We Love Visitors!

Last weekend my sister and two nieces came to visit us! It was so much fun having them here and the kids had a blast. They came in Thursday evening and left Sunday morning.

Our first order of business was to hit up the American Girl store in the Galleria (there are only a few of these stores in the whole country). I don't know how to describe American Girl, other than it's a very cute but expensive doll and whoever started all of this is a genius! Loren and Camryn already have dolls so we just went to check it out and get their doll's hair done in the Doll Salon. The boys were not too enthused with the doll store, but they were pretty good sports until the last 10 minutes or so.






After the American Girl store, we went to have lunch with Mimi and feed the ducks at Turtle Creek.





On Saturday, Jonathan watched ALL 4 kids while Maryann and I went to the Peddler Show (it was in Allen) with Angie. Major kudos to Jonathan, taking care of 4 kids is no small feat. We then watched the Aggies crumble to OSU...heartbreaking. After that, we took the kids to a splash pad with restaurants surrounding it, so you can eat dinner while you watch your kids play...such a great idea!






Good Times!

Girl Trouble...

Someone should have warned me about almost 4 year old little girls...they are trouble!

Hand Holding:
Last week I went to pick up William from preschool and happened to get there a little early. They were still finishing up story time so I just peaked into the window to look for William. I could see him sitting in the back next to our Pediatrician's daughter, Claire. As I watched, Claire kept messing with William. She was hugging on him, putting her arm on his back and then tried to hold his hand. William was intently listening to the story and seemed completely oblivious to Claire's advances. Claire's mom had told me before that she really likes William, but I had no idea she would try to hit on him during story time! I wanted so badly to tap on the window and say, "Stop that, leave him alone!!" When we got in the car, I asked William what Claire was doing. He just said, "I don't know, she kept trying to lay on my back or something." I tried to just let it go and not make a big deal about it, so I kept my mouth shut but inside I was yelling..."you tell her to step off next time and you are too young for holding hands!"

Prince William:
After I dropped William off at school today, one of the moms in his class stopped me in the hall. She said her daughter, Maggie, has been telling everyone that for Halloween she is going to dress up as a princess and William is going to dress up as her prince. We laughed about it and she told me how she had to tell Maggie that you can't pick somebody's Halloween costume for them. I told her that William has his heart set on being Iron Man for Halloween, not a prince. Poor Maggie will have to find another prince somewhere else.

Oh, Snap!:
Last week at gymnastics, I was talking to another mom from preschool while William and Logan were dancing around waiting for class to start. William was super excited (he physically cannot contain himself when he reaches a certain level of excitement) about gymnastics which translated into some kind of wild karate/dance hybrid with violent hand motions. A little girl from his preschool, Sofia, sat on the bench watching him. She then said, "You're Silly William!" It wasn't what she said that got to me, but how she said it. She had a very mean, demeaning, snobby tone to her voice. Before I could give her my best angry mom glare, William looked her square in the eye and confidently said, "No I'm not, I'm COOL!" She quipped back in the same mean tone, "Well you're silly cool." William not missing a beat said, "No, just cool...Sofia." That shut her up and he just kept on dancing. I was cheering inside, I was so proud he stuck up for himself and never said anything mean to her. Later in the car, I told William how proud of him I was for how he handled it. His answer..."Well, I am cool." Like his coolness is a fact everyone should automatically know about. I hope and pray he always carries that confidence with him.

Car Update

I just wanted to give everyone an update on the car situation. A lot of you have been asking me about it so here is the latest. Today was our day in court and neither of us wanted to go. After talking with the Agent in charge of the case, he agreed that we didn't need to be there and that he would testify on our behalf. The car went to the insurance agency that paid out the original owner. It is gone for good, but we didn't really want it back anyways because I'm still convinced it's evil. ;)

I am still driving the loaner car while we wait on the dealership's insurance company which is waiting on the auction house's insurance company to pay out. We are kind of lost in an insurance black hole. We are still crossing our fingers that everything will work out without us having to go the whole lawyer route. They keep telling us the right things, but no one seems to be in a hurry to give us back our money. Surprise, Surprise. So we are just waiting and hoping.

Gymnastics

I signed the kids up for gymnastics a few weeks ago. We go every Tuesday at 10 am. William does his own class while Logan and I go to a Mommy & Me class. We have a lot of fun and a few kids from their preschool are in the same classes.

I am always very proud of both the boys. William is already moving up to the next level after only two classes. He seems to be extremely teachable and tries so hard. He takes his little class very seriously and he remembers everything they tell him to do. Logan is fearless and is catching on pretty fast too. On his first day, he climbed onto the rope swing like it was nothing (most of the other kids were too scared). We always joke that Logan is into cheap thrills...he loves spinning around in circles until he falls over, he will only play in the sprinkler with his diaper off, he climbs on everything (kitchen table, shelves, back of couch), he loves to run full speed down a big hill by our house (I usually hold my breath) and now we can add rope swing to the list.

Here are some pictures from today. William is wearing a green shirt and Logan is wearing red. I don't know why the pictures came out so blurry, but you get the idea.

Lil' Sluggers

(William is the kid in red)

I signed Jonathan and William up for Lil' Sluggers. It's a baseball class that meets every Saturday to teach little kids the fundamentals of the game. They had their second class yesterday and I made Jonathan take a couple of pictures for the blog. William loves baseball and is actually pretty coordinated when it comes to hitting. Jonathan proudly told me that he is the best hitter in the class! Keep in mind there are only 3 other 4 year olds in the class so the competition isn't too stiff.

It's pretty cute to see William race around the house before class looking for his baseball hat and glove and I'm so proud of Jonathan for giving up an hour of college football every Saturday to take him!

"Tell Me the Old, Old Story..."

William is really into Old Testament stories lately. He is always randomly asking me to tell him a story. He usually asks for Jonah and the Whale, Moses and Noah's Ark. Sometimes he goes New Testament with Mary & Martha, the Good Samaritan and he loves to hear about the Angels rolling the boulder away from Jesus tomb. But his favorite story of all (and most requested) is David and Goliath. We were in the car the other day when William asked for David and Goliath. I went through my best rendition of the story, starting with David as a shepherd boy and ending with, "he would one day rule the land as King." Here is the conversation that followed...


Me: Did you like the story?

William: Yes, but... (then silence, I could tell he was thinking about something)

Me: But what? That was a pretty good version of the story. (sometimes I just rattle it off in one minute, but this time I had actually tried)

William: What about the sheep?

Me: What sheep?

William: David's sheep? Who watched the sheep when he left? Did the sheep go live with David in the palace?

Me: Umm...I'm sure the sheep were fine.

William: But someone had to take care of the sheep? Who?

(I could tell he wasn't going to stop until he got an answer so I just started making stuff up)

Me: I'm sure he asked his neighbor or his brother. (I then realized William likes a definitive answer) You know what, he asked his brother to keep an eye on the sheep.

William: What was his brother's name?

Me: Umm...Joe. Joe watched the sheep for David.

William: What did Joe wear?

Me: What!?! He wore a robe, like everyone else back them. That's enough, end of story.

I was thinking about our conversation later and I love that William thought about the sheep. I kept hearing his little voice, "What about the sheep?" It's so easy to go about our lives and focus on what we think is the most important or exciting part of the story (usually our own problems). When the simplest, smallest part of the story is really what matters to God...the sheep or other people around us.

I guess this all hit home this week because we had a crazy thing happen with our car. We bought a certified used car about 9 months ago from a reputable dealership here in Dallas. It turns out they sold us a stolen car which was part of an elaborate organized crime scheme (it's a really long story)! The police towed away the car on Thursday leaving me without a car. I am now driving a rental from the dealership while they try to sort everything out. We should receive something in the mail in about a week telling us when we have to show up in court. I'm not going to lie, it was a little upsetting! This could end up being a huge headache so I was trying to figure out, what am I suppose to learn from all of this, when I thought of...."What about the sheep?" Cars will come and go (or get towed away) but the way you treat other people is what really matters.

The funny part of the story is, I actually really liked the Agent that came and investigated/took the car. I offered to make him lunch, he told me about his wife and how they had been trying to have kids for awhile, he was super nice to the boys and showed off his badges. I realized it could have been a lot worse.

Jonathan will vouch for me...I said from day one, I thought the car was cursed and had bad juju. Turns out...it is!!

That's my two cents for the week! ;)

The Invisible Mother

I'm not one to share forwards, but I thought this was so sweet and so true for Labor Day. If you are a mother, have been a mother or have a mother...it's worth reading! Just click on the title below...

The Invisible Mother

"Whatever you do in word or in deed, do it all for the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31