Ordained Praise

I have decided that it is absolutely necessary...imperative...that I keep my video camera on me at all times!  Today presented us with one of those "I want to remember this forever" moments that make you cry and I hope with all my might that I can burn it deep into my memory.  So writing about it helps.  :)

We went over to the church to say "Hi" to Daddy and talk to Miss Beverly (the administrative assistant) about a couple of things.  While we were over there Daddy was in the middle of a phone call so we decided that we would help out Miss Beverly while she filled the pews with visitor cards and offering envelopes for this upcoming Sunday.  And Isaac was our special helper in charge of putting ink pens in the spots where they were missing.  

So he diligently went up and down the pews looking for empty ink pen spots.  And Gracie wandered around and somehow found a cookie that was left in the sanctuary.  It amazes me the things that little gal will find!  

Once his job was done, Isaac decided that he was going to preach, so he climbed up on stage and said in a really loud voice, "Jesus loves you!"

Then he decided he would lead "children's church" and Mommy had to go sit on the steps by the stage.  Which is funny, because Miss Beverly is the one who leads the children's sermon on Sundays, so she got a tickle out of hearing his rendition.  He told me something about Jesus living in Heaven, then he prayed, and then asked me if I wanted some candy.  There was even a brief pause during his Bible story to go grab a (pretend) microphone off the stage.  Miss Beverly holds a microphone and after she prays she gives candy before they go to their seats, so he knew the routine.  Then he extended children's time and told me the story about the man whose legs didn't work and Jesus made them all better and he could walk again.  And then the story he learned last week...  "Jesus calmed the storm.  And he said, 'Be still!"  And the storm obeyed Him."  

Then children's time was over and Mommy went back to filling the pews with envelopes and Miss Beverly went to get more visitor cards.  And Isaac decided that he wanted to sing some songs for church.  So he climbed up on the wooden stool in front of Mr. Mike's keyboard on the stage and started to sing songs that he knows while he played the "puh-pano" (piano).

So Mommy and Isaac sang, in entirety, "Jesus Loves Me", "We Fall Down", "Amazing Grace" (vs 1,2,&5), and "How Great Is Our God" (both verses).  He even instructed Mommy when to stand up and when to sit down.  When Miss Beverly came back in, she was in tears!  He was singing so boldly and confidently!  Even when I stopped singing with him, he continued.  Beverly looked at me and said, "He is singing to God!"      

We sing those songs together before bed, but I had no idea he knew them so well.  In entirety.  All the verses.  And when Matt came into the sanctuary, he sang "How Great Is Our God" for him as well.  

I have never heard him sing so loud and confidently before.  And what a huge blessing it was to hear songs of praise coming from the mouth of our 3 year old!  It blessed my heart more than I could ever imagine.  I pray with all my might that our children grow up to love and fear God more than anything in this world.  I pray that songs of praise are always present on their lips as an overflow of their heart.  But still today...there's just something so innocent and heavenly about hearing songs of praise from the mouth of a child.  In a way, the world kind of disappears and you catch a glimpse of heaven.      

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise..."  Psalm 8:2

Dumb stairs!

I love my kids!  Beyond description.  What mommy doesn't?  I never knew I could love someone so much!  And when they are happy, I'm happy.  When they hurt, I hurt.  And tonight my poor baby got hurt.

Gracie and I were upstairs and she made her way to the top of the staircase.  When I went to get her, my sweet little girl was practicing her new skills of going down the stairs backwards.  A skill I recently taught her...once.  For safety.  And she already caught on and you could see the pride in her smile.  It was as if she said, "Look Mommy!  I'm doing it!"

I was a proud mommy!  But then I saw her sitting on her knees a little too close to the back of the step.  So I went to pick her up, and when she raised her hands for me, she lost her balance and took a tumble down the top half of our stairs and landed with her face hitting the corner of a small bookshelf in the stairwell landing.

Naturally, I scooped her up as quick as I could and comforted as best as I could.  But then I saw that things were bleeding.  So I called, and called, and called (cell phone service FAIL)...then finally texted Hubby, who was out for an evening run.  And one minute later, he was at the house and we looked everything over.  There didn't seem to be any permanent damage, but we still headed to the ER to make sure teeth, gums, and her eye was okay.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  There are HUGE benefits to having a great hospital in a small town.  You get right in.

The doc looked her face over and said everything looked fine.  Just a little scraped.  Teeth and gums were fine and her actual eye wasn't scratched.

So I said a prayer of thankfulness to God and we headed down the hall to visit our neighbor who is in the hospital right now.

I hate it when my kids are hurt.  I know it's part of life.  And I know it will continue to happen.  But when your 15-month old has a huge battle wound across her face, it falls in a special category of "hate."  But again, thank the wonderful Lord that nothing was permanently damaged.  Now, the bookcase is getting a buffer of pillows until little Princess is a little bigger.

It's a [Little] Man Thing

Isaac has phased out naps.  Unfortunately.  But we've incorporated "quiet time" into our afternoon schedule.  While Gracie naps, Isaac has to be in his room (preferably on his bed in case he falls asleep) playing or looking at his books quietly.  This gives dear 'ol mom a chance to rest or get something accomplished for the day when it's "been one of those days."

This week has been a challenge for the little guy though.  He's gotten bored before "the clock turns 3" and it's everything he can do to stay in his room.  Yesterday he came out of his room into our bedroom and told me he needed more toys to play with.  So I told him he could quietly go downstairs to get more toys, then back to his room to play until quiet time was over.

Gracie naps at the top of the stairs in a Pack-n-Play since she and Isaac share a room.  So Isaac hunched over (as if it increases his tip-toeing abilities), and quietly inched his way down the stairs.  A couple of minutes later he came back up the stairs with a little advertising booklet that came in one of our Disney DVDs and headed straight to the bathroom.

Reading material for potty time!  According to hubby, it's a "man thing."  Apparently it starts early on.

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we finally had a chance to visit the pumpkin patch!  We've never been to one and at first I thought, "Why do kids love pumpkin patches so much?"  I mean, come on!  Isn't it just a bunch of pumpkins? What do you do at a pumpkin patch?  But I wanted some of those super cute pictures of my kiddos surrounded by bright orange "Cinderella carriage wannabes," so we set out for an adventure.

Then we got there and Isaac and Gracie loved it!  Pumpkins were everywhere!  Who would've thought that kids would enjoy climbing around pumpkins so much?  Then they found the bales of hay, and the wagon, and Gracie got sleepy and sat like a statue on some pumpkins.  But nonetheless, we had a fun time.  It's on our "must-do" list for next year!

 Isaac and Gracie were preoccupied with all the pumpkins to pose for a picture.

 This is the smile you get sometimes when he "smiles on command."

Sleepy girl.  Sitting contently on the pumpkins.

Waiting for a nap...

 Riding in the wagon.







Big pulling Little in the wagon.

Isn't this the most beautiful face you've ever seen??

Getting candy from the Pumpkin Patch Lady.  

  Isaac with his sucker and the pumpkin he picked out.  Out of all the pumpkins, he wanted that one.  That tiny little pumpkin that is now fashionably situated on our dining room table.

Updates

It's been about a month since I've blogged anything.  Things have been pretty hectic lately, but finally seem to be slowing down a bit.  I was working part-time for a while filling in for our church's administrative assistant who has been ill.  It's crazy how much I missed being home with my kiddos in the morning.  Morning time is "our" time.  We do our fun craft projects or play with cars...or Play-doh...or tickle until my kids are blue in the face.  They've already grown up way too fast and this time with them is SO incredibly precious.

A few updates on the youngsters...
Isaac is such a funny little guy!  He says the cutest things.  I need to write about some of the "Isaac-isms" we've heard lately.  He's also started calling us "Mom" and "Dad" and I'm not sure I like that very much.  It means he's getting bigger.  And speaking of getting bigger, potty training for our "big boy" went extremely well!  Once the little guy got it in his head that he was ready to go in the potty, it took him about 4 days to get it down without any accidents.  I really wish I would've listened to those moms who told me, "It's gotta be their idea.  Don't even try until then."  We didn't take a pushy approach with Isaac at all, but we sure started to stress a little that he would near his fourth birthday in diapers!  And quite frankly, we were tired of buying two sets of diapers for our kiddos.

(Big sigh of exhaustion).  Gracie is currently teething.  She must be getting several teeth at once again, because she has been extremely fussy and moody lately.  She's also taken every opportunity to exert her "independent spirit."  She still scoots around like a little monkey (video coming soon) rather than crawling, but she started pulling up about a month ago and now she's climbing anything low to the ground.  Having a little climber is new for me.  Isaac never really climbed anything except the stairs.  And Gracie climbs anything but the stairs.  The other day our little 14-month old, who -- mind you -- doesn't walk yet, was climbing up the Little Tikes slide on all fours like a little monkey.  I always thought it would be my little boy jumping off of things with no consideration of safety.  But I have a weird feeling that our "little princess" might be the one to worry about.

Recent video clips and pictures coming soon!

Potty time!

He FINALLY went on the potty!  My three year old FINALLY went on the potty!  Sure, his baby sister was used as a prop to show him that it's "cool" to go on the potty, and sure, we bribed him with a toy he's had his eye on.  But nonetheless, he went on the potty!!!

Now I know it's a little strange to be blogging about your son's potty training.  But this is huge for our household!!  It's been a long awaited day that has been met with much resistance!

Yesterday, early evening, I was changing Gracie's diaper and before putting the clean diaper on, I sat her on the nearby CARS potty seat that is now fashionably situated in the living room where it's less threatening than by the big potty in the bathroom.  So I enthusiastically showed big brother..."See!  Gracie sits on the potty!"

It worked!  Big brother saw that "the baby" was on the potty and he wanted to go as well.  So I asked him, "Do you want to go pee-pee in the potty???" and he replied with an enthusiastic "Yeah!".  Then dad jumped in with more incentive...

"If you go to the potty like a big boy, mommy and daddy will get you the Cookie Monster toy you like from Target!"

Well, that did it!  Off came the diaper and little bare cheeks actually sat on the potty!  So we sat with him for a little while until we enthusiastically encouraged him that we could try again tomorrow morning.

So that's what we did.  He sat on the potty today about 6 different times for about 10 minutes each.  But he was patient.  And so was mommy.  And mommy cleaned carpet and "big boy underwear" today about 4 different times.  But then the big moment came!

About 3:00 today, he sat on the potty and asked for some water.  So I gave him a small glass of water and he sat and drank it until finally...pee-pee in the potty!  It's as if the kid knew the water would eventually come out, if he only sat there long enough!  He then very quickly and enthusiastically reminded mommy that he gets to go to Target and get his toy now.  So we made a trip to Target JUST for this toy.  But at this point...we're doing all we can to encourage the little dude.  And we're not above bribes.  :)  So we'll see how tomorrow goes.  Day 2, Operation: Potty Training commences in about t-minus 8 hours.

Butterflies!

Fall has finally arrived!  For our household, that means it's time to open the windows, play outside as much as we can, and take in all the joys of the cooler weather.  And every year around this time, we start seeing these beautiful butterflies around our house that are migrating south.  Yesterday we were playing outside with the kids and Isaac noticed a monarch butterfly fluttering around our front bushes.  So I grabbed my camera and we watched for a good long while until we had to make a run to the store.  It's amazing the joy and loads of fun that come to a 3-year-old simply by watching a butterfly up close and personal!  When we left for the store Isaac gave the butterfly an enthusiastic farewell..."Bye, Butterfly!!"