A Little Humor and a Heavy Heart

This week Maryn is in a wonderful Vacation Bible School. She is so easily excited about these things. She has a love for life and of hanging with friends! She woke in the morning bright-eyed and ready to put on her pretty dress because she was going to see her friend from school, Bryson. I heard her crying in the bathroom because she couldn't get her hair clip on just right. I went to help her and while talking to her and trying to calm her down she stepped back and began to fall backwards. I tried to grab her and in one of those slow-motion moments that you wish you could take back, I saw her begin to fall. She's going down and there is nothing I can do! In a split second it is all over and Maryn is legs up in the air, hiney in the toilet filled with Dylan's pee (do boys ever learn to put the seat down!), crying her eyes out. The only words she can manage to get out are: "This has never happened to me in my whole life!" After getting all cleaned up and changing her clothes, I sat in the hall to talk with her and calm her down. I tried telling her that Mommy has fallen in the potty before. It's no big deal.....it happens! She thought this was kind of funny, and then asked me: "Did you fall in the potty in your prettiest dress?" I said no, I was not really a dress kinda girl. She began to cry again, because then she could claim this as something that had never happened to anyone else. She said: "But I fell in my prettiest dress!" Daddy, still in bed, began to giggle at this and gave her a further excuse to fall apart. We made it to Vacation Bible School only to realize that Maryn was not able to even be in Bryson's class. Thankfully she ran into another school friend and they were able to stay together!

Now on to my heavy heart. Dylan has decided he did not want to attend VBS this year, even after having so much fun there last year. I can tell that he has been questioning this decision. He asks Maryn a lot of questions about what she did during the day. He loves to go with me to drop her off and pick her up so he can ride the trolley and see all the big jumpies in the parking lot. Despite this, he will still not go. I had a talk with him on the way home yesterday trying to find out why. He has been going through a stage of shyness when it comes to being around kids that are older than him. As we walk down the halls of VBS, he will often jump in front of me to avoid being near an older child. He will change sides often depending on how many big kids are on different sides of the hallway. It takes him a while to warm up to a large group and make friends. I am not sure where it is coming from, he has always made friends no matter where we are. I am trying to help him through this prayerfully and just follow God's lead to build his confidence. During our conversation he expressed to me that he did not want to go and make new friends because if he made new friends, he would lose all his old friends: Brooks, Riley, and Ryan. I tried to explain to him that before this year that he didn't even know them and he had to make friends with them too. But, he said he knew that but now they are his friends and he doesn't want any others because he will lose them. He ended our talk with: "That is why I do what I do."

This morning while dropping Maryn off I walked Dylan over to his age group to see if we ran into any of his friends from school and if that would help him want to go. We did in fact run into 4 of his friends and they were all so happy to see him. The volunteers even said I could let him be in that class and talked to Dylan about the cool stuff they were going to be doing today. He didn't want to stay. On the way out he kept asking what I thought that class would be doing. I stopped in the hall and talked with him to see if he would change his mind. I could feel his struggle, but I wanted this to be his decision. He said if Brooks were there he would stay. I tried to explain to him that he was allowing the fact that Brooks was not there to keep him from having fun! I tried to tell him that God gave him such a big heart that there was room for all kinds of friends and not just one. He didn't want to stay. We walked out and he said: "Maybe I will stay tomorrow!" This is breaking my heart because I know he wants to stay, but he is not sure how to allow himself to have fun without thinking he is betraying his other friends.

Maryn's Graduation and a Little Surprise for Daddy!

Maryn's graduation was so awesome! I just love watching her shine! Her class sang several songs and did some skits. She was so excited. She had her first speaking part ever and after practicing hard for three long weeks she was a little over it! I was anxious to see how she would do. When it was her turn she walked out quickly and said "My name is 0+6=6, and I am the little sister!" She quickly walked to her spot and looked down at the floor with the biggest, cutest smile on her face. She was pleased! I was proud!


Dylan is spending this summer processing the fact that he will be in Kindergarten next year. He asks a ton of questions about what he will be doing, what it will be like. Whenever he finds himself in the atmosphere of school you can feel the wheels turning in his head. He watches like he is taking notes, knowing what is coming for him. He waivers from excitement to trepidation.



In Kindergarten, children are given Character awards based on God-given gifts the teachers have seen in them throughout the year. This was my favorite part of the evening. Her wonderful teacher brought each child up and talked about them and their gifts and the things they have done to express God's love. Maryn received the award for Honesty. Her teacher said that no matter what was going on, whether it was something that would ultimately get her in trouble, she could always count on Maryn to be honest. What a great gift!



I love this picture. We were all so proud and thankful to have this child with such a beautiful spirit, as well as an excitement for learning. Kindergarten was an incredible adventure!



This is a rare moment of family togetherness! I was so happy to have everyone together for this day!


Maryn and Dylan celebrating together. A little spot on the floor....a little cake....heaven!


Congratulations baby girl!!!


Okay, it is a very rare moment when I get to surprise my husband! Okay, let's be completely honest....it is a very rare moment when I can keep a super secret! But, alas, I managed to shut my trap and not burst from excitement. Maryn's graduation just happened to come on the weekend of Rex's 35th birthday. I had known for months that his parents and sister were coming in to town from Tennessee to surprise him. It was God's perfect timing that this was pulled off so perfectly. Just as we had sat at a restaurant before graduation for a little dinner they were arriving. We were sitting there and I was trying my hardest to distract him from looking out the window where they just so happened to park. I was successful and they made it to the front door unnoticed. This first picture is Rex seeing them for the first time coming towards our table. Is that who I think it is????

Is that seriously who I think it is? No, it can't be!!


Oh, YES, it is!!!!


Great moment!!! Happy Birthday!!!

My Funny Kids!

I have become a Facebook junkie. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means I have also become a totally lame blogger. I post little tidbits on Facebook and then it occurs to me that I am totally neglecting my Blog and losing precious moments and memories that I will likely forget. The fact is I have family that keeps up with my kids on my FB page and others that follow my blog, but I feel weird regurgitating things I have already said. However, I have gotten over that and here are some funnies I don't want to forget!!! :)

Dylan is absolutely certain that the Hulk says: "You won't like me when I'm hungry!" I have given up trying to convince him otherwise. So from this day forward Dylan will believe the Hulk just really needs a sandwich!

Daddy told Dylan he was the man of the house this weekend. Not the boss, but the killer of bugs, the protector of safety and such. He took on a gnarly spider in the kitchen this morning. I was proud! After several whacks the darn thing was still moving and he said: "Okay mommy, your turn"! Glad I can still be useful!

My daughter told her brother that the coolest thing about heaven is you never have to go to the bathroom!

My son woke up at 5am this morning and crawled in my bed crying because he had something stuck on the side of his face. I turned the light on, peeled off the dry booger, he said "Ew" and went back to sleep! Happy Mother's Day!!!

I think there is nothing funnier than listening to your kids sing along to songs with their headphones on! "Disturbia" became "scurvia" this morning and I spent most all day with it running through my head!

I am laughing! Dylan just woke up, got out of bed, got lost, and finally pee'd in the bathtub!

Oh, and here is a little convo Maryn and I had on the way home. She had noticed that her ruler said "Made in China". She asked me if the mailman brought it to her school and if there is only one mailman. I lamely explained the process.

Mommy: The guy makes the ruler, it then gets put on a plane to get it to America, then the postman sends it to your school and voila....ruler!

Maryn: So, it takes 3 people to get me my ruler.......cool!

I love the simplicity of childhood thinking!

Dylan's Outta There!!!

I had so much fun watching Dylan graduate from pre-K! He was so excited and animated, as usual! Shame on mommy because I made daddy move when the procession was about to start....I thought he would have a better angle on the action. I was wrong!! What was missed is what I hope to remember in my heart forever. When they called Dylan's name, he came bounding outta that door with a smile from ear to ear, swinging his arms and absolutely strutting his stuff! He is adorable! He made me draw up a map for all of his friends so he would be able to keep in touch with them over the summer! I watched him carefully avoid all the girls while passing them out!!

Fun at the Aquarium!

We went to the Aquarium for Maryn's classmate, Ansley, and had such a great time. Here are some pic highlights!

Answered Prayer for Mommy!

I had an amazing day yesterday! I had the opportunity to sub for my teacher who was going out of town. It was an important day because we had an accreditation crew there touring our school. Ms. Griffin let everyone know to avoid our classroom since I would be subbing and she would not be there. I was a little nervous. I absolutely love working in my class, but this was only the second time I had subbed and took on full responsibility for the class. And then to have the added pressure of the committee being there and possibly coming in to observe me was somewhat daunting. Thankfully, Ms. Griffin gave me everything I needed and I felt really prepared.

I began my day praying for a great day and to not be worried about "the visitors". I was having a really good day, things were going smoothly and quickly. Friday's are always a very fast-paced day! I was finishing up my phonics lesson so my kids could head off to P.E when a lady walked in to my classroom and headed to the back. I did my best to just ignore that she was there and continue on. I mean we only had about 10 minutes before we lined up, I could handle that! I completed the lesson and lined the kids up for P.E. and as the last child walked out, I greeted the lady in my room. She was so sweet! I made sure she realized that I was not the teacher in this room and was subbing for the day! She asked me if I had a degree, which caught me off guard. I thought it was a pretty personal question at first and then I worried, since I do not have a degree and told her such, that this was somehow going to reflect poorly on our school. I talked to her a while longer and she shared her story of how her husband pushed her to finish her education because he wanted to make sure that, in the event he passed on before her, that she would be able to support herself. She fulfilled his wishes and when her husband did pass away she was comfortably in a successful teaching career which she retired from with good benefits.

I was really encouraged by her words. Having a degree and finishing a program is something that has always nagged at me. The problem is I just could not dedicate myself to any program because I did not know what I wanted to be. Or more importantly, where God wanted me to be. But beyond feeling her encouragement, I was still worried I had said something that made the school look bad. I talked to another TA who gave me some good advice. She said to talk to Mr. Lester, our Elementary Principal, and just let him know what happened. When I did this, he said that it was no big deal and thanked me because it would allow them to bring up their hiring process in the last meeting they had with "the visitors". I felt better!

At the end of the day, I am getting my kids into the hall for carpool and I see Mr. Lester coming straight for me with this big smile on his face. He gives me a quick hug and says he has to talk to me. This beautiful lady who had visited my class had gone directly to Mr. Lester and told him that I needed to be teaching. That I was professional and great in the classroom and had an obvious knack for teaching! What I had interpreted on her face as disapproving when I told her I did not have a degree, was in fact shock because she assumed I did and was a certified teacher. Wow! I was in shock! I am excited!! As I listened to the other teachers at the end of the day talking about their shock that this group of people did not even come into their classrooms. It struck me. What made this woman come into my room? It was so random. It was so God!

I have prayed and prayed for an open door and I will continue to pray for the strength to go through that door!

What was equally powerful to me was my husband's expression when I told him what had happened. He was so proud.....of me!!! He was moved by my experience! This has been a powerful day! Now, I have no idea what to do next???

Happy Birthday Maryn!

http://madlyformaryn.blogspot.com/2009/04/april-7-2009.html

I Saw God!

The other day we went to the movies for Dylan's birthday. When we were walking up to purchase our tickets there was a man out front with two boys that were goofing around with each other. The man turned to them and screamed at one of the boys, saying "if you don't stop swinging around that jacket I am going to bust you up!" To me this was an extreme and ugly display. As an adult, I did not want to make eye contact with this man. I know I have bad days where I look less angelic than I want to and I try to chalk up public displays like this one as such. I mean really, who acts like this in public on purpose?! The last thing you want, at least the last thing I would want, is to be stared down like a glaring spotlight of your imperfection.

I looked down at Dylan who had made eye contact with this man and I watched my little boy raise a hand to say hi and give him a little smile. I looked over at the man just as he looked away. When I looked back to Dylan I saw that he was really watching this man. It was not that kind of look that you teach your children is an invasion of privacy, not even a curious look. It is hard to explain, but it was almost as if in his mind he was hugging that man. What a blessing!

Happy Birthday Dylan!!!

http://madlyfordylan.blogspot.com/2009/03/march-28-2009.html

Maryn Is In On The Secret!

For the first time we have allowed Maryn to go shopping with us for Dylan's birthday present. It has yet to be decided if this was a wise decision or not. She understands that this is supposed to be a secret and I believe she is capable of keeping the secret itself. What concerns me is that we have gift-wrapped with a big pretty bow on top and handed to her the ability to hold said secret over her brother's head! Oooooo....she is gonna love this! We told her that if she were allowed to go with us she could not even let on that she knew what he was getting. Is this too much pressure for an almost 6-year-old. I guess I will soon find out!

She was totally cracking me up at Wal-Mart! I have such a pet peeve for bathrooms without courtesy music. I mean, I really don't want to hear what everyone in there is doing. It is the most uncomfortable silence I can think of. We didn't have to worry about that today, because anyone in ear shot of Maryn in the bathroom was treated to a rather loud version of "Love Story"! Better than hearing people pee is all I have to say!

When we were finished making our rounds we went to pick Dylan up from school. As soon as he gets in the car, I look in the backseat to see Maryn holding her breath and eyes as big as the moon! She is in big trouble if she thinks she can hold her breath until Saturday. I know from experience that her mouth never stops moving for more than maybe a milisecond!

We get home and Maryn rushes to the front door to wait for Dylan, she has this goofy look on her face that Dylan clearly did not understand. He asked me, "what's wrong with her?" This will be interesting. She summoned me to a private meeting in the bathroom and tell me how hard she is trying to not say anything. I told her to lay off the goofy looks and she just laughed and said, "this is gonna be preeeeeety hard!"

Maryn's First Basketball Practice

I have always been really excited for my kids to start sports and be a part of that. It is so exciting for me! I love every second of it! Maryn has moved past a stage in her life where she wants to run from things that seem hard. She was so excited about basketball and when she hit the floor with her team, her excitement never faltered. She listened to her coach and made adjustments that were recommended of her. I was very proud. I get to be team mom for her team and two others, so I am so involved and get to watch her every second and keep my mouth shut....for the most part!!! I was very happy that she received her uniform at the end of her first practice because it was clear she was more excited about that at the end of the day! How could she not be....look how cute she is!!!

None of her shots even came close to making the net.....but look at that form!!!

A little bit of passing practice.

Today I Am So Proud!

It was such a beautiful day today, I decided to take the kids to the park near Dylans's pre-K after I picked him up. I love situations like this because you get the chance to watch your children interact with others and also to see how other demon children act!!! I am just kidding....a little!

Maryn was climbing on the train and 2 boys came over to her area. They began with the basics of finding out how old they all were. Twice, Maryn asked kids, "How many are you?" She got the same response both times ("you mean how OLD"), this really did not phase her. Turns out these particular boys happened to be 6. At the realization that Maryn was merely 5, one of the boys turned to her and told her that they do not talk to 5 year olds. Only 6 and up, he claimed. Maryn turned to look at me over her shoulder and just shrugged. Undaunted by the statement, she turned to the one that was clearly a little on the kinder side and began to talk about a Spongebob moment that she thought was funny! The boy started to laugh and they began playing together. The demon boy, not willing to give in to his commitment stood there silently. I loved this! I was so proud of her.

Later she heard a bunch of bigger kids who had come into her play area saying words like stupid, and calling other kids dirty diaper pants. She looked at me, shrugged again and said: "God will take care of them, I'm just not going to worry about it!"

I was on a mommy high on the way home! I ran through Chick-fil-A to get them an ice cream because I am cool like that!!! We see a woman in a wheel chair making her way down the sidewalk. I watch Dylan in the mirror watching her. She was using her feet to move her forward and was not making very good time. Dylan is watching her every move. I am waiting to see what he will say: "mom, look at that crazy lady", "mom, she is weird", "mom, what is wrong with that weirdo". He opens his mouth and I am ready to pounce with something from my moral lesson arsenal and what he says stops my heart. He looks at me and says, "Mom, you need to stop right now so I can help that lady" and I realized that the look in his eyes that I was reading as disgust or at the very least basic child curiosity, was in fact concern.

What a blessing my kids are to me and the world!!! God has wonderful things in store for these two!

The Circus was Awesome!!!!

So I have not been to the circus in ages! This was the first time with my kids and I was so excited and anxious to see all the magic through their little eyes! I was curious about what would entertain them the most. It seems some people either love or hate clowns. I don't really have an opinion either way. I can take them or leave them. Neither of my children have a loathing for clowns, but Dylan is clearly a slapstick kid and got the most enjoyment out of their antics. Maryn was enamored by the acts and the swirling girls and the men that were "wearing lady clothes" on the trapeze extravaganza!

It fascinated me to see what got their attention. In one particular moment, a fairly limber lady has her leg wrapped around her neck 4 times and is licking her elbow (a bit of an exaggeration...but whatever!!), I look at Maryn and her eyes are wide and mouth slightly opened and I hear her say: "Mom, look at her shadow on the floor!!!" I am like....shadow....what....check out the lady!!!

Dylan felt like the highlight of our experience at the circus would be the lions. He waited with anticipation for them to come trying to fight off boredom of the less spectacular events. When they finally arrived on stage he watched in awe for about 30 seconds and leaned back in his seat and claimed his need to go home. I said: "Dylan, are you watching...how cool is this??!!" He looked up long enough to see the lions all standing on their hind legs. He leaned back and let out this slow exasperated breath of boredom. He was like, "Big whoop, they can stand"!

There was one thing throughout the circus that I could not, even though I tried and tried, stop thinking about. Through the slew of animals paraded on stage, not one of them pooped. I am wondering how this is even possible. I am talking dogs, goats, horses, lions, and elephants! I am starting to get worried and begin to think I may not even want to know how they accomplish this. I wonder if I should search PETA and then think better of it. I wonder if they are somehow plugged up to spare the viewing audience the horror and stench of various animal terds! I am telling my brain just to focus. Focus on the beauty of what is before you, but the nagging in my brain keeps making me think of the calamity of a plugged elephant and about 3o gallons of rotten peanuts....I mean we are having a peanut thing here in Georgia after all. The lions come out and I have still seen no poop! I really am not obsessed. I watch the lion trainer and now on top of my nagging need for poop, I begin to wonder if I will have to be the witness of the unfortunate decapitation of said lion trainer. It is hard to watch.

Finally the elephants come out to sum up the circus for us. They do several nice maneuvers and stand to bow. They begin to exit, while tiny elephant does a very cute little skip that I could not take my eyes off of. When I finally do, I take in the scene of the empty stage and guess what I see.........POOP!!! Big, putrid mounds of elephant poop! I actually felt much better and could make my way home with an eased mind and thoroughly enjoy singing along with my little ones to Kidz Bop 15!

My loser status was confirmed today!!

This morning I have been called out! It started when we woke up. Maryn really wanted to make daddy breakfast in bed this weekend. This is normally a birthday tradition. Each person in the house gets the breakfast of their choosing in bed on their birthday. Well at least we do this for the kids. Last year the kids and I got up and made pancakes in Rex's favorite color, and red milk! It didn't actually make it to his bed, but we had fun nonetheless. Maryn really wanted to do this again and I told her maybe we would this weekend. Now, let me preface by saying I am NOT and early riser on the weekends!!!

Maryn came to the side of our bed around 9:30. Rex and I were already awake and just hanging out, loving not having to jump out of bed to go anywhere. Maryn whispered in my ear about breakfast in bed for daddy and I told her it was too late and we would TRY to do it the next day. Rex by now is making feel like a total loser....but only because he wanted to stay in bed!!! :) Maryn got really upset and started to whine and cry...so I told her to go to her room....but only because I wanted to stay in bed!!!! While Maryn was in bed, she got out her etch-a-sketch and drew a picture of mommy in bed being mad at her. Rex proceeded to make me feel like a big loser. I got up and made breakfast!!!

The morning continued with Maryn coming downstairs and finding her baby book and continuing to point out to Dylan that she just didn't see his. Now, don't get me wrong, he does HAVE a baby book I just never made it past the first couple pages and it has very few pictures. He kept watching Maryn look through her picture book with this look of second-born neglect that I am sure will follow him through the years. We have plenty of pictures of Dylan, they have just never made it into a book. Rex and I vowed to go through our CD's and make a book just for him! Will this ease the wounds of neglect? I can only hope!