Wordless Wednesday: Messy Face

Kohl Children's Museum

We spent the morning with our friends at Kohl Children's Museum. It was our first time there and Caleb had a lot of fun. It was a little overwhelming, with the crazy amount of people and the crazy amount of things to play, but it was a fun morning.

Water!


Making Pizza...this was his favorite activity!


Walking across a raging river...


Hopping across the raging river...=)


Cars!


Listening to music...


Playing music...


Magnets with his buddy Jack...


Meredith and her friend Mikayla...



A morning of play
+
Full bellies from lunch
=
Sleepy Babies

Words That Edify

We all know that kids love to repeat what we say. ...the good, the bad, and yes, the ugly. I remember well the days when Caleb first started repeating after us, verbatim, and thinking....yikes, we have GOT to be careful about how we talk! And, not only do we have to be careful about what we shouldn't say, we also need to be intentional about what we do say.

We try very very hard in this house to speak only words that edify.

edify: to instruct or benefit, esp. morally or spiritually; uplift

Are we perfect in this? No.

But, do we strive each moment of our days to ensure that the things we are saying in this house and the way in which we are saying them are edifying? You betcha.

One of my recent memory verses from Entrusted With a Child's Heart was Ephesians 4:29:
"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

As a mom to 2 precious little ones, I so desire to build them up and to extend grace to them by the way I speak.

I tell my kids I love them countless times a day. I tell Caleb how proud of him I am countless times a day. I speak tenderly to them. I use my manners with them. I remind them of Bible verses and talk about God with them. I assure them that I am here to take care of them when they are sick or hurt or sad.

But, sometimes I fail. Sometimes I raise my voice. Sometimes I am impatient. I am not perfect, but God is gracious.

In the past two days, my heart has cherished 2 particular things my sweet Caleb has said.

At one point yesterday, he said, "Mama, I am so proud of you." Granted, this wasn't for anything all that significant...I think I just had a good shot in a Wii golf game or something! In another instance, he said to Kris "Daddy, I love you thiiiiiiissss much!" (stretching his arms all the way out to show Kris just how much!)

Both of those phrases, "I am so proud of you" and "I love you thiiiiiiiissss much" (complete with arm gestures!) are phrases that are said frequently around this house. It warmed my heart to hear Caleb say them, all on his own, without being prompted in any way. Seriously, what's better than hearing your 2 year old tell you they love you without you even saying it first?!

God promises that by striving to be a home that speaks words that edify, we are building up our children, showing them grace, and living out God's Word, even in our imperfections. To witness Caleb choosing to speak words that edify was precious encouragement.

A recent post from the Entrusted Blog was on this topic.
Click here to read it.

As my children grow up, I hope that they look to me as a Mother who speaks words that edify. I pray that even on the hard days, my words, my tone, and my heart are gracious, patient, and loving toward the little ones that He has placed in my care.

Wordless Wednesday: At the Library

Silly Moments

Before church this morning, Caleb decided to put on Daddy's shoes. He was positively giddy over the whole thing. He was walking around, laughing up a storm, and would have worn Dad's shoes to church if we let him. You would have thought it was comedy night (morning?) in our house today, we were all laughing so much.



This may not seem to be that much fun to you, but it was one of those moments where we all just stopped in our tracks, forgot about the mad rush that was needed to get out the door, and just laughed together.

Even Meredith was having fun...


These moments, as *small* and seemingly insignificant as they might be, are absolutely priceless to this Mama.

Oh, and don't worry, we still made it to church in plenty of time!

Bubbles

One of our



favorite things

about being outside



is being able to



blow



bubbles!

Wordless Wednesday: At the Park

My Little Pony

Mommy gave me my first pony...

Ponytail that is...

Storytime

Caleb "reading" to Meredith.


He started the story by saying "Once upon a time, there was a giraffe...."

New Look

The previous owners of our home definitely had different taste than us....not that their style was wrong, but just, *ahem*, different than ours. And, not to say that our sense of style is all that great, but *you know*, just different from theirs.

For example, we didn't like the bright-mint-green they had chosen for the walls (and the ceiling) of the kitchen or the robin's-egg-cotton-candy-blue they had chosen for some of the living room and hallway walls. (I made those names up, obviously...not sure of their official names.)

Many of these walls were repainted just as we moved in, or shortly after.

However, some colors have managed to stick around for a while.

If you have visited our home, you have most likely used our downstairs powder room.
You would know, then, that this room was quite *loud*...

with bright & shiny red walls,
hardwood floor that is painted black , and
even a black toilet...
(yes, i said black toilet).

I mean honestly....what bathroom is complete without a black toilet?

This room definitely had a personality! I once had a little boy visit, use this bathroom, and exclaim "Mommy, I can't see my pee!" Yes, folks, it is true. You can't, in fact, see your pee (or anything for that matter) in a black toilet.

Anyway, making over the bathroom in its entirety (stripping and staining the wood floors, replacing the toilet, etc.) is not a project we feel like undergoing any time soon (or, in reality, will ever feel like doing), but we did decide that it was high time to change the color.

So, being that my aunt is a professional (and wonderful) painter, we hired her for the day, and she replaced those high-gloss-blood-red walls with a much more subtle (yet still colorful) green. "Urban Nature" by Benjamin Moore to be exact.

While she was here, she also repainted over three walls in our living/dining room. She painted them blue. Yes, they already were blue, so there is not too crazy of a change, but we wanted to freshen it up a bit.

Bathroom color BEFORE (I call it "Blood Red"):


Bathroom color AFTER ("Urban Nature"):


Blue BEFORE (not sure what it was called):


Blue AFTER ("Charlotte Slate"):


A transition shot, so you can see the difference.
The lighter color is the new one.
Of course, it dried a lot darker than it looks here.


Thanks, Aunt Deb for doing a fantastic job. And, thanks Mom, for helping out as well!

Outside...Finally!

Wow, it felt so wonderful to play outside for a bit today. It was a *bit* wet, and quite muddy, but who cares! I took the kids to the park after naps today, and it was a great change from being stuck inside. I brought some towels to dry off slides and swings, and we were good to go.

Off we go!


Playing golf....anyone surprised? (Yes, he is playing with a kitchen spoon....we don't have any actual clubs, remember? Someday soon....)



Jumping into mud puddles...


Falling into mud puddles...


Meredith enjoyed her first time swinging!