Daniel's Life Lesson

Daniel has been struggling with his handwriting at school. He likes to rush through things to get them done quickly and because of that most of what he writes is not legible. Every Friday he has a spelling test and we work throughout the week to make sure he is ready for his test. This past Monday Daniel brought home his test from last Friday. He got three answers wrong, all because his teacher could not read what letters he was putting. I as very disappointed and we had a long talk about this, and I told Daniel he would need to practice at home.

So the practicing began. I got him several tools to help him and every night he has been sitting down to write. Last night he was very upset with me because his friends wanted him to come and play, but instead it was time for him to practice his handwriting. He cried and cried and told me I was mean. He said that it was not fair that "I always make him do whatever I want him to do." It was hard to hear him be so upset with me, but I continued to explain my reasoning and made him finish his task.

Today Daniel came home and said 'I have a surprise for you." He pulled out of his back pack his writing paper for the day. He got three smiley faces and and star. His teacher said that she could tell he had been practicing and she was very proud of him. He was smiling from ear to ear. I praised him and gave him a mini reese's peanut butter cup, and hung his work on the fridge. At dinner tonight Daniel said "Mommy thank you so much for making me practice my handwriting. When you were doing that I did not like it, but you were right, my handwriting is getting better. I want to practice every night." I love that he understood that I was not being mean and hateful, but instead I was doing what was best for him. I know that there are many more moments like this to come.

I love you Danny Boy!!!!!

We love to play pretend...

Around this house we love to play pretend. One minute we are super heroes saving the world, and the next we are mommies feeding our babies bottles and getting them ready for bed. Monica has a great imagination and I love watching her play pretend. This morning I had two little bunnies hopping around my house. Well one hopping and one crawling behind. All that hopping made for some very hungry bunnies, so we stopped and had a bunnies favorite snack, carrots. Even baby bunny had some carrots. After awhile bunny got hot in her bunny suit and decided that being a mommy was a better game. And just like that my little bunny transformed herself into a mommy who was going for a walk her her baby and her dogie. I wonder where our imaginations will take us next?


*bunny hop hop hopping*



*Yummy Carrots!*
*Little Mommy*

Dr. Seuss describes my life...

Reading the books "Oh the Places You'll go" by Dr. Seuss made me ponder our lives over the past few months. We are now "in the waiting place."


"You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting."

Monica counting her "Monies"

Monica decided she wanted to count her money. She always calls them her monies. Here she counts them 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,8,6,etc. She is so cute! Enjoy the video.

God's Amazing Love...

Recently astronomers has estimated that there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in our universe. The Hubble Telescope has only been able to detect about 3,000 of these. When you sit outside and look up the sky, the stars you see are just a few of the billions that spread across the sky. I don't think in all of human history we will ever truly know how big the universe is, and how many different planets and galaxies their are. And in the midst of all that, there is a tiny speck, a dot in the middle of many dots. A planet that God decided that he loved so much that he sent his son to it to save the sinful people that inhabit it. God sent his son to our microscopic piece of the universe to save YOU. Feel special today? You should!

My Daniel

It is always a joy as a parent to see the Lord working in the life of your child. I have seen God working in Daniel's life over the past couple of years. He seems to have a desire to know more about the bible and loves learning his scripture verses. The last couple of weeks Daniel has had a real problem with complaining and back talking. It has been hard on me having him complain so much at every little thing I ask him to do. A couple of days ago I sat him down and read to him out of Philippians 2 where is says "therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning," After I read it I looked at my son and he was looking down at his lap with tears in his eyes. He said to me "mom I did not know that the bible said that about complaining. I think that I should pray and ask God to forgive me and help me not complain anymore." His conviction to this passage also convicted my heart and we both prayed together asking God to help us be continent and not complain. What a sweet moment!

Daniel's New Look

Can you tell he is pleased? That is because when we moved here there was a family of 5 boys at the end of the block and 3 of them had mohawks. One of the boys is in 1st grade at the same school as Daniel, his name is Conner. He and Daniel have become very good friends. Yesterday I told Daniel it was time for a hair cut and he asked if he could have a mohawk. I decided to let him have one, but I did not promise he could keep it. He was SO EXCITED! He went off to school today with a HUGE smile on his face.

Olivia scares herself

Monica and Daniel love watching videos of themselves after I take them. This afternoon I decided to see if Olivia would enjoy watching the video of her that I posted on the blog last post. The result was not pure delight, instead the "baby" in the video scares Olivia. It was sad, but kind of funny too. See the following clip to see what I mean.

Olivia Leigh

After school...

it is time for all the neighborhood kids to come out and play. Here is a taste of what Daniel does everyday. You can see him over on the left in red shorts riding his bike with all the kids. There are 2 others that were not in the picture.

Monica Playing "Little Einsteins"

Do you know what the best part of mommy making cookies is?

Licking the batter of course!