Tell me about Jesus

Slade and his mom and my mom often tell stories to the boys.

Slade used to tell Russ and Randall about the penny robot. He's told stories about the rubber band boy. We even sing a song about the rubber band boy; we've been singing it for years. There are stories about Speck (my niece and nephew still enjoy a good Speck story when they spend the night), stories about the rainbow fish and, Judson's newest contribution, Buggy.

The grandmas sometimes tells stories from their childhoods and Slade's mom will make up stories like Slade.

All of our boys have loved to sit and listen to story after story. I don't know how Slade does it. I have tried and I am just not able to think of good stories. Maybe because I think the stories need a good moral or to teach an important truth. It's the mom in me.

This morning, sitting at the table for breakfast, I was singing a Sunday School type song. I can't even remember which one. I sang while I cleared the table, waiting for Judson (the world's slowest eater) to finish his strawberries. When I finished, Judson said, "Tell me about Jesus."

So, I started by clarifying that a story about Jesus was real and not made up, like stories about Buggy or Speck. I told him that a story about Jesus could be read in the Bible and that everything in the Bible is true.

Then I told him about how Jesus fed 5,000 people with a little boy's lunch. When I finished, he said, "Tell me about Jesus again!" So, I told him about a man whose legs didn't work, but when Jesus' friends, his disciples, spoke to him, they gave him a better gift than gold or silver, because God used them to make the man's legs all better.

I teared up as I told him stories about Jesus. It isn't the first time I've told him about Jesus or shared stories from the Bible, but it's the first time he's requested them. And he listened so intently. I told him that God made the man's legs all better and the man was so excited and was jumping around, praising God and telling Him thank you and Judson threw both his hands up and cheered. It makes me cry just typing it.

I am so thankful to be blessed with three sweet and wonderful boys. I often feel inadequate to the task, but this Mother's Day, I was reminded that God has equipped me and is guiding me. And that He has been so good to give me such a wonderful man to help raise these boys. I am going to record Slade and Nanny and Grammy telling their fun and creative stories so we can enjoy them for years and years. And I'm so thankful that the stories of Jesus have been recorded for us, too.

Judson's "Judson Puzzle"

For Christmas this past December, I made this puzzle for Judson.

He's still not able to go it entirely on his own, but he loves it. We have it sitting up on his dresser and he enjoys putting it together with me (aka: taking it apart so I can put it together).

Lasers and Criminal Training

I think that when I originally saw this idea, it was called something like "spy training", but, really, how many spies need to crawl over and under lasers?  It's criminals breaking into museums and banks that actually use this skill.  So, I am apparently training my kids (and our neighbors) to be criminals.

Russ 

Randall

Danielle

Cooper

Free for all!  Judson joined in at that point.

These are from July of 2012.  I'm trying to go thru and organize, print and blog old photos.  Someday, I'll blog in order of happening, but I'm not sure when that will happen...

AWANA Bible Quizzers

A few Saturdays ago, Russell and Randall competed in this year's AWANA Bible Quiz. It was hosted by our church, which was very convenient for us as it meant no traveling.

This year, one of the leaders, J. B., took charge and they actually practiced once a week for about a month leading up to the quiz. Most days, the boys didn't mind studying and they both enjoyed the group practices.

Russ' team had two girls and two boys. They quizzed on Book 3. Randall's team was one girl and two boys. They quizzed on Book 1.

Russ and his friend, Sam, waiting for their first turn.

Each team participates in 3 areas--written, (which is individually scored), and as a team, they do multiple choice quizzing and complete answer speed quiz.

Randall's team doing the multiple choice portion.

Getting a pep talk from J. B. in between the multiple choice and speed quiz portions.

Russell's team waiting for their written part.

Pep talk with Stephanie.

It was a long morning and, altho we try hard not to entertain him with our phones, we caved in.

Randall's team placed 4th among 8 teams and Russell's placed 2nd among 7.

They worked hard and did well. Overall, it was a great experience and a fun time. And memory verses were reviewed and recommitted to memory. A win-win!

Fitting!

Slade came home the other day and Judson was outside with a sippy cup of water. He would take a big drink and then lean over and spit it on the ground.

Slade: What are you doing, Judson?
Judson: I'm 'fitting.
Slade: You're spitting?
Judson: Yes. I was fitting inside but Mommy got mad and told me to fit outside.

Ha! That kid says the funniest things. I didn't actually get mad, but I told him to clean up his mess and go outside if he wanted to spit. He did. And he would just come in for a refill when he 'fit it all out and needed more water.

He will also play for a long time with a spray bottle of water. On Saturday, after we finished yard work, Slade turned the sprinklers on and Judson had a blast with a spray bottle, his rain boots and the sprinkler's spray.

"I want to pay a dame"

Judson has discovered that he loves to play board games. His favorite is Cariboo, which Russell and Randall used to play. I pulled it out a few weeks ago and it has become his new obsession. He will sit and play (following the rules, waiting his turn, etc) for as long as someone else can stand. And then when we lose interest, he'll often stay and play with the cards and balls by himself. He calls it "paying a dame".

Another favorite is Connect 4. He doesn't follow the rules for that one, but he loves it. Really, he loves any game that one of us will sit and play with him.

Sunday, he asked Randall to play a game with him and Randall was more than happy to. They sat in Judson's room, both in jammies, and played for at least 30 minutes. So sweet. They both had a great time. Randall is very sweet to Judson.

Singing PEPsters

In 5th grade, the kids have to get to choose an elective--Band, Choir or Orchestra.  Russ chose Choir.  Being a proud Choir Nerd myself I asked what made him choose Choir.  His answer: It was the only option that didn't require playing (and therefore, practicing) an instrument.  Oh.  Bummer.

But, I have enjoyed listening to him sing more.  And since he took piano for 5 years, he seems to have a very good ear for the notes he's reading and then singing.

The Choir and Orchestra performed at the mall before Christmas.  It was fun to get to watch them!

Russ and another girl in Choir both have little siblings that were there to watch.  It was fun to watch the kids trying to get the younger siblings to wave or blow kisses.  Here's the whole group waiting to sing.

Sam and Russ.

Singing!  They sounded good and really seemed to enjoy the chance to perform, but they look quite bored and uninterested in this pic...

A close up of 3 of the 4 boys in Choir.

It's fun to be a Choir Mom. ...Okay, that didn't sound as cool as being a Band Mom or a Soccer Mom or whatever, but that's okay!

Skating at PEP

Each year, Hudson PEP has a two-week period where the kids' PE activity is skating!  They LOVE it!  The first few years the kids have to wear regular skates, but in either 3rd or 4th, they can get rollerblades if they want.  Russ, of course, went with rollerblades as soon as he can.  Randall is happy in regular skates.  

I have put Judson in his stroller the last two years, but this year, he was big enough to walk around a bit.  I had to keep him from taking off and chasing the skaters, tho.

I know I took pics of Rand, but I can't find them... So, just picture Randall with a huge grin on his face and you'll know what the pics looked like.  He loved it this year!  I love seeing him stretched out of his comfort zone and doing great.

Russ and one of our favorites, Sam.

Russ, Jose and Kristopher.

They do some fun dances and games, like this one:

It is such a fun few weeks and the kids come home telling all about what they got to do.  I'm glad they have this experience.  Russ is the kind of kid that will skate no matter what.  Randall wouldn't skate if you paid him until he *had* to for school.  The first year, he moved like a turtle.  The second, a little faster.  And this year, like I said above, he loved it.  Such great skaters!!

Tim Hawkins

Back at the beginning of December, my sister, Christy, and her husband, Kyle, and Slade and I went to a Tim Hawkins show.  We decided to upgrade to enjoy dinner and a show.  Dinner was catered by Chick-Fil-A and Tim came out for a Q&A time before the show began.  

We didn't realize it, but we had a great table!  I made sure to get Christy and Kyle's heads in the pic to show how close we were. 

We got VIP seating.  And you can tell that we were so excited! *grin*

Tim was hilarious, as always.  We often watch his videos on YouTube, so I wasn't sure if there would be any new material, but it was almost all new to us!

Christy and I both said it felt like he kept looking right at us and he would make goofy faces like this:

Tim has another comedian that shares his show named John Branyan.  He was quite funny, too.  They did a short thing together at the end of the show where they went back and forth with one-liners.  They played off each other well and even got tickled at themselves.  It was funny!

Great evening out with one of my favorite people!

We stayed after the show to get autographs.  John was a hoot.

Right before the pic was taken, Tim said something about making sure he doesn't blink... He opened his eyes *very* wide to be sure.

We had a blast and Slade and I want to take Russ and Rand to see him sometime.  It's good, clean comedy and that's hard to find.  And, did I mention that Tim Hawkins is hi.larious?!

Camp Gilmont or Bust!

One of the neatest things that Hudson PEP does is give the 5th graders a few days (and nights!) at an outdoor school, Camp Gilmont.

Camp Gilmont is in Gilmer and the kids head there on a Tuesday morning and come home Friday afternoon. They spend the week doing outdoor learning.  They did Aquatic Biology where they waded into a lake with a net to catch bugs and such to study.  They had Forestry where they measured an area in the woods and, in their group, they measured trees, found out types of trees, saw what kinds of animals/bugs lived in the area, etc.  They hiked and hiked and hiked.  In their down time, they were taught string tricks and whittling.  It was just a wonderful week for Russ.

Here he is writing out his packing list.  I helped him look over the list after he wrote it and he packed himself from the list.

I sent three envelopes that were stamped and addressed, with a sheet of paper folded inside.  He got the hint and I got three letters!  He said he teared up the first night that he wrote us because he was missing us.  So sweet.

It's such a great experience for the students and comes at a perfect age.  5th grade is a good time for us parents to start letting go of a lot of the control that we've held for the last 10 years.  I prayed for him to make good decisions in his free time conversations, to be a good friend, to listen to and obey his instructors, to do everything with a good attitude as unto the Lord and to just have a great time making new memories with his classmates.

When he got home, Slade was out of town so my mom took Randall and Judson while Russ and I went out for a catch up dinner.  And, boy, did we catch up!  He talked and talked and talked!  I loved it!  He shared everything he could think of.  He had such a great time and it was such a good experience.

One of the things he was worried about was whether he would like the food or not.  He's a little foodie.  He was pleasantly surprised to discover that he liked pretty much everything they served.  And I liked that it was homemade and healthy.

Russell is growing up too quickly.  It's so true that the days go slowly but the years fly by.  I'm so proud of the young man he is becoming.

Elliptical and Ice Cream Trucks

So, what do ellipticals and ice cream trucks have in common?  Well, they shouldn't have much in common, but I actually bought an elliptical machine and the ice cream truck actually came down our street.  Two things that have never happened before.

I got this elliptical off of an online garage sale site on FB. A lot of people were interested, but I happened to be the first one to comment so I got first dibs.  It wasn't easy to get here, but the girl selling it was very helpful and we made it!  We had to store it in the garage until we moved and had room for it and it was off limits once it made it to the garage.  But, the boys had a little fun on it first.  They did this for a while!

Then while we were all still outside, we heard the ice cream truck!  I love the ice cream truck!  And he didn't come at meal time or anything--it was perfect!  The neighbors joined us for some sweetness.

It was a good day.

Judson's Blues' Clues Birthday Party

Where has the time gone?!  Judson can. not. be two!!  Apparently I didn't blog his first birthday--rats!  Oh, well, here's his second...

A few months before his birthday, Judson was on a huge Blues Clues kick and any time he wanted to watch anything on TV, he would ask to watch Blues Clues.  Sometimes he wanted to watch a different movie, but any TV watching was called watching Blues Clues.  And he usually did want to watch the actual Blues Clues episodes we found on Netflix.

Then, about two weeks or so before his birthday (that I had been already planning for a month), he grew tired of Blues Clues... Too bad.  I had already planned and brainstormed and purchased some of the things I needed so he was getting a Blues Clues party.

We kept it pretty low-key since we didn't want the birthday boy crying all thru his party.

We had balloons because Judson absolutely loves balloons!  We played a game of Blues Clues, ate cake and other goodies, opened presents and then just hung out and enjoyed our friends.

Randall and Julia really got into the game... *grin*

Each kid got a handy dandy notebook and a crayon and we found 3 clues.

Each clue was drawn in the notebook.  One was the piano, one was a box of matches and one was some birthday candles.  What does Blue want to do on Judson's birthday?  Sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles!

We just figured out Blues Clues!  I think that deserves some cake!  A sweet friend from high school made these cute cakes for Judson.

My sweet nieces modeling my cookies.  I had a lot of orders that week and decided to go with simple and quick for the party and, luckily, the pawprints were perfect.

Judson absolutely loved blowing out the candles and every time I would light one and then go on to the next one, he'd blow out the first.  Then I was laughing so hard that I couldn't light them.

He liked his cake a little better this year than last year... He took a few bites and then opted for a cookie again.

A clue!  I see a clue!

Present time, present time!  Open a present and see what's inside!

Judson really enjoyed opening the presents, but didn't care for having to stop playing with one gift to open the next.  One of his favorites was this cute pair of monkey slippers from Grammy.

We got him a balance bike.  He loved it and so did all the other kids at the party.  He still loves it and it's light-weight enough that when he gets tired of riding it, sometimes he'll just pick it up and carry it for a while. *grin*

It was a wonderful birthday party and we appreciate all our sweet friends that came to help us celebrate.  Judson, you are a precious gift to our family.  You are funny and independent and snuggly and full of personality.  You love to laugh and be scared and you dislike getting in trouble.  You will stick your bottom lip out before you start to cry and we all think it's adorable, but it still doesn't get you out of trouble.  You are talkative and smart and we are enjoying getting to see your little God-given personality come out.  You enjoy praying at bedtime and if Daddy or I will sing to you or tell you a story, you will sit still for hours.  What a joy you are.  Happy Birthday!

A Phineas and Ferb Halloween

In my mind, Halloween is fun.  I love the idea of making our costumes and coordinating them.  But, in reality, I forget it's coming up; then I'm too cheap to buy what I tho't I could make myself if I had the time.  So, we end up letting the kids choose a costume from the Halloween store and they're happy, but I am slightly sad.

This year... was no different...  I decided it might be fun to do a Phineas and Ferb family Halloween.  Russ would be Ferb, Randall would be Phineas, Judson would be Perry (because he's the smallest and because my mom gave him this adorable hat that I want to do something wonderful with), I could be Candace and Slade could be Doofenschmirtz (sp?).  So fun!  We all love Phineas and Ferb and watch the episodes available on Netflix on a regular basis.

But, I didn't plan well and then Russ wasn't keen on the idea of a homemade costume and it just never worked out.  So, when I saw these t-shirts on Amazon, I decided to go with it!

Altho you can't tell from the picture, Judson loved wearing his hat.  He kept pulling it down over his eyes.  

We tried to use spray hair color for Phineas and Ferb, but even with about 3/4 of the can, it didn't really look very dark.  

The boys can still wear their shirts, unlike most Halloween costumes that get worn once, they were cheaper than a costume from the Halloween store, still kind of matching, I could use the Perry hat and everyone liked the idea!  Score!  Happy Halloween!

Randall Reading

Slade passed by Judson's room the other day and this is what he saw:

Randall read to Judson for quite a while and Judson was happy to sit with him and listen.  Sweet moments.

Two Monkeys

Back when Judson was born, Slade took the boys to the toy store on the way to the hospital (the second day) to pick out a stuffed animal to give to Judson.  Randall chose a hedgehog and Russ chose a monkey.

Randall's hedgehog "shed" and little bits of "fur" would end up all over the crib, so the hedgehog ended up on a shelf.  Over time, however, it became very clear that Judson was getting very attached to the monkey.  By 18 months, that monkey (named Monkey because we're very creative around here) was a constant companion and went everywhere with Judson.

I began to have visions of losing Monkey and the distress that would follow and decided to buy a second monkey just in case.  I was unable to find one locally so I checked eBay and found him!  I was so excited to order him and felt such peace of mind, knowing we wouldn't know the meltdown and sleepless nights that come with losing a lovey.

But, when the new monkey came in the mail, my heart dropped and I had to laugh.  Apparently, Monkey had been loved so much that he no longer looked like he had when he was first purchased.  He was flat, his fur was matted and his sweet pink cheeks were not pink at all.

Here's Judson with it fresh out of the package.  He's tickled that they both have tails (Monkey's tail is his favorite thing--he wraps it around the fingers not in his mouth while he sucks the two middle ones). *grin*

Laughing with the two monkeys on the couch.

When I first gave him to Judson, he grinned and held him and said, "He's so chubby!" So, now we have Monkey and Chubby Monkey. Chubby Monkey is great for sitting at the end of the bed and sometimes he makes a good pillow if Judson lies on the floor, but he will never work as a substitute for Monkey. *grin* He is cute, tho!

Here's Judson telling me he has "two monkeys!"  Chubby Monkey is sitting pretty on the left and Monkey is slumped over on the right.

I think Chubby Monkey might work in an emergency, but I pray we never have to find out whether he does or not!