Rise & Shine!

Last Summer, I felt I needed to start instilling some Summertime routines and expectations. The Summers before were filled with all day pajama days (or at least it felt that way if we were in our pjs until 10 a.m.).  Those types of days are okay ONCE.IN.A.WHILE, but for me and my personality, they need to be SPECIAL OCCASIONS.  I don't want to produce children that don't see the need to serve their home or be productive.  I want to raise children who will be an asset to our society. I want to raise a daughter who knows how to run a household and sons who can take care of themselves before marriage and who are not ashamed to help their wives, from time to time, (when they are not at work).  

So... I came up with a slogan, "Check your floors, drawers, doors, and lights!"  Basically, before my children were allowed to leave their rooms, in the morning, it must be 7:30 a.m. or later and they must make sure that their floors are clear and their drawers, doors, and lights are shut. They also were responsible for making their beds.  It was a good stepping stone!!! This Summer, additions have been made.  I do want to get it laminated, so that they can use a dry erase marker to "check off" what they have done otherwise I have to print this daily.  That's a lot of wasted ink and paper. 

My best friend, Ashely, asked me to share my children's chore lists, but I chose to share their morning "to do" lists FIRST! Stay tuned... hopefully tomorrow night, I will be ready to share the list of chores that my children have been assigned/responsible for throughout this Summer.

Call this rigid! Say what you want!! I call it routine, structure, raising future adults, and future Christ followers.  I think it benefits my children's future and the flow of our home throughout the Summer!!!

Football Season In Full Gear

Yes, football season is up and running, but that's not the kind of "in full gear" that I am referring to.  What I mean is that tonight was the FIRST night the boys were allowed to practice in full gear aka with pads. Ty was so anxious to get to practice tonight. I guess it's a boys' full desire to tackle someone else... or at least MY boys' full desires.  LOL!

Enjoy some quick and less than flawless shots taken at Ty's practice tonight, during the tackle drills.

Ty is #11 and Gabe is #43 - Best friends, football buddies, and brothers-in-Christ.

My man aka "COACH D"

Coach Rob giving Ty a play to run.

After every single practice, all 29 boys and their coaches huddle together to FIRST pray to God and then to scream their chant.  This is the part I LOVE and the reason I am thankful Darren coaches.  We do NOT live in a Christian bubble. We are going forth and ministering to the world. #thegreatcommission 

Tonight, the twins entertained themselves by hanging out with Brady Loader! He was so kind and sweet to them and took a genuine interest in them, as a big brother or Uncle would/should.

It will definitely be hard to beat last season's record, but we can try :) To view all of the photos taken tonight, please double click on the photo album below.

"You Are Mean Mommy!"

This non-visible video clip was captured on my i-phone, after punishing, Jax from being able to sleep with his brother. Before prayers, Jax was looking at books. This is one of his favorite past times. I warned him to put his books down during prayers and I told him if he picked up his books during prayers, I would NOT allow him to sleep with his "bro-bro". Well, you could guess from the title of this post OR the video below, what happened during prayers. I actually would NOT of even known Jax had disobeyed (because my eyes were shut and I was trying to focus on the prayer), but Tyson "tattled" on him. I was a little stunned Tyson tattled on him because this would mean he would lack a sleeping partner. Jax was beyond devastated as you can hear from the video. AND being he is so super cute and extremely sensitive, I had an insanely difficult time sticking to my threat... but I DID!!!!!!! It broke my heart to hear him scream out from his room, "YOU ARE MEAN MOMMY!" He was so worked up his little voice began getting hoarse. About 10 minutes later he cried out, "LOVE ME MOMMY, LOVE ME." Which meant, "Rock me mommy, rock me!" That melted my heart. He is now fast asleep.

This was a wonderful teachable moment for Tyson. Tyson was really upset that he got his brother in trouble and begged me to change my mind. He was even crying, "please mommy, please!" I told Tyson that I show no favoritism in this house. This was stated because I think he believes the twins receive more love and leeway. I said, "When I punish you, do I stick to it?" He nodded, "Yes!" I said, "Well, I have to do the same with Lilah and Jaxon." I then proceeded to thank Tyson for tattling on his brother and explained to him that he did the right thing and by telling on him he showed his brother LOVE. I told him, "IF you didn't tell on him, you would be showing your brother hate because you would be condoning his sin."

ALL OF THIS took place AFTER Lilah dropped and cracked open a bottle of RED nail polish in my bathroom. I actually handled that with an INSANE amount of grace and patience. Lilah and I were home alone and I didn't want our first mommy/daughter memory to be ruined. We didn't paint her nails/toenails red. We chose green instead! :)

Secondhand Spirituality

Come near to God, and God will come near to you. James 4:8

"Some of us have tired to have a daily quiet time and have not been successful. Others of us have a hard time concentrating. And all of us are so busy. So rather than spend time with God, listening for his voice, we'll let others spend time with him and then benefit from their experience. "Let them tell us what God is saying. After all, isn't that why we pay preachers?"...

If that is your approach, if your spiritual experiences are secondhand and not firsthand, I'd like to challenge you with this thought: Do you do that with other parts of your life?...

You don't do that with vacations... You don't do that with romance... You don't let someone eat on your behalf, do you? [There are] certain things, no one can do for you. And one of those is spending time with God."

PERFECTLY PUT BY MAX LUCADO. WOW!!! CHECK YOURSELF TODAY! I KNOW I AM.