I thought I'd share Rhett's first full step by step story that he wrote all by himself. It amazes me that just a few short months ago, my 1st grader couldn't even read, let alone write a story.
This is from his rough draft. The final draft is hanging on the wall at school at the moment.
This is in his own words and spelling.
I am going to rit abuoot hao to make a snooman. First, I made a big snooball. Next, I pute the medeum snooball on toq of the big snooball. Then, I make the tine snooball. After that, t I put the top hat on the tine snooball. Next, I qut on two short twigs. Then, I qut the fusse skerf on. Now, I qut the eyes and math and bottins. Fnale, I qut on the onge nose on the hed. It was fun.
Translation: I am going to write about how to make a snowman. First, I made a big snowball. Next, I put the medium snowball on top of the big snowball. Then, I make the tiny snowball. After that, I put the top hat on that tiny snowball. Next, I put on two short twiggs. Then, I put the fuzzy scarf on. Now, I put the eyes and mouth and buttons. Finally, I put on the orange nose on the head. It was fun.
Other than still getting his p's backwards sometimes, I thought his paper was pretty darn great! He had all the punctuation in the right places as well as all the proper capitalizations. What fun it is to watch them learn and grow!
We made Valentine's and Valentine boxes for the kids. We worked on them the whole week prior to the kids' parties on Friday.
Braden's Soccer Valentines
Rhett's "Saints" Valentines Gracie's "Jesus Loves You" heart valentines with rings attached.
Rhett's "Saints" Valentine Box
Braden's planet Valentine box.
School Parties
Braden and his buddies
Playing a game. Pop the balloon and get the little piece of paper inside.
Then, do whatever the paper says. Braden had to walk on these cool stilts.
Getting ready to dive into the whipped cream for a Hershey kiss. He totally refused to do it because he said he "hates whipped cream". It's true. He doesn't even like cake icing anymore.
Popping a balloon
Gracie licking the icing off her cupcake. That's the only part she ate. She and Rhett make a good cupcake eating pair-- She can eat the icing and he can eat the cake!
Showing off one of her Valentines from a friend.
Friday night we went to a dance party at the boys' school (blog post coming!). Saturday, the boys each had games. They were both at 8am in different places, so thankfully Bammaw was able to come and help. Rhett also had a birthday party to attend and we went to church. It was my week to teach, so we were there for 4 hours. I promised the kids if they were all good all day we could go to Chick-Fil-A after church. They were and we did. By the time we got home at 9:30, I was totally exhausted. Jason had worked all day, so it makes it a little harder to go it alone.
Sunday Jason was going to work but it was so cold and windy that he decided not too. So, my Valentine's Day gift was that we got to spend the whole day together. We slept in and lounged around the house in our jammies all day. Then, I got to have my favorite Schlotzsky's Broccoli Cheese soup for dinner while snuggled up on the couch with a blanket. It was wonderful!
Here's Sissy's most recent dance class video. She still gets distracted sometimes by looking at herself in the mirror, but for the most part, she does fantastic. I'm convinced she gets more distracted when I tape her or take pictures, because almost everytime I forget my camera she does the best she's ever done! Oh, well. I think she sure is cute to watch whether she gets all the steps or not!!!
Gracie came into the kitchen as I was doing dishes looking like this. She was "supposed" to be watching Nick Jr. When I told her to go get a wet towel and start wiping, she said, "But Mom, I'm a Kitty Cat."
Praise the Lord for Washable Markers. Can I get an Amen??
It has snowed more than Jason and I can ever remember it snowing in many, many years. We're guessing we haven't had a snow this big since we were kids.
On Saturday, we took full advantage of the snow and spent a good part of the day playing in it.
First, Jason took the boys to JB Hunt Park to meet up with a friend and his 3 boys.
Braden
Rhett
Jason said there was probably 200 people there. Popular place!
Then the guys came back home to pick up Sissy and I and we went to one of the parks in our neighborhood.
All bundled up and ready to go sledding for the first time!
Rhett
This is Daddy after his attempt at "Redneck Snowboarding". He took the wheels off of Braden's skateboard and they were using it to snowboard down the hills.
Sissy's first time sledding! Braden got to take her down the hill.
Rhett trying out the snow/skateboarding.
"Come on, Sissy. Let's do it again!"
Braden trying out the snow/skateboarding.
Sissy loved it!
The best Daddy in the whole world!
I'm so glad this beautiful child is mine!
She said, "Ha Ha! I made it up to the top of the mountain all by myself!"
Daddy insisted that I get in on the action too. Here I go!
Do you ever just feel like your life just isn't enough? Not that you don't have enough, but that you don't give enough. As a Believer, I want my life to count for the Lord. I want him to be "well pleased" with me. I want my life to be a testimony for Him. His Love. His Faithfulness. His Mercy. His Grace. I sometimes daydream of standing before His throne one day and hearing, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." I don't want to just exist. I want to really make a difference.
Since I was saved at the age of 16, I've had a desire to live for Him. I've made mistakes along the way. I've done and said things I shouldn't have. There have been too many times where I've not been a good example for others as I should have been. But as the years have passed and life has changed, my faith has grown and matured. I understand things now that used to sound crazy and seem foreign to me. Things that it just sometimes takes a bit of maturity in one's Christian walk to really grasp.
As Believers, we should always be growing, learning and maturing in our faith. We do this by reading and studying God's Word, spending time with Him in prayer as well as spending time with other believers and hearing messages at our churches (and retreats, etc.) Just being connected and in constant communication with God.
When I was younger, I didn't have the desire for this maturity or for anything more. For me, being "saved", knowing God loved me, and trying my best to live "right" was good enough for me. In my own little world, in my own little box. I didn't see how my faith related to anyone else.
Even if I didn't always put in the time studying God's word and prayer that I should have, we have always been in church, I've still done lots of bible studies and read lots of books by Christian authors, pastors and teachers. I've still been growing and maturing, whether I really even thought I wanted to or not. Before you knew it, I wanted and desired all those things more than other things in my life that used to be important to me.
Through the years, the desire for greatness has grown little by little. I want to be great as a wife, great in my mothering, a great daughter, a great friend and church member. I don't want to half-heartedly go through life. I just want to do great things in the name of Jesus.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24
God's been working on my heart for a few months on some "great" things. Who knows what will become of all the things that are swirling around in my head and heavy on my heart. Only God does. It's just my job to, with His help, listen, descern and act in a way that will bring honor to Him. Bottom line is, I need to have the faith to do what He asks me to do. He will only ask me to do things because He loves me and knows the "Master" plan and what's best for me for all the days of my life. Not just what's best for today, but best for forever.
After all, our time here on this Earth is like sands in an hourglass. In the scheme of eternity, we're here a moment and we're gone. Our eternal life is what we should be looking towards. Like I would tell my kids, that's forever and ever and ever and ever and ever...
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21
Don't you sometimes wish you could pick up the phone and call God? Like, "Hey, what's up?! It's so good to hear your voice! I just wanted to call and confirm all those things that I think you've been speaking to me about." And He would just say it plainly so we could understand?
Since that's clearly not how it works, I'll just continue to sit back and pray and listen until I feel like I've finally got the game plan down.
I love love love music. I'm always looking for the next best song to add to my collection. It gets me through the day. It keeps me focused on what's important.
Here's one of many of my favorites. The song's been around a long time, but I've only recently heard it. It says what I feel,
"So long status quo, I think I just let go. You make me wanna be brave. The way it always was, is no longer good enough. You make me wanna be brave."
Status quo is no longer an option for me. Living life only in my little comfort zone isn't an option for me. Nope. I'm going to let God use me for "Great" things. Whatever they may be. I'll not be afraid. I'll just trust and obey. There's no other way!
The boys each had awards assemblies last week, honoring their achievements for the 1st semester.
Braden got the Math Award, Reading Award, Award for Perfect Attendance and the A+ Award for Straight A's!!
Rhett got the Math Award, Reading Award and the A+ Award for straight E's. (Which is the highest grade you can get in First Grade!) He only missed the Perfect Attendance by 2 days because he got Strep Throat. The saddest thing about him getting sick was when he realized he couldn't go to school and said, "Aw, man. Now I'm not gonna get Perfect Attendance." That's my boy!
Have I mentioned how proud I am of these boys lately?
Well, I am SOOOOO proud. They work so hard on their school work and it means so much to them and us to see them being applauded and awarded for the hard work and achievements.
Rhett is in the middle of his Upwards basketball season. Until his first game, we had no idea he could play ball like he can! The boy might just be a ball player!
The first game, like always, was a little chaotic. His problem was that he took Defense a little too seriously. He was guarding his guy so good- stuck to him like glue! Even when his team was on offense. He never took his eyes off the poor kid!
But we had a little talk. (ie: me yelling out, "Rhett!" from the stands. Waiting for eye contact. After he looks at me and I know he's listening, me yelling out, "You don't have to guard your guy when your team has the ball!" And I wish I could have had it on tape. It was like the light turned on and he got it.
No problems with the excessive defense since! He still sticks to his guy like glue, but only when he's supposed to be playing defense!
The first game, he scored 4 points and got the star award for offense and the second game he scored 2 points. (If you're not familiar with Upwards, after each game, each player gets a star award that can be ironed on to his shirt.)
The 3rd game, he didn't score any baskets. He didn't even get any shots off. Just so happened to have a really good defender on him all game. But, he did get the defense star! He had 2 or 3 steals and I can't even count how many rebounds he had. It was more than 10.
He's loving it and we're loving watching him love it!
Dancin' the night away
Fun with Friends
Braden's planet Valentine box.
