Blueberries and Pears

We have never really picked the "food" battle with Areyna. I know I'm a light eater and when I'm hungry I'll eat, and she is the same way. I do think she misses a lot of the nutrients she needs from foods so we give her Flinstones vitamins to make up for it, but our rule usually is; try one bite and if you don't like it you don't have to eat it, but if you get hungry later on the food that is left over on your plate will be your snack. I hardly ever give her snacks throughout the day since she has such a little appetite (Zeke on the other hand will eat a full, 3 course meal after eating a whole bag of pretzels so he has another standard). Anyway, yesterday we battled over 3 blueberries and today it took her about an hour and a half to get one bite of pear down. I mean really, it's not like a pear is hard to swallow like hamburger or steak. Today was especially dramatic. She kept lying to me saying that she had swallowed the bite and would then refuse to believe that the pear was the white stuff floating around in her mouth when she'd try to prove her point. It was nearing nap time when she finally called out that she had finally obeyed mommy so I went to cheer her on and give her a hug when I realized she had spit the mouthful out on her skirt. She simply said "I am sick, I can't eat anymore". Hmmm, she's trying to manipulate the system already. I am truly learning that you just cannot force kids to eat anything, BUT I am still pretty hard headed about our rule, so the one-bite rule will continue to dominate our household. Areyna may be spending a lot more time sitting at the table by herself if she can't get this swallowing thing down=)

Story Time

Most every night Josh tells the kids a story before they go to bed.  He is very creative.  Mostly life lessons about a little girl named Rainy and a little boy named Zeke.  He's even added a couple characters named Murray the Muskrat and Sherman the Squirrel.  Anyway, sometimes when Josh will be out late for band practice or a meeting this ritual becomes my responsibility.  My stories, on the other hand, are not so creative.  One night I was about to walk out after turning the lights out and I thought that maybe I had gotten out of story time, but then Zeke cries out "toorey, toorey".  I told them my feelings of inadequacy and Rainy assured me "mommy, you can do it".  She is such an encourager.  Well, last night we had CharlotteOne and we dropped the kids off at the sitters.  When we picked them up after the night's adventures we were asking Areyna about their night.  She assured us that they had a great time and that their babysitter even told them a story.  We were waiting to hear that the story was alright, but not as good as daddy's, of course.  But she was silent, until about 30 sec. later with a replied of, "She was gooder than yours daddy".  Poor Josh, he's been replaced as the best story teller=(

Please Pray

Josh and I have some good friends who need prayer.  Cam and Lyn Wooten.  He was diagnosed with leukemia out of nowhere and we just found out about it last week.  Not only that, they are expecting their first baby in a few weeks.  You can read more about it on JD Greear's March 6th post on his blog.  Please pray for them if the Holy Spirit lays them on your heart.

Why Am I Exhausted? OR How Can We Keep Them Awake?

Zeke, trying to keep his eyes open and hold on to his animal cracker.

Is it because we woke up at a 4:45am this morning to get ready to play for The Greater Charlotte Teacher Convention for Christian Schools? No or course not.

Is it the fact that we packed 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, clothes, extra clothes, instruments, merchandise, high chair, diaper bags, bear, "bubby" (Zeke's blanket), toys, DVD's and player, etc.? Well, maybe.

Maybe it was the fact that we went to a McDonald's playground between sets and I have set a quite a standard for myself on this kind of equipment. This is very possible.

Could it be because we are just now arriving home at 3:30pm? Nope

How about this...

The kids ended up coming with us and the band to play for the conference today and they did GREAT! Man, I wouldn't exchange my kids for any other kids in the world=) But the first meltdown started at about 2pm when we were packing up to leave and it was downhill from there. I knew they were exhausted and would be asleep before we got them strapped into their car seats since we pulled them out of their beds at 6am this morning (they normally don't get out of bed until around 9am) and put them straight in the car. But, we know from experience that a short nap, no matter how peaceful it is at the time, is ALL WE GET if we let it happen. It was a fight at the beginning. Zeke's eyes were rolling in the back of his head as soon as we turned the car on. I was desperate to keep the kids awake, knowing that I didn't have the energy, nor the patience to keep up with them the rest of the afternoon without a break myself. I pulled out a box of animal crackers and gave one to Zeke, which under any normal circumstances would have been like water in a desert to him, but it was no use. He couldn't even keep the cracker grasped inside his chubby little fingers. His eyes began to roll again, so we rolled the windows down, it was only sprinkling, found the only CD that would work, no, Praise Baby just would NOT suffice at a time like this, it was just going to have to be the absolutely worst rockin' Christmas mixes of all time, and danced like crazy. That is why I am exhausted!! But the good news is, we kept our kids awake until we got home and they are quietly sleeping as we speak. I'm think I'M gonna take a little nap too=)

Static

I think these pictures speak for themselves. As soon as Areyna would touch the slide her hair would stick straight up, but just as soon as she would come off at the bottom it would lay right back down. It was so funny. I think it felt funny to her because she kept patting her head at the top of the slide before she'd go down. You really have to click on the picture to get the full effect=)

The Window Of Opportunity

I've talked about my sleeping problems before. Here's the thing, if I miss my sleeping "window", which in actuality is not really the size of a window at all for me but the size of a very small crack in a window that you can barely see, then it's over. I am known to get a little hyper and talkative, but that's just what Josh says=)
Today was just like any other fun-filled day around our house, but then we woke the kids up from their nap in order to get to Gastonia (which is about 1 hour away) in time for set-up, rehearsal and the service tonight. The service ended at around 7:30 and then Josh met with the praise team and band to practice for the Sunday we'll be leading with them in a couple weekends. I only played if they needed me, but otherwise I just hung out with the kids and played and danced on the floor. I don't think we got in the car until almost 10pm. They did so good though!! I thought to myself, "surely the kids will be asleep before we leave the parking lot". Not so, they ate the rest of their cold french fries from dinner and Areyna jibber jabbed ALL THE WAY HOME! She was wired...I think she missed her window.

Oh Happy Day

I have been so out of it for exactly a week now, but I have so much to be thankful for:
1- It is storming outside!! Yeah, for wind rain and power outages (at least for a couple of hours...)
2- The kids did get in some great outside time between my violin lessons
3-My Mac Laptop should be arriving either today or tomorrow. Yes, I've converted and I'm so excited to be able to keep up with our business on the road now instead of scurrying around like a mad women the min. we get home from a ministry trip to get caught up.
4-Praise the Lord for medicine. I went and picked up Claritin D and haven't sneezed or wiped my runny nose 1 time since I took it.
5-I started my Bible Study with some great godly women in my church today. I am so thankful to be a part Southbrook church.
6-It's nap time for the kids. Enough said.
7-I've realized that ALL situations are literally out of my control and that only God can fix wounded hearts, if we will just get out of the way and let Him.
8-We are so busy this week. Doesn't sound like a praise, but it most def. is. Josh and I set a goal for our first year (2007 year) of ministry together to play at least 2 times a month. We are playing 5 times just this week. What a blessing
9-I've got renewed strength and motivation today. (again, thank you claritin)
10-Areyna's birthday party is over. Shew. I didn't even do anything big, just the fact that I have to plan something and be in charge. Yikes!

So, just remember to count your blessings...

Cold OR Allergies

I am dying here this week. I don't know if I've got the worst allergies I've ever had in my life or if I've got an extremely bad cold. I cough so much I lose my voice, I sneeze every time I think about it and every time I put my head at normal level, or lower, I have to pull another piece of toilet paper off the role to catch my very runny nose. AHHHH. I love the spring, but my goodnes...

Princess Party

Cana, Areyna and Zeke

Areyna and her new Beta fish "Nemo"

Zeke and his cool earings

Yes, Areyna asked for a Princess Party. I have always been more of the tom-boy type so I'm not sure where Rainy has gotten this girly-girl streak, but she sure does make a beautiful princess. Her cousins, Cana and Kayil, came with several Aunts, Uncles and her Meme and Poppie. They all drove in on Fri. night and all 4 of the kids stayed in Rainy and Zeke's room. Pretty funny that we crammed them all into the smallest room of the house=) In the morning, Areyna woke up and seemed pretty shy and actually a little upset. I asked her what she was sad about and she said "I don't want to have a Birthday Party" and then later she said "I don't want to open Birthday Presents". I told her we could do whatever she wanted to and we could even open presents after everyone left and she looked relieved. Instead of calling it Rainy's birthday party, we just called it family togetherness time. I most definitely know where she gets this from. Neither of us like to be the center of attention, it actually makes me downright nauseous! After Areyna warmed up to the party we all had a lot of fun. Zeke had fun playing dress-up, putting sticker earrings on, and carrying Areyna's new pocket book around with her princess cell phone. What are we going to do with him=)