Super Sunday

This weekend didn't go as planned, but turned out to be pretty great anyway! We had Hattie dedicated at church this morning, so at the last minute Jeff's mom and my mom and sister came into town on Saturday.  We all went over and looked at the new house (just the outside/yard, will pick the keys up in the morning) then went driving around the Azalea district looking at all the beautiful homes and their amazing yards beginning to bloom.  Spring is so gorgeous!  Then this morning we all went to church together. Hattie was by far the most beautiful baby there, and preformed wonderfully, i.e. no spitting up, screaming or crying. :)

After church we gave our moms a tour of the new Fresh store, followed by nap time! I LOVE SUNDAYS!

Here We Go Again!

We're moving!! Same town.  Better house.  Bigger house.  Bigger yard.  Lower payment.  YAY!!  Have I convinced you it's worth it? It's definitely worth it.  We knew when we moved to Tyler and chose this house that it was temporary.  A family with 4 kids can't live where there is no yard.  And in a house with wall to wall carpet.  It is maddening trying to keep the carpet clean.  Who has ever heard of carpet in a dining room??

All that said, I'm going to miss my big closet terribly.  And my big kitchen and garage. And we're going to miss Jack Elementary, although I hear Caldwell is a great school as well!  Mixed emotions for sure, but when all is said and done, we're on the right track.  We're where we are supposed to be and the Lord is blessing us abundantly because of it!  Now I reeeally need to get off the computer and start packing while the boys are all at soccer practice and Hattie is snoozing!

Oh Sugar

Today was Fat Tuesday.  Which means tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  Which means tomorrow at sunset is the beginning of Lent.  Which means I need to actually get my butt in gear, pray, and decide what I'm fasting.  UGH.  I'm not one of those "oh yay, I love the blessings the Lord bestows when I fast and seek His face" kind of fasters.  I'm one of those "ugh I hate almost every second of this, I need some chocolate NOW" kind of fasters... Yes, that's a bit exaggerated, I don't really have that bad an attitude, and honestly the Lord does amazing things when we fast and pray, but man.  It's not my favorite. Last year I fasted TV, and it actually wasn't too bad.  I realized I don't watch that much anyway, and we always take Sunday's off (Biblically it was the day of feasts and celebrations, so they didn't fast on Sundays) so I would catch up on anything I actually did care about thru some DVR action.  I was tempted to do the same thing this year, but you're really supposed to give up something you care about.  Something that you are putting before your relationship with the Lord.  Something that has a stronghold on you.  SUGAR is my downfall.  I reeeally like sugar.  Mostly in the chocolate form, but I'll take it in the ice cream, fruit, cheesecake or cinnamon chip form as well.

Mommy Randomness

Ok, I'm not making this up...

This morning I was walking around the house picking up, when I came across a package of underwear we bought last night so Max could dress up as Captain Underpants in his school's parade of favorite book characters today. I put the underwear under my arm, grabbed a cup with my right hand and a plate with my left and took them to the sink. I noticed the dishwasher hadn't been emptied so I emptied it, filled it and started it. Then I heard the washing machine stop spinning. Right now there's something wrong w/ it, and when it drains, if I don't run in there and turn it on and off until it's empty it overflows. So I turn it on and off about 4 times till it has drained and then I hear Hattie crying. I go check on her, she's fine just bored so I put her in her jonny-jump-up and start picking up all the toys she was playing with. Then I noticed Ben had been quiet for a while, never good. I find him in the bathroom brushing his teeth! Pleasant surprise. I look in the mirror and realize I'm still carrying the underwear under my arm.

Seriously? I'm just thankful I didn't go out in public! Geeze.

Well, now on to the reason I sat down to blog... some pics of course :) Here are some of the happenings as of late...

Noah got the award for "Special Teams Co-Player of the Year" at their football banquet!! And Max got his Super Bowl trophy!! #1 baby! Ben used reverse psychology and somehow convinced me he didn't need his paci anymore, so he still has it.... I dunno, don't judge... Hattie got to swing for the first time! Thumbs up for sure! Noah came in 5th in his school spelling bee (he was the youngest in the whole competition!) and Daddy bought Hattie her first Valentine's Day outfit :)
Meanwhile a couple things I have done: helped Noah with his solar system project, complete with a space satellite, solar flares, and a black hole (that was not a spot where little brother got ahold of red paint and made a big mess)... braved the zoo with all 4 by myself, and had lots of fun with my little girl :)

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....