Chriswizard

Chris is a wizard.  Did you know that?  He’s a money wizard.  He took a couple of Excel classes while at IU, and now he applies Excel to everything.  He even explored trying to study the Bible with Excel!  There are several software programs out there intended to simplify personal finance management.  Chris?  He created his own with Excel.  Yes, that’s right.  A wizard.  He cares deeply about making wise financial choices for our family, and for that I am more grateful than I can express.  Recently, Chris has been excited to explore money with the boys.  They have they expressed interest, probably thanks to Christmas cash.  So, we took Cole’s money and Max’s money and cashed it into $1 bills.  Then, Chris gave each kid three containers and had a private money talk.  He simply explained the concepts of giving, saving, and spending, put practical ideas with each idea, and designated a container for each one.  Cole and Max individually decided how much of their cash went into each container, with the only rule being that no container could sit empty.  Now, whenever they receive money (we’re still talking about the idea of an allowance…), they will head to their money jars.  We hope to give them a lot of practice with money while they’re young, when the price tag for messing up is small, so that when they’re older and their choices involve bigger sums of money, they will have lots of experiences upon which to make decisions.  A tip from Love & Logic.  So they’re both now on the money learning road, and with Chriswizard as their teacher, I have no doubt they are in great hands!

Boot Camp

It feels like boot camp around here.  Not always.  Just the last couple of weeks.  We practice and practice and practice things over and over and over again.  Listening.  Ways to respond when you’re angry.   Speaking kindly.    Some days, though, the hours seem to drag on, filled with hitting and spitting and consequences intended to be loving.  Not always executed as so.  Consistency is tough.   Thankfully, Chris and I tackle boot camp together.  Thankfully, I am reminded that just like them, I need to learn things over and over again too.  Shouldn’t I be the first one to give them grace?  Thankfully, there is grace from a perfect God for unperfect me.  And thankfully, there is open gym at a local gymnastics school.  What a blessing to me during these rough weeks of what feels like boot camp.

Celebrate!

There’s some celebratin’ goin’ on in my family!  Chris and I (and a handful of others) flew to Florida on Friday to surprise my dad at a Happy Retirement Dinner…No, it was a Happy Next Chapter Dinner.  He was shocked!    Some wonderful friends kept our boys while we were away, too.  What a blessing!   We also celebrated Mike and Zoe…they are engaged!  Woohoo!  When I told Max he was so excited!  He said, “I’ll get to wear my belt!”

Chris and I came home from Florida in time to celebrate my birthday on Sunday with our three favorite monkeys.  We picked them up first thing in the morning and headed out to breakfast at the Bakehouse.  After that, we sledded down our mini backyard hill over and over again.  Nowhere else I’d rather be on my birthday!  We enjoyed yummy cupcakes after dinner, too.  Lots of celebratin’!

Illusion

Lately I’ve been hiding things.  I’ve been slowly slipping toys into our basement storage room, wondering if the boys will notice.  (They haven’t yet.) My reason?  Well, the boys don’t play with at least half of the toys we have.  They’d much rather play with leftover wood from Chris’s porch project, big backyard sticks, or a roll of masking tape.   I’ve had this notion of toy sneaking for a while, this notion that maybe stuff really doesn’t bring happiness.  But I haven’t had courage to act.  Questions (and fear…) arose.  Will the boys be bored?   Will they be sad?  Will they even care?  I know the truth from the Bible, but somehow it hadn’t stuck in my heart.  Until now.  I watched our kids receive countless Christmas gifts just weeks ago.  Now they sit dusty and untouched.  The love lasted a few days or a week and then faded.    What did last in their hearts?   Crazy Eights and Spot It! played with family.  The question game at dinner.   Drawing pictures for Bubba and Gammy.   Jumping in pillow pile huge.   Building Lego vehicles way passed regular bedtime.   Popcorn and snuggly time on the living room floor.   Library books scattered on the floor full of pictures and stories.  We don’t need much.  Our kids don’t need much. So why do I buy into this illusion that we do?   Why do I buy more gifts, hope for more stuff?   It makes a mountain over me.  I think that somehow it will satisfy.   Now, though, I’m ready to turn my back on the illusion.

In my toy sneaking process, I’ve tried to keep a short list of toys that our boys do play with most often.  Those toys we will keep, and the others we will give.  And when I browse the internet or Target aisles, I’ll remember.    ”Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…”

Star Noodle Soup

I am so thankful for go-to recipes that my family loves.  Star Noodle Soup is actually Italian White Bean & Pasta Soup from Williams Sonoma.  We learned it from Chris’s sister, Melissa, a few years ago, and now it’s a regular.  You’ll be happy you tried it!

Italian White Bean & Pasta Soup (Star Noodle Soup)

2 15 oz. cans white beans

3 Tbs. olive oil

1/2 cup chopped pancetta (bacon or ham are great, too)

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

4 large garlic cloves, minced

6 cups water or chicken stock, or as needed

1 can diced tomatoes

2 tsp. salt, plus more, to taste

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/2 lb. tiny dried pasta, such as shells or stars

In a Dutch oven or saucepan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the pancetta and sauté, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic and sauté, stirring often, until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the stock, beans, tomatoes and 2 tsp. salt and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer about 15 minutes. To give the soup more body, remove 2 large spoonfuls of beans and vegetables and puree in a blender or food processor, then return the puree to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and reheat gently.

 When the soup is almost ready, add the pasta, stir well and simmer until pasta is tender. To serve, ladle the soup into warmed bowls. Top each serving with a swirl of extra-virgin olive oil, some grated cheese and a generous grinding of pepper. Serves 6.

Party Day!

Some sweet friends came over for Max’s Rainbow Birthday Party today!   We ate a rainbow lunch, including sandwiches, rainbow fruit skewers, veggies, and rainbow goldfish crackers.  Then we played balloon ping pong in the basement…balloons flew everywhere!  We ended with rainbow popsicles and more time to play.  We are so thankful for dear friends to celebrate life’s big moments with!

Note:  Everyone does kid birthday parties differently.  We are very new at all of this, and I tend to land on ideas that are simple, non-messy, and that hopefully suit the kid being celebrated.  Max is a social guy and loved the chaos in our house today!  I also know that kids most often enjoy simple things that involve people, experiences, and food that they love.   I hope that in the years to come, when our kids continue to express more birthday opinions, we can stick to those simple things and that our kids will feel special and loved. How do you do birthdays in your family?  Do you have any great tips or traditions?

Happy Birthday Max!

Our Max turned four today!  He is so special, so unique, and so quirky!  He’s competitive, and his latest favorite games are Spot It! and Sequence for Kids.  He has two stuffed dogs, both are named Uncle Mike.  One is naked, and one is dressed in Cars 2 attire and black shoes with flames on them.  He names every pair of shoes he wears.  He’s had stompy shoes, eighty-fast runner shoes, and lightning shoes.  On purpose, he says phrases backwards.  Examples:  run waver (wave runner) and beamer sun (sun beam).  When we take neighborhood walks we often pick up litter, but Max calls it glitter.  On purpose.  He also says gessert instead of dessert.  On purpose.  We’re always laughing when we’re with Max.  His favorite things have to do with rainbows.  Favorite color?  Rainbow.  Favorite ice cream?  Rainbow.  What’s your thumb taste like?  Rainbow.   What kind of birthday cake do you want?  Rainbow!   And we invited a few friends over this week for a rainbow lunch.   We love Max’s imagination!  We love his wild energy.  We love his sweetness, too.   Happy Birthday, Max!

Holiday Slack

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We’re back from a few weeks of holiday rest.  We played Bananagram, Go Fish, Crazy Eights, and Qwirkle.  We splashed and swam and invented new skateboarding moves.  We jumped waves and dug in the sand.  We read books.  We saw lots of family and friends and decorated a lot of cookies.    It was wonderful!

Captured

I caught Zeke this morning.  He was saying, “Night night, Jesus.”  And when he says angel it sounds like anal, emphasis on the second syllable.  I love toddler words .

Carols & Cookies (and the flu…)

Giving.  That’s what this advent season has been about for us.  At least that’s the hope! Giving brings much more joy than receiving…a lesson that’s sometimes tough, but fun at the same time.  So, in the spirit of giving, the boys went caroling with other kids from church last weekend, and we’re headed out to deliver cookies to our neighbors tonight.   We’ve made some homemade gifts, too, and we’ve spent time remembering (and acting out…) the Greatest Gift…Jesus’s birth!

And oh yes.  We’ve had the flu.  It’s just about gone now, but holy flu season!  It struck down hard here.  It took Zeke on Sunday and Cole, Max, and I all on Monday evening through Tuesday.  Chris is still healthy.  My mom came down to help.  Not sure what we would have done without her!