Lessons from a child

Yet again, Javan's simple mind and BIG heart amazes me. (and teaches me a lesson or two).

Over the past few weeks we have been doing a devotional every day at dinner time. Today the story was about Sampson and it said "God gives each of us special gifts to use for him. But if we forget about God, we lose our power, too.  Ask God to help you stay strong in his power for your whole life."

And then we talked about our special gifts and following God's will and of course the convo about people who don't believe in God and so on....

Devotional was over and we were just eating and talking about who-knows-what.  I just remember facing Lance when Javan, out of the blue, folds his little hands and bows his head and prays:

"Dear God.  Please help me to know who doesn't believe in you and who does so I can tell them all about you. Amen."

It got me to thinking that we complicate Christianity so much as we grow and learn and my sweet little 4 year old got it just right.  We should be asking God when we begin a conversation with someone. "Help me to know who doesn't believe in you so that I can tell them all about you."  Its so simple but so often I forget to include God in my conversations. I just start blabbering.  

Random thoughts

We went to church tonight.

 Its kind of nice to be able to go to church on Saturday nights from time to time.

For some reason it seems to always happen that at several points during the church service I will have all these ideas that "I've gotta remember to blog about that."

Never fails.

And like a really awesome dream, ... those ideas tend to disappear by the time I get home. I probably should have jotted them down somewhere so I wouldn't forget. Just notes, I don't think the pastor would appreciate me blogging during the service... :-P.  (plus, the message was great and wouldn't want to miss out on it).

I am beginning to think that this happens because I don't give myself a chance to sit down and THINK at all during the week.  Probably something I should work on. Scratch that. Definitely something I should work on.

Is it too late for New Years Resolutions?  Well, I don't usually even go there because I never keep them and then I get all disappointed. But, IF I did.. here would be a couple of things I would do.

1. Check facebook only ONCE  a day.
2. At the end of my work day - literally SHUT DOWN my computer.
3. Make 2 lists of things to do. The first list would be things that should be done weekly, the other list of bigger projects that I could work on tackling when I have free time.
4. Read more. (this would go along with shutting down my computer, Read during the extra moments of free time - the moments that I'm not spending QT with the little buster or the hubby.
5. Keep a prayer journal. (I had one ages ago.  It truly was the best thing for my prayer life.)

I'm sure there are more. I know there are more. That's a good start.

Truthfully, I have been working hard on making that stuff happen, but I won't call it a New Years Resolution because I cheat too much.

And that's just discouraging.

Lance is now officially a student.  All the more reason for me to have the time to work on my list above. He is taking 3 online classes at the community college. This week has been a little crazy with him getting used to the website that they use and getting all the books and caught up and stuff. (If you know Lance at all, then you would know that he is a "get stuff done - play later" kind of guy.)

Hence the....This week has been a bit hectic comment.

But, I have to give him props for doing a great job balancing it all without getting too frustrated.  He is going to do great this semester!! The online courses are pretty awesome. I wish they were more popular when i was going to college. The lectures are on a video so he can repeat any parts that might be a little confusing (or fast forward parts that are totally boring. LOL! Totally something I would do...) Lance however, nope. He'll read every word in the book and listen to the lectures until he understands them.

Not a shortcuts kind of guy.

 I admire him for that. 

Most of his books are online too, with tutors available and video lectures as well. Suweet!!

Javan has been learning a lot too.  He says the most startling things sometimes and I don't know if he learns them from Sunday School, Preschool, Awana, or me...

Because I'm sure I have entire conversations with him that I don't even remember... that's just who I am...the same person that gets lost almost every time I leave the house. tee hee. Lance had to draw me a map today. Seriously. I've lived here for long enough, I should be able to get around this crazy city.  Especially since it is in grid form... pretty easy...not sure why it confuses me so much.  I'm just used to windy roads and directions like "turn left after you go over the bridge and pass that crooked tree." .

You know its bad when even Javan notices it and asks whenever I get in the turn signal "Did you go the wrong way again"

Anway, Javan said to me this week "You know some people don't know God. Some people don't even PRAY. Some people think that God doesn't answer their prayers!!" I wish there was a way to describe his tone of voice. Absolutely appalled at the thought!! and then he said "And, Mom, some people listen to Satan and do bad things that Satan tells them instead of listening to God."

I have heard variations of this conversation so much this week that it didn't sound all that unusual until we were at Walmart today and Javan said (in a normal 4 year old SHOUTING tone of voice)

"Mom, I don't listen to Satan. Sometimes Satan tells me "its okay to pick your nose" but I try not to listen."

And the lady standing next to me gave me the STRANGEST look.

WHAT?!?! Your kids don't talk to Satan from time to time. Sheesh.

Some other cute Javan quotes:

1. Doing neck rolls - "This is my favorite exercise. It helps me grow taller" Must be something he learned at preschool because I don't usually do neck rolls that often. Although I should.

2. Javan: "Mom, can we move to Pennsylvania"
    Me: "We don't plan on moving to Pennsylvania anytime soon, but we can visit there sometime."
   Javan: (obviously realizing that discussing this with me is getting him no where) "Dear God, Would you please move us to Pennsylvania so i can play with Mom mom and Pop Pop and Jeremiah, Ryan, and Nathan (sorry JR and Kim, Your children obviously take priority over you guys cuz your names weren't mentioned). AMEN. 

Now, THAT'S my kind of prayer... but i don't think that is in the cards for us. Javan might soon be learning a lesson about how God says "not now" sometimes.

3. Javan was pointing out a new-found little cut on his foot (one of those mystery scratch's that I have no idea where it came from). I said "I think its ok, but we can put some medicine on it to help it heal" Javan: "Nah, that's OK Mom, I don't need medicine. God will heal it."  BANG! I love that kid!

 

Not sure which is more fun. Building the snow man or knocking it down!

40  degree weather today and the snow is melting...

I was a little bummed out last week because Chad wanted to take Jav for 2 nights and, ya know, as much as he can drive me crazy from time to time...2 DAYS away was seriously depressing.
So Lance, as usual, hits amazing husband status and had flowers delivered to the house...Wow..I know I keep saying it but seriously, is this a dream?
Well the irony was that Chad ended up returning Jav on Wednesday anyway so I wasn't lonely after all. :-)
And while I'm bragging about my amazing family, Jav has truly been impressing us with how well he has been behaving. Not that he misbehaved much before but the fine tuning with the little things (the usual whining, cleaning up after himself, and testing with talking back that most 4 year olds go through) has really paid off. THANK YOU Parenting with Love and Logic AND hats off to my parenting partner (that would be Lance if there was any question).

You win some, you lose some

One day this week I was feeling particularly adventurous in the kitchen.

Well, at first I was a bit hungry so I whipped out the new food processor and made some BANGO guacamole...

A recipe I know by heart since I make it so often (btw, if you ever feel like making some guac, throw in some uncooked corn right off of the cob... YUM!  ....seriously, try it... uncooked corn is awesome in any dips.. its super sweet. We throw it in our salsa and pasta salads too) .

Back to the guac - I have always made it with one of those potato mashers and squooosh the avacodos but since I got a new food processor for Christmas, I thought - why not...Anyway, for some reason the guacamole made with the food processor lasted OVERNIGHT in the fridge without turning brown. (possibly could have lasted longer but guac doesn't last that long in this house).  Wish I new about THAT sooner...

So, I'm sitting there munching on some chips and guac and decided. I'm going to pull out the pasta machine and make some PIEROGIES.  YUM!!

My mouth was watering thinking about my amazing dinner that I am going to serve to my awesome little family. Oh ... it was going to be SO much better than the boxed frozen variety... and I began my pierogi making adventure....

AND THEY WERE HORRIBLE!!! I guess I didn't flatten the dough thin enough because they didn't cook right and I guess I didn't seal them very well because the potato filling squished out into the water. It was AWEFUL!

 a terrible, aweful, MESS!!  haha.

So, you win some you lose some.  My family had frozen chicken patties with maranara and melted mozzerellla cheese on top (chicken parm) for dinner. Not the healthiest meal but that's the way it goes.

I made up for it on Saturday when Javan and I went to the farmers market... bought a whole bunch of discounted tomatoes and red peppers (they were too ripe for the market, but PERFECT for me). I roasted them in the oven with some olive oil, salt and pepper at 325 for 2 hours (with some onions too).  Then bumped it up to 400 for 30 min. tossed it all in a food processor and canned them. (I saved some for dinner that night...spaghetti)

BOOYA!! Fresh and delicious homemade sauce in my cupboard and ready when I need it.  All i have to do is pop open the jar, add a little water (or white wine or vinegar or sour cream or milk or butter or whatever i feel like throwing in there that day) and some spices and TADA a fast easy dinner. I'll save them for those busy days at the "office"

Totally made up for my pierogi disaster. Don't worry, friends....I'm not giving up. I plan on giving those another try....

Fun in the snow!

This has been a super fun couple of days. We got a few flurries on Sunday morning

By the evening on Sunday there was enough snow to have a little snowball fight as we rode our bikes around the neighborhood.

Monday morning we woke up to 3-4 inches - which is a whole lot to us Kansan's!!!  

We made a snowman 

and then did a little sledding. It was Javan's first time in his life to go sledding and my first time 

in (eh hem...) probably 20 years. We had LOADS of fun.  Javan picked it up like and old pro and rode that sled all the way to the very bottom.  Only one time did he have a couple of tears over a snow "crash" and some snow in his face.  I think he's going to LOVE snowboarding someday...:-)

For more pics check out the web album (it also includes Christmas pictures and 

pictures from mom and dad's visit:  http://picasaweb.google.com/Merriettgrace/Winter20102011#

Here is a video of Javan's first time down the hill.  Of course there were many times after that and as the snow got matted down he would go FASTER AND FASTER!!!!

A pitstop at Krispy Creme!!

I was in my room pouring 2 half empty bottles of leave in conditioner into one...

Javan walks in, "Mom, what are you doing...making a little EXPEEEEEEERIENCE" (I think he meant, experiment) haha.

Proud mama

We were in the car and I was talking away when Lance goes "SHHHHHHHHHh"

Slightly appalled at the fact that he just Shushed me, how dare he, I gave him a puzzled look.

He quietly said "Listen, Merrie"

and in the backseat Javan was counting...as I listened I was totally shocked to hear him count all the way to 59 WITH NO HELP FROM US! This was the first time I heard that from him.

He is also reading so well now... he's pretty good at sounding out words in Phonics books. We will read through them but it takes a little time.  However, he is REALLY good at memorizing words.  Street signs and restaurant names, etc.  Yesterday, mom and Javan were putting together a new Toy Story toy and he said to mom "that sign says Sunnyside."  He probably did a little bit of sounding out to figure out the word but most of it was that he knew it was a toy story 3 toy and he remembered the name of the day care and figured it out.

We are so proud of the little guy!

A little procrastination

Well, my new hours have officially begun. I can barely contain my excitement.... and ironically... I need to get work done tonight so that I can get Javan to preschool, Mom-mom to her hair appt, and get some grocery done.  My cupboards and fridge are looking so extremely scarce it frightening.

So, what  better to do when I have work to do... procrastinate! (my sister would be proud!!)

Ok, really, though, this needs to be quick. I'd like to get to bed at a fairly normal hour... but I thought I'd write a few things that have been rattling around in my mind over the past week.

Seriously. I'm quite impressed that I haven't forgotten these things.

First of all... a continuation of the "dirt and sticks saga"

Chad's parents and sister decided that since Javan is so terribly deprived of junk food, they would feed him whatever he wants... as much as he wants. Well, he was a happy little camper when he got home with his box of chocolate candies and a tummy full of movie theater popcorn and soda (that was after the mcdonalds).

He was NOT, however, a very happy camper at 1am when he woke up and THREW IT ALL UP!  He layed in bed with me and said "I learned a lesson. I shouldn't eat too much junk food" HAHA.  He still only attributes the barf-fest to the box of candy even though I've tried to explain to him it was the mcdonalds and soda and popcorn too.  I suppose another lesson will need to be learned.

Even I had to learn that lesson the hard way.  It was sometime last year, after I had given up soda for the most part, that I took advantage of free refills a little too far and ended up getting sick in the middle of the night.

TRUE STORY.

Anyway, Christmas has been magical, fun, and NEVER ENDING haha.  We have barely been home in the past 2 weeks (hence the empty fridge and cupboards). Javan really enjoyed all of the gifts that we got him.  My favorite line from Christmas morning was when he got his pillow pet he immediately says "and did you know it is EVEN MACHINE WASHABLE?!?!!"  Too many commercials for this kiddo !! haha.

Mom -mom and Pop-pop have been here to visit this week and it has just been a dream for Javan.  He just absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVES playing with Seth everyday  (I wish we could get those two together even more often) and loves getting spoiled by Mom-mom and loves all of the fun things we get to do with them.  We have just had a great time with good food and fun.  We will be sad to see them go tomorrow...

and a little happy to get back in the normal swing of things :-)

Oh and it was cute. Javan said to Pop-pop.  "Its fun having you visit. You should have brought Jeremiah and Ryan"  I am getting anxious to make a trip out to PA, I'm missing it.

Ok, really, now.. I gotta get to work.  Sheesh!!

Javan-isms

Javan is with his grandparents this morning since they did Christmas last night, so I plan on taking full advantage of these moments of uninterrupted time to get really important things done.  Like re-upholster my kitchen chairs and make some curtains for my kitchen :-)

What?? I got a new tablecloth for Christmas and now it doesn't match my chairs or my curtains.  Something MUST be done about this!

Lance thinks I am crazy too... Anyway, I thought I'd take a few minutes to write down a couple of silly Javan sayings.

We met up with Chad's sister yesterday so that she could take Javan to his grandparents house.  Missi and her daughter, Aislinn, had just had some Sonic for lunch and apparently Aislinn offered Javan a tater tot... and here is how the conversation went (paraphrasing since I wasn't actually there)...

Aislinn: Javan, do you want a tater tot
Javan: My mom doesn't take me to restaurants.
Aislinn: So, you don't go to restaurants at all???
Javan: Nope, never. She never takes me to Mcdonalds.  She makes me eat healthy things.
Aislinn: Like what?
Javan: Things like Sticks, and twigs, and mud and branches
Aislinn: Oh man, so can you have a candycane?
Javan: Oh yeah! I can have candycanes

Lance says that we should serve him up a dinner of sticks and mud when he gets back (as a joke) and see what he says. hahaha

Seriously, though, this whole 2 sides parenting thing is killing me!! And so it goes... I cook every meal because, well, its healthier and cheaper.. Chad sees him once a week and takes him out to Mcdonalds every time. I'm sure if i saw him only once a week I would probably take him out too!! AND for the record... we do make an occasional fast food jaunt from time to time.

I have so many thoughts about this topic, my brain gets all mixed up when I think about it...I think I'll leave it as it is right now and maybe when I have some more time I will dig a little deeper on the whole parenting/eating healthy conundrum.

Anyway, one other cute little quote Javan said... and before I go there, I'd like to answer everyone's question before you ask it. No, i'm not pregnant and no, we are not trying ...

Shew. and once again, paraphrasing since I wasn't there for this one either....

Lance and Javan were talking about Harrison and how helpful Javan is with him. Then Lance said, so Javan when you are a big brother someday, are you going to be a big helper for mommy?  Javan's response:

"Oh yeah, i'll be a big helper! I'll be really good at teaching him how to wrestle."

hahaha... Thanks Javan! I'm sure teaching the baby how to wrestle will truly help me.. I mean, it IS his duty as a big brother, right?!?!?

I will write soon about Christmas excitement. Right now, its back to work....

Oh man.. Javan was just adorable this weekend. He said so many cute things, I'm kicking myself for not writing them all down.

Friday night we went to Legacy's christmas show and it was spectacular (not like I would expect any less from them).  Anyway, they had a background picture of snow falling and Javan says "Mom, I learned that snow is just a lot of SNOWFLAKES" I wish I could somehow put into words his genuine excitement for this simple fact.  It just reminds me the many pieces of knowledge that we adults just take for granted.... and expect kids to just KNOW.

Saturday morning we went to Lance's parents house for a little bit, while Lance helped his dad with some electrical and then we went to a family Christmas dinner (on his mom's side).  Javan had a buddy there... Grant... and they played SO well together. There were a few times that i was sure they must be causing trouble because they were so QUIET but, no, just playing nicely together (well as "nice" as a couple of boys can play together).  Javan fell asleep on the car ride home and when I took off his coat and put him to bed. He mumbled in a very concerned tone "My toys (he got a couple of little toys there) are in my coat pocket." I told him I will get them, not to worry and he replies "but, MOM, they will be ruined if you put them in the washer." The things that he worries about.

Over the weekend he developed a little bit of a cough and we were super busy so we decided after church to just have a "lay low" day.  We watched a couple of movies, made some donuts and just rested. It was a good day!!

I have to give some major props to Lance who has been soooo patient with me while I have been swamped with work last week.  Friday night he knew that I was waaaaaay too busy to have any dinner ready and he decided to make a (delicious, I might add) stuffed crust pizza for dinner

We have been having a lot of fun lately making things from scratch. We try our best to avoid grocery stores for anything pre-made. Yesterday, we were thinking about making a trip to Dunkin Donuts for some donuts and then thought... it would be a lot more FUN and healthier and cheaper to make them ourselves.  I love it when Lance and Javan cook with me. :-)

Lance rolled out the dough while I got the oil ready and made the glaze. We didn't have a donut cookie cutter so lance used his wedding ring for the donut holes. I decided to name them "love donuts". haha.

This was the finished product. Some very very yummy donuts.  Lance and I are already thinking of how we can get creative with our next donut making marathon....

Adam and Angela took Javan and Harrison to see Santa Claus!!
So Cute!

There is something not quite right....

Shana asked Seth, "So, what did you think of Javan's Christmas pagent?" and he says (I'm paraphrasing here since I wasn't there to get the exact quote):

Well, it was good but something wasn't quite right...I don't think Angels pick their noses.

LOL. That Seth!

Angel Video

My video is too big to download it to my Blog so I had to create a youtube account and download it there...then I got to thinking... why not download all of my videos there... my computer is getting so slow from all the space that is used for videos and pictures. 

I am going to attempt to burn all of my pictures onto disks so I can delete them from my computer too. I need to free up some hard drive. haha.

So, the link to my youtube channel is below. I will hopefully get all of my videos posted this week......

http://www.youtube.com/user/merriettgrace

The video of the pagent is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWNb2c1Zo0

My Little Angel

itt

That's how we be men

Javan's newest little quote. I'm not sure it came from... assuming his daddy because its not something we say here but its sooooo cute...

"We put our shoes were they belong..that's how we be men, right Lance?  THAT's how we be men!"

Well, Javan was a really awesome and adorable angel this Sunday at his pagent.  Putting the excessive nose-picking aside.... he did AWESOME!  I have a few pics and I recorded his little song they did but I have to find my camera....... will post soon.

It was great to have Lance's parents, Crystal, Adam, and Lucas  (Lance's sister and family), Adam and Angela (the family i babysit for), and Shana and Seth all there cheering him on. Afterwards, we went to Fritz's with Lance's family for dinner as per Javan's request.  Fritz's is basically a Mcdonalds that delivers your food via train. :-)

After ALL that we needed to take a rest so we all got comfy and watched Madagascar 2 - Javan got the movie at a gift exchange at Lance's cousin's Family Christmas party on Friday night.  That night was loads of fun too!!!

After the movie Javan got his little awana vest on and went to cubbies. He's doing such a great job memorizing his bible verses.  This week they took all of the kids to a "awana giftshop" and Javan got to pick a present for his mommy. He got me candles in the shape of flowers....He was so excited to give them to me **melt**.  Then we packed him up in the car, bought some subway and ate "dinner" in the car while we watched the "dancing christmas lights".  We got our first snow the night before so it really felt like Christmas :-) Then Lance drove us around while we looked at some other Christmas lights in the neighborhood.

It was an awesome weekend!  I just can't be more thankful for our little family.

I am taking a quick minute to give an update on the happenings around here, before I forget...these days i feel like I can't keep my head on straight!

I am soooo excited that starting the new year I will be starting with my new office hours. This will be great for not only me, but the entire family. It just can't come fast enough. We are looking forward to having our early evenings together without the computer interruptions.  My new hours will be 7:30-4:00 central time.

We bought a membership to our community center and have been enjoying trips to the pool.  Javan is getting better and better at swimming and backfloating with his little "surf board" (as he calls it).  We had him practice treading water without help the last time we were at the pool, he still needs some practice but he is eager to learn (his reward is that as soon as he can swim without support for 10 seconds he will be able to go on the BIG slide).

Last weekend we went to Luke and Seth's "Kings Kids" the Christmas program Legacy puts on. Of course, as with the majority of Legacy's events... it was AWESOME! The kids did such a great job!!  Javan had a blast playing in the gym with his cousins and the other kids.  There were lots of cookies and cupcakes to induce a outrageous sugar high.

This weekend we are getting excited for Javan's Christmas pagent.  The preschoolers/kindergarteners are all Angels.. .the boys are angels with swords, while the girls are just pretty ;-)  Well, Javan told me that his pagent was going to be SCARY....

Now, why in the world would his Christmas pagent be scary?? I had to find out....

Javan's answer: "Because I'm going to have a sword and I'm going to fight the girl angels"

Oh. Geez. You just can't take the boy out of him!!

Anyway, Christmas decorations are up. Christmas presents are bought (yes, we got him his timer... a digital one too!!).

We have been doing our advent at the dinner table. I think "dinner-time devotionals" may be a continuing tradition after Christmas is over.

Lance is helping clean the floor after Kings Kids!

I told jav to put on a warm shirt and pants so he could go outside and play. This is what he chose. Suit coat WITH the vest and pajama pants. Silly boy!