Field Trip!

To the zoo! The Caldwell Zoo actually. And are now official Zoo Members!

This is the part where Jeff, my husband, not son, announces that it would be funny if the "daddy tiger ripped one." Classy.

Love Max with all my heart, but he's probably not the smartest of our bunch.

Is that not the cutest thing ever?!

Ben makes friends everywhere he goes :)

Oh and apparentely squirrels don't only eat out of my bird feeders...

And yes, it was 75 degrees today. Next week they're predicting snow. Texas....

We Can't All Be Perfect

Well just to follow up on the bully post, I calmed down and didn't say anything to the teacher.

We got an invitation to the kid's birthday party, scheduled for today, but I obviously wasn't going to send Noah to his house, let alone buy him a gift! But last night he called and asked to talk to Noah. He proceeded to ask Noah if he was coming to his party because if he was, he'd be the only one coming. Immediately I tried to put myself in his mom's shoes. We've never had this problem. We have such large families, and church families that we've always had to cut the number of friends to invite down, not call and beg anyone to come. My heart began to soften towards Bryce, thinking about why he's a bully. I firmly believe it starts in the home.

How serious was God about the whole "love your enemies..." stuff??

Ugh, well I let him go. Jeff took Noah and Max, I stayed home with the littler two. I'm so glad they went. They had a blast, it was a Myth.Busters theme, so they spent 3 hours doing experiments and such. Jeff said the step dad sat on the couch in the living room the entire time and never said a word to anyone. *Red flag* The grandparents did all of the work. The mom took a few pictures here and there, and Bryce ordered everyone around.

I don't want to jump to conclusions, but he's probably not a very happy kid at home, even though he gets everything he wants. Guess it's time to put the whole "pray for those who persecute you" into action. Why is it that the biblical truths that I learned at such an early age are the last things I actually do in my life?! If I did those things first, before freaking out and calling Jeff and almost calling the teacher, I'd probably get better results, and sooner.

Guess I have to have at least one fault.....

;)

We Have a Situation...

A bully situation.

Now not nearly as bad as we've seen in the news lately, but when it's my little boy being bullied, I'm going to be angry no matter the severity.

There's this kid, Bryce, in Noah's class. He's a smart kid, they both go to Target (GT) together and Bryce barely beat Noah in the class Representative race. I guess Bryce probably sees Noah as his biggest competition.

Well last week Noah mentioned to me that at recess they were playing football, Noah was the qb, on the 4 yard line, he said hut but his line didn't move (that was the designed play, lol) and the defense rushed. Noah prides himself on knowing rules and enforcing them, the most annoying characteristic of an 8 year old but he is his father, I can't change him. So Noah proceeds to tell them that that's offsides, 5 yard penalty, touchdown. He's wrong on a technicality, but Bryce doesn't know that. Bryce then "bans" Noah from playing anymore.

WHAT? Apparently the football is Bryce's so he gets away with banning kids from playing if they beat him.

I let this one slide, even though this kid is now on my "list."

Then on Monday when I pick the boys up from school Noah tells me that Bryce threw snow balls at him twice that day. Once walking into Target, and again walking out. I ask him if it hurt... yes. I ask him if he was doing it to be mean or funny.... I don't know. I ask him what did Bryce say?... I'm going to hit you with a snowball. Boys are not the most informative creatures.

Now I'm getting seriously ticked.

Then on Wednesday Noah tells me that Bryce's newest thing is picking up snow in his hand, and slamming it into Noah's chest, acting like it's funny. He tells me that it doesn't bother him because it doesn't hurt.

Then this morning (Thursday) Noah comes up to me, obviously nervous, and says "Yesterday I helped Bryce get a higher score on his AR test."

Ok, now I'm furious. I ask why and he says that if Bryce didn't pass it he would miss recess and then they wouldn't have a football. I stay calm and explain to him that that is cheating, and that he and Bryce would both go to the principal's office if the teacher caught them. He obviously understood because he almost immediately said his head was hot and he felt like he was going to throw up. Tell tale signs of a nervous little boy :)

So now what do I do? I want to talk to the teacher so bad, but I'm afraid if Bryce finds out that he'll be even meaner, and I don't want to scare Noah from telling me things like this again in the future. Noah was in tears this morning, afraid that I was going to tell Jeff and that he would call the school. Of course that wouldn't happen, he's only in 3rd grade and it's just an AR test. The cheating isn't even the issue. It's that Bryce seems to be running the show and kids like Noah are paying the price. I'm so thankful that Noah doesn't punch Bryce in the face like he would do to his brother if Max even THOUGHT about throwing a snowball at him. But at the same time, it breaks my heart picturing Noah just walking away.

Before I dropped the boys off at school I told Noah that Jeff would not call the school, but that I was thinking about emailing his teacher, not to get anyone in trouble, just to make sure Mrs. Terrell knows what's going on, if she doesn't already know. I called Jeff and he said just let it slide this time but if it happens again that we'll say something.

I don't know....

Update in Pics

First day of winter... only in Texas...

Baby girl got her toenails painted...

...and ears pierced :)

Merry Christmas!

Bring on 2011!

One Step at a Time

*So I officially stink at blogging. (If I haven't mentioned that before.)

*It's a Saturday morning and I'm up at 7. Ugh.

*Ready for this weekend's cold weather! I need it to feel like Winter so I'll welcome the Summer!

*Reading through the Bible in one year. On day 8, I'm already behind...

*Thankful for the holidays!

*Thankful the holidays are over!

In closing,

My Prayer for 2011 ~

My prayer for 2011 is that I will grow in the area of giving. I've never been a "giver." It makes me so sad! My love language is "quality time." I will sit down and listen to someone talk for hours if I know it's what they need. I'll play a puzzel with Max, or read a book to Ben or just listen to Noah talk about WWII, because I know how much it means to them. But the thought to give them a gift, just because, never even enters my mind!

Jeff loves to give. He gives to people standing in the street holding signs, something I've always been nervous about doing. He doesn't care what they're going to spend the money on, that's not of his concern. He prays that the Lord will use that money for His good, and leaves it at that. He also is always buying other people's lunches! Drives me nuts! And don't get me started about the Salvation Army people ringing the bells outside of Wal Mart during the holidays. I'll give to them if they quit ringing those stinking bells!! But Jeff loves to let the boys put in what seems like 10 dollars in change so we get to stand out in the cold listening to those LOUD BELLS while their little fingers try to get a million pennies into that tiny slot. See? I've got issues.

I (obviously) need to change my heart on this issue. I'm always so focused on what I need for MY family, that I rarely even think of giving. And if there's any left over, my automatic reaction is to save it for MY family at a later time. I need to have faith that the Lord will provide then like He is providing now and has always provided! I want to be blessed so I can be a blessing! And it's going to have to be a choice. It's not just going to happen.

What I love about giving is that it can change a life without much work. When I'm listening to someone talk, I have to listen and give my (always genius) insight. Or if you have the gift of hospitality, you have to think ahead and prepare so the person you're helping feels welcome and comfortable. But with giving, just giving someone a gift, smiling and walking away it can completely change their day!

The Lord has already given me a couple opportunities in this last week to give. I failed miserably the first time (our neighbor is an elderly lady who HATES us, and I had the idea to bake her some cookies and send the boys over to her with them, but I reasoned myself out of doing it), but thankfully learned my lesson and did it the second time with a cheerful heart! One step at a time, right? :)