Sweet Dreams

I've talked before about praying with my children. This is something I make sure I do every night I am home. I believe this to be of utmost importance when it comes to raising my boys. And although I am not perfect, this is one thing I want them to always remember.

Ryan has been doing very well with his big boy prayers. He has even started praying for others without prompting, which to me is very impressive. Most days he thanks God for things we have and the blessings of everything we have around us. I am grateful he is learning at a young age to have "an attitude of gratitude" and E would say.

Alexander tonight surprised me though. He always says his blessing and then I pray his, "Now I lay me down to sleep......" Sometimes he chimes in but he always says "Amen". Tonight as I started he put his hands over my lips and said, "shhh, I want to say it by myself". And that he did,

"Now I lay me down to sleep,
The Lord I pray my soul to keep,
May angels watch me through the night,
And keep me in their blessed sight,
Amen, Thank you Jesus"

A mom can't help but have sweet dreams following that. My heart is full :)

Beautiful days

Today started out as any other Saturday that I am off......I haven't slept, kids are up way before I want to be (unfortunately it's really 7am) and Mike is gone for a run with his running group. I haven't been to the grocery in a while so the only thing for breakfast is frozen waffles, eggs, and oatmeal. The kiddos ate the waffles, myself having eggs and oatmeal. Not the tastiest combo, but good before heading to the gym in a few hours. We took off to the gym around 9 for my triple fit class. I have to say I have become a little bit of a cardio junkie. Anything that raises my heart rate and burns calories I am all about :) I look forward to Allison's classes because I know she will kick my backside EVERY time.

We had a little lunch after I had a long, HOT, bath......which could have only been made better if there were no children running in and out and I had a glass of Zinfandel in my hand. Oh well.....motherhood. After them resting a bit I decided to take the boys to Evan's Orchard. It's about 20 minutes from here and we go quite often in the fall. The weather was so beautiful today we couldn't pass it up. The boys were a little whiny, but I knew as soon as we got there they would be overjoyed.....


and that they were!!






They had a great time playing in the corn



going down the slides





and just being as busy as boys can be.....they climbed, ran, played hide and seek in the straw maze



and showed me their very adorable sides to remind me just how blessed I am to be their mommy




They ate ice cream (while I drank my diet pepsi....)




and of course we had to measure for the fall





It was shaping up to be one of the best days of early fall


.....and then both of them got stung by red wasps. Oh the drama!!!!! Of course it was a few minutes before I realized what had happened because we were in a wooden maze. I could see over the top, but I had to get to them. When I found them, both had been stung :( Ryan's was on his right arm and under his left eye. Luckily Alexander only had one on his right arm. I finally got us out of the maze and headed to the main building to let the owners know. It didn't bother me and I wasn't upset because this is what can happen when you play outside. They were very apologetic and let me dive in to their emergency kit. We found some hydrocortisone cream and bandaids and that seemed to fix it for a little while. Both of them cried a few more times, but now a few hours later are just fine.

We ended the afternoon by heading to walmart and chilling out. Alex wanted to watch Yogi bear, but..........



and Ryan vegged out watching TV in my room



These are beautiful days.........

Here we go again....

Well, here we go, back to school again..........This is the first full week for us. I'm not sure why they do things like this, but we had a Thursday-Friday, then Monday-Thursday, and now a full week. I don't know if it's more for the teachers, or to ease kids back in to the swing of things.

We had open house a few weeks back, where we had the opportunity to meet Ryan's 2nd grade teacher and see what his room was like. I have to say, I was not a fan. As a teacher I expected her to be a little more outgoing and engaging to me. I mean, she's going to be teaching my son all year. And I am not just a "sit on the sidelines" kind of mom. I am involved in trips and things in the classroom. Anyway, she seemed nice enough and we looked forward to school beginning.

Day 1: utter disaster.......I sat in car line for at least 15 minutes before school was over then another 35 until I was able to pick him up. The school is finishing construction of some other things, so hopefully there will be a separate place for buses and cars. Right now the cars have to wait for buses to load.....needless to say, he is a bus rider most days now. Anyway, I picked him up and he told me it was a good day. I breathed a small sigh of relief seeing as how I had not received a phone call during the day and even the principal said he had a good day. I treated him to orange leaf fro yo before heading home to delve in to all of the necessary paperwork of a new school year. Not long after we arrived home, I got a phone call. The one I had been dreading all day. His teacher wanted to talk about the day. Oh heavens, here is comes........Ryan wouldn't participate, wouldn't sit in his seat, refused to do his work....etc. GREAT----HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!!! We talked a little about how to handle things with him and ideas of how to make things better. After we got off the phone, I talked with Ryan about why he acted the way he did. I feel as though he was just pushing buttons to see what he could get away with this year. I also think he was very nervous and anxious about what was going to happen this year in 2nd grade. Yeah, I know moving up is scary, but you still have to do your work regardless. Throughout the years, I have learned that Ryan carries his heart on his sleeve and worries a lot about what other kids think. It's crazy to think that a kid his age would feel that way so early in life, but he does. As much as I try to tell him it doesn't matter, he still gets intimidated. He didn't want to ask questions on the first day because he was afraid other kids would make fun of him......bless his heart. I tried to explain to him that other kids probably had the same questions too, but didn't want to ask either. It would be better to ask and understand than to not ask and make a mistake. I was hoping and praying all that would sink in before the 2nd day.

Day 2: WONDERFUL.........He did everything he was supposed to. He did his work, sat in his seat, and participated in class. For this I was truly grateful. It doesn't change the fact I was sick to my stomach all day waiting for a phone call. When I picked him up (after yet another hour in car line) he was so excited about how his day had gone. Oh, sigh of relief when I read his planner and it truly was a wonderful day :)

Week 2: It had it's ups and downs. The second day of week 2 was a little rough, but I had worked the night before and things just didn't go very smoothly that morning. It's hard for Ryan to turn things around when the beginning is not good. Needless to say, I make sure everything is in place before I leave for work now. Even now as I type this, I'm sitting here on call but had given instructions to Mike and Ryan regarding the morning if I had to work. The rest of the week went smoothly and Ryan is getting in the swing of things.

So here we are at the beginning of Week 3. I hope and pray for a smooth week. Ryan knows what to do and understands what is expected of him. I know more of how to handle things and get them started in the right direction. I've said before I wish kids came with a manual so this trial and error wouldn't have to occur. But, first kids are the guinea pigs of life for us as adults. We have to learn how to do things just like the kids do. I just pray God gives me the wisdom to teach my little guinea pig the right things to do. I love you Ryan.......here's to a great week 3!!!!!