"GRRR" My Daddy Said

Micah trying to break the rules by climbing up the steps.

Lucas hanging in the window because he disobeyed
and lost the priveledge of playing outside.
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When the boys were smaller they had a Goldilocks book that came with a bear that read the story. During part of the story this bear would say "Grrr my Daddy said". Why am I writing about this - well since then I have adopted that as my mantra whenever something annoying or frustrating happens. As you can image I have had ample opportunity to use that phrase since moving overseas. Today was one of those days. Let me just preface my story by saying that I know that my boys are not perfect. Over the past week or so we have been having more problems with a couple of the boys in our neighborhood. Today one of the boys kept harassing Lucas - pushing his car (with him in it) into the wall, jumping onto Lucas' bike and riding away, and hitting him. Well, I heard Lucas yelling "stop it" for the 100th time so I walked outside to see what the problem was. As I walked around the corner I saw the two neighbor boys spitting at Lucas. By spitting I don't mean a little spray, these were disgustingly huge. I asked them to please not do that again (yeah right - see my next story) and in case no one had ever told them I made sure that they knew that spitting was very disgusting. Well, about an hour later I hear Caleb crying rather loudly so I peek out the window to see what happened. He informs me that a kid (who repeatedly hurt Lucas the week before) had choked him. I could see the red marks around his neck - I was not happy! I ask Ted to go talk to the kid about it. Ted spoke to a man at the boys house who informed him that "it was no big deal". GRRRR my Daddy said!!!!! There are days like today when I want to yell out, like our boys do, "why don't they get in trouble?". My anger turns to sorrow for these little boys as I remember that there is no on in their life to show them or teach them what it means to honor God.

Caleb's 8th Birthday

An Albert Pujols jersey from Grandma & Grandpa

A birthday lunch at McDonald's

Wow, he's getting big isn't he?

Yesterday was Caleb's 8th birthday - shocking I know! Being the emotional child that he is, his feelings about his birthday ranged from the best ever (because he received the Heely's he wanted as well as a few jerseys) to the worst (because there were no friends or grandparents coming over). I think that having moved here just a month ago made this birthday feel a little more lonely for Caleb. Today he was allowed to invite a few of the neighbor kids for a movie (which quickly turned into a game of tag all around the house) and cake. Caleb is all about relationships/friendships so having others to celebrate with him made it 'feel' more like a birthday.

Right Thinking

Last week I was in charge of bringing lunch for Josiah's class. I was given the olive, tomato, cucumber, cheese, and fruit lunch. As I looked at the list and even as I was preparing the food I thought to myself "Why is bread not on the list?" It is said here that a meal is not a meal without bread. Well, half way through the food service Josiah's sweet teacher says "Is there bread?". It wasn't on the list I said but I would run and pick some up. "Do you have your own money?" she asks. "Yes I have my own money. I will be right back." Thankfully bread is never far away and I was back in a few minutes. I was mad at myself for not following my gut. Okay it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that they eat bread with every meal, but I was glad that I thought, as they would, that something was missing. Now if I could only add spices to a meal without my measuring spoons!

Picnic Season

We have officially entered picnic season here. A few weekends ago our neighbors informed us that we were going on a picnic - asap. We packed up and went to a park that was full of fellow "picnicers". It really does seem like EVERY family picnics on Sunday if the weather is nice.