawn, don, dawn, don)  - and ever so slight difference, but "yes dear that is exactly the word those sounds make.  Good job."

Some days I feel like I am banging my head on the wall.  Like the progress we are making is so slow he might never be an independent reader.  But here - I see the light breaking through the darkness.  He decoded, matched the sounds with words he knows, and assigned it a meaning. That is reading folks.

We will work on the more complicated vowel patterns like the /aw/ at some point. For now, I'll encourage my little southern reader as much as I can.

Eleven

Time keeps marching on.

Even this deep into it we are still discovering what this whole "one flesh" thing is all about.

Our tenth anniversary was spent wining and dining and indulging as just the two of us.  This year was spent with our little family.  Our little physical representations of one flesh drinking chocolate milk and eating sandwiches.  There was him and me and now there is them.



It is pretty amazing.

This year has been quite the adventure for us individually, as a couple and as a family.  So much has been stretched, molded and changed. But, back at our anniversary, back at the moment for reflection we are that much closer than we ever dreamed possible.

I love you more each day, my dear.

To all the years yet to come...

*Top photo courtesy of Synergy Photography.
*Second photo, just to have a little reminder of how we spent our eleventh anniversary.

The Oldest is Now Older - On Being 6

Walker is growing and becoming this person.  This baby who made me a momma just keeps getting better and better.

He never forgets anything.  He loves structure and traditions. If we do something one year for a holiday he expects it the next.

He will be hurried for no one. Enough said.

He is a sweet sensitive one.  He has difficulty drawing the line between pretend and reality in books, tv or movies.  I have to be careful when talking to him about the realities of this fallen world without destroying his fragile innocence.

He has big plans for each day.  Most every morning he wakes me up by tiptoeing into my room and standing by the bed. When I become aware of someone standing beside the bed and I peak open my eyes he whispers, "mommy I want my breakfast."  Every. Day.

He will eat almost anything, but his favorite food is a cheeseburger.  He calls the chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-a the chicken burger so even where they do not serve burgers he can still order one.

His newest favorites are Legos and Transformers, but he still spends a good amount of time designing and building train layouts.  He says he is going to be a train engineer when he grows up.

He is breaking the phonics code.  He is reading some simple words.  He has finally started drawing figures. He is great at math.  He is is most interested in the science and history.  He absorbs everything we learn so much that I have to make sure I'm telling/reading the right thing because it immediately becomes fact.

He turned 6 and we celebrated his milestone.  Because, 6, wow. That is such a big kid, and he is.


And every time {every time} I ask my big kid 6 year old to smile for the camera. This is the face I get:


And because it's fun to look back:
Walker at 5 and Walker at 4 and Walker at 3 and Walker at 2 and Walker at 1 and In the Beginning

Soaking It In

Today I tossed the kids in the big bathtub for a mid-day swim.


And someone was a camera hog.




Dried off all the little monsters.
 





Dried off 30 pruney toes.


And thanked God for the beautiful sunshine streaming through the windows and hoped it would warm up the air for a bit out outside play soon.

Snap Shots

It is amazing that attached to a cell phone (which is frequently attached to me) is a fantastic camera allows me to document these fleeting moments of our life.

All the moments are not spectacular, but the ones that are I want to remember.

Watching this precious child play with his shadow


Backyard sunshine in January


One day he won't need my presence to peacefully fall asleep, but on this day he did and I savored it.


Sometimes we call him Little Napoleon. He knows how to get his way. It is hilarious that this picture happen to illustrate the king of the castle.


Momma ran her first race. And a clown nose was the best prize ever.


Daddy worked on the yard and Eli was thrilled to assist.


And maybe my favorite instagram ever.


Or this one.


So grateful that my phone (!) gives me such a fantastic way to document these details of life.