Christmas

We have had a nice christmas this year in our home.  The highlights to me have been the simple things my kids have enjoyed:

• My oldest was in his first school program, and he sang out and did the motions with all the other kids.  In the past, when he has been in a program at church, he has just stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
• My younger son sang in front of the church for the first time this Christmas.  He decided to get down on all fours (for no reason at all) and jump like a frog
• I loved watching my kids open their simple little gifts and seeing their eyes light up.  We didn’t give them anything extravagant, but their simple happiness was so much fun to be a part of.
• My wife put one of the gifts inside an old diaper box and wrapped it up for my younger son.  He unwrapped it and said “DIAPERS!!!”.  My wife said, did you want diapers for Christmas? and he said “YEAHHHH!!!”.  Of course he was even more excited to find what was actually inside.
• My daughter has enjoyed the newness of everything; this being her first Christmas.  She got a stuffed panda and seems to really like it.  She giggles a little when I play with it with her.  She is just gotten so alert lately too and loves to smile and interact with people she knows.
• My boys played with their cousin in the leaves out at my aunt and uncle’s house.  Talk about enjoying life’s simple pleasures!
• And, of course, I can’t forget the Jubilee Kids Club Christmas party and seeing all the smiling kids faces there.  I posted about that here.

The simpleness of Christmas was the highlight for me this year.  Of course the greatest gift of all entered the world in the most simplest of ways so many years ago.
Here’s a gallery of the best shots from Christmas day.  Click on the thumbnails to see larger versions.

christmas stockings

My oldest son amazed us 3 years ago (at the age of 22 months) by very quickly learning who each stocking belonged to in our extended family.  As far as we could tell, he went through them one time with my mom, and then he simply just knew them.  And he never missed one.  Different people would quiz him on who random ones belonged to and he got it every single time with no errors.  Somehow his mind is able to look at a these tangible objects and learn it’s assigned person and lock it in his brain.

Each year since, when we pull out the stockings out of storage, we ask him which stocking belongs to whom and he is able to recite them down the line with no assistance.  This year was no exception.  I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised anymore with the feat, but I can’t help but be shocked by it still.

I have a smart kid!

couple fun stories

Here’s a couple of good stories from my wife’s blog:

First, the story of the ever inquisitive boss who became interested in the ‘bumps’ on our daughter’s chest.

Second, the story of bubba’s attempt to get my wife turned over to child protective services.

And, since I put very little effort into this post, here’s a great pic as an added bonus:

shoe bridge

The boss was not exactly napping during naptime.  This is what I found when I went in to wake up his younger brother:

He doesn’t lack for creativity!

What I love about my kids

Here’s a list of what I love about my three kids.

4-yr-old – his curiousity and aptitude for learning.  Also, I love how he adores his younger siblings (especially baby sister).

2-yr-old – definitely his belly laugh and his sense of humor!

3-mo-old – her smile and the way she loves her momma!

Weekend

Saturday morning, we had Jubilee Kids Club at the Samaritan Inn.  It got rolling a little slowly, but eventually we had 6 kids show up.  We had a lot of fun with the kids this month.  Beautiful weather and beautiful kids!

After that, my family along with my parents planned to leave for Oklahoma City to my brother’s house for my nephew’s 3rd birthday party.  We got the whole family loaded up in the car only to discover we had a dead battery.  Since we had just had the car checked out, we took it back to our mechanic.  He checked and, sure enough, he recommended we purchase a new battery.  So, $80 and an hour an a half at Walmart later, we finally got on the road.  (As a side note, I am not sure if it is great timing or terrible timing to have your battery go dead right before leaving on a road trip….it’s certainly better than on the road somewhere).

We spent the night in OKC Saturday.  Got up and took the kids and the grandkids out for donuts which was enjoyed by all.  Then, the girls (my wife, our 8 wk old daughter, and my mom) joined my sister-in-law and their 8 mo old at home, while the boys all went to the park for some serious swinging and sliding.  What a beautiful morning to spend at the park next to Lake Overholser!

After that, we returned to my brother’s house for lunch and the birthday party.

We left around 3:30 and got home about 8 last night.

I think everyone had a pretty nice weekend.

Out of your mind prayer

My 4 year old develops new and always fascinating methods of prolonging bedtime.  Last night, even though we let him stay at our neighbors long after his bedtime, and even though his brother was already asleep in the same bedroom, he insisted on saying prayers with me before getting into bed.  Fine – what am I gonna say -  you can’t pray tonight because it’s too late?  No.  So, I whispered a quick prayer and then told him it was his turn.  After quite a long pause, I finally asked him if he was going to pray.  He answered, “I am praying in my mind”.  I said ok.  After another long pause, I finally said, “OK, time to get up into bed and go to sleep, buddy”.  He answered, “No, first I want to pray out of my mind!!!”.

Boys bedtime

On the nights I put my boys to bed, I pray this prayer with them:

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you for this day.  Thank you so much for all your many many blessings.  Thank you so much for little (4yrold) and little (2yrold) and little (babydueinaugust).  We love our kids soooo much…help them to know how much we love them, Lord.  Help them to know how much you love them, Lord.  Help them to grow and meet their milestones, Lord, on time.  I pray that they would remain happy, healthy, and strong.  And, Lord, above everything else, I pray that they would learn to love you and follow you and know you as their personal Lord and Savior.  And help them to show others around them your love.  Lord, I pray that they would have a good night’s sleep tonight.  Help us to all get the rest that our bodies need.  Help our boys to know that they are safe in their beds tonight.  Amen

At some point during the prayer my 4 yr old always reminds me to pray for his uncle and for whoever else may be on his mind that day and I do that or I pause while he does it himself.  And, my 2 year old usually bows his head and prays “Jesus….food….Amen”.

When I tuck my 4 yr old in bed, I always ask him the following three questions:

Do you know I love you?

Are you going to sleep tight tonight?

Are you going to have sweet dreams?

When I tuck my 2 yr old in, I always say, “You know you got a daddy who loves you?….and, I mean, I love you biiiig time, dude”.

I don’t know why this has become our routine.  But, it has, and I think we all like it.  I know I do.

My weed

Let me state right up front that this post has absolutely nothing to do with marijuana.  Sorry for anyone that may have stumbled their way into my blogosphere thinking they were going to hear all about my stash of hash.

OK, now that that is cleared up…

Mowing the yard used to give me a small sense of pride and accomplishment.  Now, it only makes me feel like a complete failure.

I just came in from mowing my weed.  One weed…singular.  As in my entire lawn is one big weed.  I honestly don’t know where I went wrong with this lawn.  And, it’s not like I don’t have any experience in this area.  Afterall, mowing yards was my main source of spending money during high school.  But, somewhere between then and now, I have completely lost control of my landscape situation.

I feel like I have covered all the basics.  I fertilize. I water. I edge, weed-eat and mow…but it just keeps getting worse.  This spring, I even aerated the entire surface.  And, it even worked…now my weed is growing like never before.

So what the heck do I do now?  Do I throw my hands in the air and hope the problem just goes away?  Do I pay a professional landscaper to swoop in and rescue this miserable turf?  Or maybe, do I just rip it all out and lay completely new sod?

I wish I had the answer.  Oh well.  But, I do know one thing for sure.  In the grand scheme of the world, there are certainly worse problems I could be facing.  I am very blessed to have a roof over my head, let alone a luxurious weed to encircle it.  I am even more blessed to have a beautiful family who, truth be told, probably takes my time and attention away from that wild plant growing outside our windows.  And, if that raging source of frustration between my house and the sidewalk is nothing more than a sign that my priorities are in fact in the correct order, then I guess it is what it is.  This weed may grow wild, but maybe it’s best if I simply aim to contain it.  Instead of trying to get my arms around this as a problem, I will focus more on keeping my arms around my wife and kids.  Instead of trying to attack this issue at its core, maybe I should just let it go…let the weed go where it will.  Maybe instead of feeling like a failure whenever I try to tame this out of control growing patch of chlorophyll, I should feel like a success where things really count.

I don’t know.  Maybe I am just trying to cheer myself up and make myself feel a little better.  But, it may have even worked…now my weed is growing like never before.

Bye-bye, Lello

My two year old is so much fun.  I have two boys, 4 and 2, and they are both just a bundle of energy and joy.  The 2 year old in particular is at an age that is just so much fun right now.  My 4 year old was the same way at that age.

He is just learning so many new things right now.  Everything new thing he sees or hears, he says “Whassssssaaaatttt????”.  He is learning to say so many new words.  A few months ago, we were keeping track of the number of words he said…now we are trying to keep up with all the new words he is learning each day.  It is truly amazing how quickly he has gone from saying just a handful of words to now putting complete sentences together.

Another thing that is just hilarious to watch right now is his facial expressions.  He just cracks me up.  He will point at an outside grill or at a toaster or something such as that and say “Thasss Ott” (That’s hot).  But, the expression that goes with that is absolutely adorable.  He kind of crinkles his nose and nods his head in the direction he is pointing and give you a look that just says “I know you know this daddy, but just in case you didn’t, I wanted you to be aware that that grill can be a danger if exposed to your skin”.

He is also picking up lots of little fun phrases.  We take him to Dallas Mavericks games and the PA announcer loves to make a spectical of himself everytime a Mav goes to the foul line for a couple free throws.  He will say “Twwwooooooooooooooooooo shots”.  Well our son has picked that up and he will say that exactly the same way every time he tries to take a shot at his little plastic basketball goal.

He also has the ability to quickly recognize the Mavs logo and anything else basketball related.  Occassionally, I will wear a Mavs shirt or cap or something and he will automatically assume that means we are going to get on the “Lello choochoo for da bakabal gang” (Yellow train to go to the basketball game)  Unfortunately for him, the Mavs are done for the year…maybe I will have to stop wearing my Mavs gear until next season!

Oh, and one more cute thing about my son.  He has a blanket that he is completely attached to.  Our oldest son never got himself attached to anything quite like this.  But, our younger son somehow has gotten himself to a point that he cannot go to sleep without this little yellow blanket which he refers to by the name of “lello”.

(We have had episodes where the blanket has gotten dirty or wet and isn’t clean and dry by bedtime.  Believe me, that situation is disasterous and it is to be avoided at all costs.)

Anyway, he knows that he isn’t allowed to leave the house with that blanket.  So, whenever we get the kids ready to go in the morning for whatever the day has in store, he will walk his little blanket to the door, gently lay it down on the floor, waive at it, and say “Bye-bye Lello”.