Halloween

I’m not here to write a bog post on the controversy of Halloween. I agree with the church side in part but I really really enjoy getting my little man dressed up for Halloween…and he enjoys it.  We don’t focus on the negative side that everybody says Halloween is…but just on the fun part.  That being said…that’s the end of my “controversy Halloween blog post”.

When we lived in our old town we lived on a really sharp turn and so there weren’t any kids that came to our house.  I ran the church’s trunk or treat program instead and loved it.

When we moved here five years ago I was soooooo excited to pass out candy on Halloween.  I had never had the chance to do it before and so therefore this was an exciting experience for me.  However, we lived on the top floor apartment and because of that no kids came.  😦  I was sad and disappointed…however we had a lot of candy to eat after and that was all good.    🙂

This year he was a penguin.  He was so cute.  (My computer is broken and facebook is being slow so I can’t find all my pictures)
After that year we moved and we decided that going out with Big E was more fun than passing out candy.  The next year Big E was a lobster.  Then the year after that he was a Monkey.  The year after that He was a Ninja turtle.   And this year he’s going to be a black Ninja.

All those years, except for one, we have gone around to houses with Big E.  Both of us.  The one year I decided to stay home to pass out candy and we didn’t have very many people.  So this year we will all be heading out together as a family again.  We have so much fun doing it.  It’s so cute to watch Big E go house to house and say trick or treat.  Probably not as cute as his first year when he was a lobster but still cute.  🙂

And besides…I have another reason for doing Halloween.  It’s free after school treats (and midnight chocolate treats for this gal) for probably half a year.  🙂

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Ready?

School.

Before he was born we talked about it. After he was born we didn’t think about it until about age three…and then it slowly started creeping it’s way in. I started thinking about the how many years I had left with him. How many mommy and Big E days we had left…and I tried to take full advantage of them. However, the thought of “I still have lots of time” was always in the back of my mind.

This summer started and I was determined that I was going to make the best of it. We were going to do as much as we could in the amount of days we had. We had great weather and were involved in a lot. Summer was wonderful….probably one I will never get back…as I will be babysitting more kids next year.

Then this week happened. Monday we had one last family vacation day before we got back into the grind of working. We enjoyed it with a trip to our local wildlife park…and then Monday night we had a family meeting. We went over important informant that Big E should know for school. Such things as: our phone number, mine and hubby’s names, our address and making sure not to get into cars with strangers were very important information we wanted to make sure he knew.

And he did.

Then there was silence. Big E walked out of the room and I think hubby and I both took a deep breath at the same time.

Big E is ready for this…but are we?

I thought I was….but now I’m not so sure. Oh I know I will be fine…it’s not the school part that worries me. It’s the part where for the most part this is where the age of innocence dies. I can’t control him (as far as the influences in his life go) anymore. He’s going to be susceptible to the different things the world has to offer…and there’s nothing that I can do about it.

Well there is……a few things I guess. I can pray for him….(trust me…a lot of that will be happening) and I can make sure I teach him good values. But really….the rest is up to him…because he has free will and will make mistakes that he will have to learn from.

But man…the thought of teenage years scare me. My best friend said to take one day at a time and I will….it’s just that right now….the future is just sticking its tongue out at me and taunting me.

Right now this mom is all over the map with mixed feelings and emotions. :s

When we dedicated Big E we said we will always teach him about God and bring him up in a Godly home. That we would pray for him and we will lead him in good ways. But it didn’t stop there…my brother in law then turned to our family and friends and said “they also need all of us to help them. To teach him and guide him and to pray for him.”

And you know….the saying “it takes a village to raise a family” is true. We all need each other. To guide…to walk along side…to pray and to hold our hands.

This is one if those times friends and family. We need you to continue to pray for our boy as he takes this step out into the world of the unknown.

Will you please continue to be our village?

Laura

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Checking my list.

It’s been extremely quiet on my blog this past week.  It isn’t because I haven’t had anything to write about, just been super busy getting everything ready for our Christmas vacation.  It will probably be like this until the new year, so I thought I’d get one more post in here.  Wow!  I just looked at the time.  10:29….where has the day gone?

I think I’m pretty much finished with my Christmas shopping…just need a few extra stocking stuffers for the hubs and such…but other than that I’m good.  A few more presents to wrap for grandparents tomorrow night and then that’s all my aching back can take.  🙂

I’m excited for this Christmas.  Even through world events that have happened, I am extremely in the Christmas spirit.  I don’t think I have been this excited before Christmas eve in a long time.  Don’t get me wrong, Christmas Eve I NEVER sleep.  I don’t get excited about getting presents, but about seeing the people unwrap the gifts that I got them.  (I never used to be this way…but in the past few years this is the way it has been…maybe because of Little E.

Anyway, I’m excited!  YAY!  This is the first time that Little E has actually made a list for Santa.  Last year we sat down and wrote a letter but all it consisted of was things in the living room that he already had.  He just kept looking around the room and telling me to write stuff down that he saw.  So this year he had four requests for Santa.

1)  A Nintendo DS.

2)  An angry bird hat

3)  A baby sister (which later turned into a baby brother)

4)  A bike for his dad cause dad’s bike is broken.

That’s it…that’s all he wrote….that’s all he wanted.

I think Santa can deliver 2 out of the 4…but I think Little E will be happy with the rest.  And you know what??? I’m excited to see the look on this face when he opens number 1!  (Thanks Kijiji for a great deal!)

I want to wish all of you a wonderful Merry CHRISTMAS and a great holiday season with friends and family.  If you are alone…..I hope that somebody reaches out to you…and shares some of their Christmas cheer with you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Laura

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Missing at Christmas.

When I was a child I grew up in a small community…an island.  A place where everybody knew everybody.  Kinda of like cheers.  🙂

I went to a small Baptist church where we had the best leaders a church could ever ask for.  My youth leader was amazing…she always had fun games, fun stuff to do and great trips to go on, and I had the best Sunday School teachers.  Lots of memories in that church.  I was looking on somebody’s facebook the other day and they go to the same church I used to go to.  Her daughter was in the Christmas concert there and it got me to thinking about the Christmas concerts that we used to do.

It wasn’t just something simple…it was a great production….was fun and we had the best leaders ever to lead them.  Always cheering us on and making sure we knew our lines.  No papers for us up on stage…we had to know our lines!  I also remember after those Christmas concerts hanging out with my friends or going to check under the Christmas tree for a gift from my teacher.  Sometimes we would get all covered in tinsel from the tree..but it was worth it.  And we always got candy.  Great times.

That being said, I’ve realized something.  It’s something I realize every Christmas, get sad about, and pray that maybe in the next year it will be better.  It’s something that I long for with our church.

I miss Christmas concerts put on by kids.  I LOVE seeing kids up on stage singing, or saying little lines they have learned.

Miss it, hope for it…long for it.

Why don’t we have them?  Well we are a church plant…just starting out.  Growing but not quite at that stage yet as there are only about two or three kids that can speak.  🙂  Someday we will have it.  I’ll make sure of it….ok…well at least I’ll pray about it. 🙂

That being said we do get to join in on my Bro and Sis – in law’s Christmas concert on Christmas eve.  The last two years Little E got up on stage and played his harmonica.  This year I’m hoping maybe he can actually say a few lines….got plenty of time to work on them this year.

That will have to be my fix for now.  🙂

Laura

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Traditions

I must confess…I have been slacking lately on the blog posts.  You probably can’t tell because I’ve scheduled the last little bit.  I have lots on my mind and lots to share with you…but things have just been super busy lately.

So I’m going to keep this light and “Christmasy” and next week I’ll share a little more of my deep theological mind.

Go ahead..you can laugh.  🙂

We put up our Christmas tree on the weekend.

Yup…right next to the pretty unfinished walls.  🙂

I love my tree.  Why do I love it?  Because it’s not perfect.  I see so many other trees on the internet or on tv where they are all decorated nice with bows and things flowing down them and you can tell that a kid never helped decorate that tree.  Not. at. all.

Our tradition has always been to decorate the tree as a family. (One time when hubby was a youth pastor we had the teens from the youth group come over and decorate the tree and make decorations to take home with them.  Another time it was the children’s church)

Hubby puts the lights and garland on and the star on top and then Little E and I and hubby decorate the rest of it.  We decorate it with old ornaments that Hubby and I both had as a kid, new ornaments that Little E has gotten over the year.  But the best decorations of all are the ones that Little E has made himself.  I love those and there are a few scattered here and there on the tree.  My tree is not perfect by “perfect decorating people” but it’s ours, it’s made by us and we love it.

Also this week Little E and I put up our advent calendar above the window.

It’s not really much of anything.  We bought a Christmas card holder from the dollar store…one that we can attach pieces of paper to.  Each piece of paper is for a different activity we can do as a family for each day before Christmas.  There are fun activities such as: “Go out for hot chocolate”, “Go visit our neighbour”, “Color Christmas pictures together”, “Go for a walk”, etc.  Just something fun and simple we can do as a family.  We did it last year and loved it.

So far this year…we are on December 6th and haven’t done one.  But, mark my words, we will be starting tomorrow night for sure!

When I was a little girl we used to go out either Christmas eve or a few days before Christmas and go look at Christmas lights.  I told Little E about this and he told me that was boring.  We shall see Little E…we shall see.  🙂

What about you…what are some of your favourite Christmas traditions you do as a family or when  you were a child that maybe you hope to pass on to your children someday?

Laura

Blessing for today: I had a chance to go to Little E’s Christmas Party at preschool.  Always a joy!

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Ugh what a time I’ve had trying to get a LeapPad Explorer!

See this thing right here?

This “gadget” has been the bane of my existence for the past….oh….month and a half.

Why?

WELLLLLLLL….because I wanted to buy this for Little E for Christmas.  He loves using my iPod touch and I knew that he would just LOVE this.

About a month and a half it came on sale at Walmart for $89…which is a $20 price drop from the original price.  I went to our nearest Walmart and they didn’t have it…so drove all the way to the other Walmart (it’s not really far…but remember my story about going around the rotary?  Yeah…what should have been a ten minute drive turned into about a 20 minute drive).  I found it at the other Walmart…buttttttttttttt…and here’s the BIG BUT…they only had one left and it was in the color PINK.

However  because I can always find a way to get myself out of a mess (usually) I decided to buy it and then later on when they had green ones in stock exchange it for a green one at the same price of $89.

Little did I know that the evil elves of Walmart didn’t feel the need to stock up on anymore LeapPad Explorers.  And the extra naughty elves of the internet were selling them on Amazon and Ebay for almost double and triple what they were worth.

All I could think of was “this is just like the Tickle Me Elmo” scenario a few years back.  However, I didn’t run over anybody (yet) to get one.

So I brought it home…hid it in my closet and probably annoyed all my friends with my asking them if they were going away so that they may be able to get one for me in the color GREEN.  I called other stores…even 4.5 hrs away…and all were sold out.

Then last night the magical elf that loves me came to visit.  He brought me a flyer from Zellers that said “LeapPad Explorer’s on sale $99.00”.  I was soooo excited.  Here was my chance to get a green one. We hurried out to Zellers the night before the sale and the nasty sales lady said “they don’t go on sale till tomorrow…they won’t be out on the floor until tomorrow.”  I replied….”I’ll buy one for regular price.  All I want is a green one”.  She nastily replied “be here at 8 in the morning if you want one”.

Seriously…cause nobody works right?

In my head, though, I was plotting.  How will I be there at 8 in the morning.  I have to babysit kiddos all day…it’s just not going to happen.

I turned to hubby with my sweet eyes and kindly asked “hey can  you be there in the morning at 8 to get this for me?  Pretty please???”

He quickly agreed and he headed in to Zellers at 7:30 this morning.  I really think he was just tired of me talking about it the for the last month and a half.

At about 7:50 I texted him and asked him if there were a lot of people in line.  He said “5 and then me…so 6.  5 Crazy ladies and me…I feel so dumb.  Do I run?  Do I scream while I run?”

Oh the humor of that boy.

I said…”no just walk very very quickly!!”

There was silence and then I heard the lovely “twinkle” saying that I had a text message and this is what it said:

“for it” (yes…hubby is still learning how to text)

Then a reply came quickly after that “Got it!”

Woohoooooooooooooooooo I was so excited.  Little E wouldn’t have a pink LeapPad after all. (Although I’m sure he probably would prefer the pink one)

And what am I doing with my pink one?

Hahaha…I’m joining the thousands on ebay and trying to sell it for more than it’s worth.  If it doesn’t sell then I’ll post it on Kijiji or take it back to Walmart…but a girl has to try right?

Laura

Ps.  Note to self:  Buy the popular items ahead of time!

Blessing:  No women were killed or trampled on while my husband grabbed the LeapPad Explorer.  🙂

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Preschool!

Well today was the day!  My little man (Little E) went to preschool for the first time.

Hubby and I talked about it a while ago and thought it wouldn’t hurt for him to go to preschool once or twice a week so he can get used to being without us so once he gets into school in a few years it won’t be so hard on him.

He told me last night that he was scared.

So I prayed with him and told him that mommy was scared too but I knew he was going to be a big boy and that he could handle it.  Then I told him that Jesus was with him.

He was pretty excited to go this morning once he saw his book bag and hubby said that he did really good.

Mommy did good too.  I didn’t call AT ALL.

I was tempted to a few times…but I held back.

And he did excellent!  He ate all his food…even had a 20 min nap and I think he has a new friend named Caleb…but the jury is still out on that one.

And…he can’t wait to go back!

Take a look at how cute he was this morning!

Uggh…break my heart.  😦  But I’m glad he’s having fun.

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Blessing: My heart grew fonder 🙂

 Laura

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Treego and what I learned from it.

Hubby and I recently celebrated 10 years of wonderful marriage bliss….

ok…well we’ve been married for 10 years now.  🙂  So we decided to do something different for our ten year anniversary.

We, of course, went to the Toby Mac concert on the night before (Wednesday)….but that was all for me.  Hubby decided he wanted to do something…a bit more challenging and fun for him.

So we decided to go do TreeGo together.

Now, for all of those who don’t know…basically TreeGo is an obstacle course that is set up HIGH off the ground in trees.  You use a harness, pulleys and carabiners to get yourself around the obstacle course and to ensure your safety.

Here…see for yourself.

(This video was taken off of Youtube)

Some of you are probably thinking that this looks like a lot of fun.  Well..it was…but for somebody scared of heights it was more of a “let me get this over with, but let it look like I am enjoying it for the sake of doing something fun with hubby that he wants to do.”

At the very first you start off with a course that teaches your basics and the wonderful guy at the beginning just must have seen the scared looked that was on my face and decided to have some fun with me. (or it might have just been standard procedure)  When he went to explain the zipline to us and give us directions for that…he told us that we needed to make sure our head was back away from the rope or else it could seriously do some harm to our skull.

Yes…thank you for that.

Kevin and I had recently watched a movie about people trying to get out of this cave and this woman was climbing up the rope and her carabiner got stuck or something around her hair and then something happened so she lost her footing…and yah well it wasn’t pretty.  Her hair was ripped right out of her skull…along with some of her head too.

Yes…this is what I was picturing EVERY SINGLE TIME I went down a zipline.  Let me just tell you…my head was FAR AWAY from the rope.

Oh yes…have I mentioned that I’m scared of heights??  Well..in case I didn’t…I am…really really am…but by the end of it I think I was doing pretty good.

Now…most of the courses you are supposed to rely and trust in your harness and the carabiners to hold you up…and be able to balance yourself to walk across the ropes and obstacle courses.  Not me…NOPE.  I held on to the top rope with all that I could.  Even when the trees were blowing I was just a screaming.

(I’m sure hubby had a great laugh)

There are four courses.  I only did three (which to pat myself on the back…is pretty impressive for somebody scared of heights).  However, at the end of the third one there was this T shaped bar and you were supposed to swing yourself off of one platform and onto the next which was about maybe 20 feet away.

By this time my hands and arms were so sore from holding myself up and NOT trusting in my harness that I really didn’t feel like I could do it.  However, this was the end of the third course and I had already told hubby I wasn’t going to do the fourth one.  I could see the end in sight so I decided to go for it.  I swung myself off and only managed to get half way across.  I was holding on for dear life trying to swing myself the rest of the way…but to no avail.  I heard the guide tell hubby to pull me back.  Meanwhile I was screaming “DON’T PULL ME BACK I’M ALMOST THERE”….knowing full well that I was going to have to do this all again.

The second time I made it..but just barely…and that was the end for me.

I did however…learn some valuable lessons on this adventure.

1)  I need to learn to trust things around me more.   A lot of the time I lean on my own understanding of things and think that I can do it so much easier instead of just following directions. I didn’t trust in my harness and boy did I pay for it afterwards.  I was so tense and sore from holding myself up I had a hard time moving for the next two days.  Everything inside and outside of my stomach hurt like crazy…as well as my arms and legs.

2)  I depend on my husband for encouragement.  This isn’t a bad thing.  We all need encouragement in our lives…and who better to give it to you than your spouse.  I learned that I need to encourage him more as well.

3)  When I can see the end in sight things are always so much better.  Some of those times when I was walking on the swinging boards all I could think of was the end.  Once I saw the end I basically ran to the finish, relaxed and then prepared myself for the next course.  Sometimes things in life are bad…but I always seem to get through them…and when I’m finished going through the bad things I can look back and see how well I may or may not have done.

So….yes it definitely was challenging but rewarding in the same aspect.

Would I do it again?

NOT. A. CHANCE.

But you should try it 🙂

Laura

Blessing:  I didn’t fall to my death.

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Always Thankful…but rarely show it.

I don’t usually post on Sunday but…being it Thanksgiving and all I figured it couldn’t hurt.  🙂

Thanksgiving – a time to remember all that you have and to be thankful for it.  (Basically that’s a pretty good definition of it without going into all the history of it).

Thanksgiving kinda irks me.  Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m plenty thankful for what I have…and I know I have an over abundance of things…but it still irks me.

Why??

Well, because it just seems that the whole world has to stop on this one day and find something that they are thankful for.  We go around the table and say something we are thankful for and it always seems like there is one person at the table who has to pause and think of something.  Why do we just have to take this one day???  Why can’t we be thankful all year round??

Today we talked about it in church and I paused.  Not because I wasn’t thankful…but I wanted to say something besides “my family”.  Don’t get me wrong…I’m eternally grateful for my family but I am thankful for them each and every day.  I wanted to say something that I was thankful for that maybe I take for granted.  In the end it seemed like I couldn’t come up with something fast enough so I mentioned that I was thankful for the vacation we just took.

I am always thankful.  It doesn’t seem like there is a day that goes by that I don’t realize how blessed I truly am…and I send my thanks to the appropriate places.  However, when I look back at my life I find that I do a lot more complaining than showing others how thankful I really am.

Let me explain that a little better.

I am thankful for everything in my life.  Truly, utterly grateful.  I give thanks to my God who gives me those things to be thankful for as well as others who have blessed me with things.  But, rarely do I ever show others why I am thankful.  Rarely do I ever tell somebody: “I was feeling really low and discouraged and then I got this card in the mail that just uplifted my spirits and I am so THANKFUL for that”.  No….I keep that to myself instead of sharing it with others. Instead, I tend to voice my complaints about other areas in my life so much so that all people see are things that are wrong in my life…instead of the joy.

I don’t want to be like this…it just seems to be a habit I have formed and I’m trying to work myself out of it (with God’s help of course).

So…right here…right now…under the stars….I promise..(oh wait…sorry got side tracked by a Toby Mac song)

So…right here on this blog I’m going to share some things I am thankful for…just from today alone.  Hopefully this will become a thing that will be a little more regular on here.

10 Things I am thankful for: October 9, 2011:

1)  My husband who brought me coffee when my eyes don’t seem like they want to stay open tonight.

2) Little E and his manners.

3)  Being told “I love you” on a constant basis from Little E and hubby.

4)  A church where I can go and relax and people accept me.

5)  Laughter and friends.

6) The beautifully warm sun

7)  Corn maze entertainment

8 ) For a clean fridge and stove and kitchen (Thanks Darlene!)

9) A car that I can rely on

10)For a husband who is an amazing dad and wonderful man of God.

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Sleeping in confined spaces.

The weekend before last we went on our first family vacation together!  Yes…we have gone on vacation before…but we have always stopped and visited family or friends and never really a night to ourselves.  Don’t get me wrong…we love seeing friends and family but it was due time for just the three of us to get away.

My hubby needed a break from life.  I needed a break from life and Little E just needed some daddy and mommy time all to himself.

So…we packed up the car with the tent, air mattress, cooler and dog and headed out after church for a Sunday and Monday vacation.

I was really looking forward to going on vacation with my boys until a few nights before when hubby and I were putting Little E to bed.  He wanted both of us to snuggle with him in his new bed and hubby says “sure!  That will give us practice for Sunday when we are in the tent”.

And then it hit me!  Like the V8 Commercial…a smack straight to my forehead.

I have to sleep with my child and hubby in the same bed in a small confined space.

~ Gulp ~

I’m not sure if you know this or not…but I don’t do good with people invading my personal space. Oh…I know…they are my family…but still this momma doesn’t do well unless she has about 6 or 7 hours of good sleep…and then two cups of coffee in the morning.

I also don’t sleep well with Little E.  He kicks…jabs…turns upside down, pokes..you name it..he does it.  I have tried sleeping with him before and it ends up with him sleeping and me laying wide awake..staring at the ceiling for two hours.  The same happens if hubby tries to cuddle with me.

Not. Good.

I NEED sleep.

So…we get there and we get set up and we do our little touristy thing in the neighbouring town and go out for supper.

We then head back to our site and have a great campfire.

Then the moment of truth comes….time to put Little E to bed.  Hubby goes in and lays down with him while I take the dog for a walk.  I come back and sit around the campfire waiting for hubby to come out.

I wait.

I wait.

I wait some more.

Then I hear…..

SNORING!

That’s right.  Hubby’s asleep!

I was so excited that hubby and I were going to get a chance to sit around a fire and relax and just talk to each other and spend some good quality time together…and then he falls asleep.

Now…don’t get me wrong.  I was a little annoyed…but at the same time I knew hubby really needed sleep.  He was getting burnt out and I knew the extra bit of R&R would be good for him.  So I grabbed the flashlight and my kindle and enjoyed some nature and a book all to myself.

About an hour or so later the snoring stopped and I hear hubby say “Is the fire almost out?”  I tell him that it’s still going pretty strong and then there is silence again for about five minutes.  Finally I ask him “So…are you going to come out and help me put it out or are you going to go back to sleep?”

Do you know what his reply was?

“It took forever to get Little E to sleep.  He just went to sleep now…I’m sorry..I’ll be right out!”

RIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGHHTTT.

Like that loud freight train snoring came from my three year old child.  🙂

We quickly put the fire out and then headed to bed.  I was tired and so was he.  He fell right asleep while, yup you guessed it, I lay awake listening to the drunkards at the next campsite singing to country music and laughing their heads off.

Finally I fell asleep only to be awoken by a kick in the stomach.  A jab in the chest and a poke in the eye with a foot.  I quickly turned little E around and set him back in the upright position.  I think I may have had to do this about four or five times during the night….thus not getting me my six hours of sleep.

OY…was I tired the next morning!  A tired and hot woman does not qualify for a good morning.

My poor boys…all the pain they had to endure until momma got her second cup of coffee!

But once I did…we enjoyed the rest of our vacation (all 15 minutes of it).

Lesson learned:  Next time…rent a cabin.  The boys can sleep in the tent and I’ll sleep inside 🙂

Laura

Blessing:  Had some good quality time with my boys.  It was a fun vacation except for momma’s crabbiness 🙂 

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