"The poorest, the weakest, the simplest child, is born for immortality. This value outweighs the entire material universe, no matter how small a mark this child makes on it. The tiniest infant owns a deathless intellect, and is as immortal as the Father of spirits. No one can tell what this child will become."

~ A Prebyterian Pastor who died in 1873


"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

~ (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

"Sparkly Clean"

Jack typically hates to have his teeth brushed it is almost always a battle. In fact we keep a small container of quarters by his sink. He gets a "complaint quarter" if he takes a bath and brushes his teeth without (you guessed it... complaining.)

However, (on a side note) he has seemed to negotiate into levels of complaining. See if you can follow me: He has turned his "complaint quarters" into "truth tokens" and here is how...

At first we would ask him first if he did the tasks without complaining... Of course we got a "no complaining;" Then one of us would ask the one who accompanied him on his assignment in front of him if in fact he earned a quarter.

So one night I ask and got "no complaining" then I went to ask Stuart and Jack interrupted with "Oh I did complain but a small bit not a big bit!" We were actually so proud of him for telling the truth that they are now coined (pun intended) "Truth Tokens." And also a long came his idea of no complaints, a bit of complaints, a big bit of complaints and then there is the... don't even ask me, you heard the whole thing from the kitchen. You and I both know I do not get a reward.

Back to this morning... I came in to brush my teeth and Jack stood straight and proud just brushing away... No asking, bribing, begging, bargaining oooor dragging him kicking and screaming. He HAD to look in the mirror to see his teeth after and replied "I am so handsome... they are sparkly clean."

Oh and he didn't even ask for a "truth token" or I suppose in this case it would be a "complaint coin" either way he didn't ask for a reward his reward was pride and that was enough. Today he taught me there really are some things money can't buy.

He is growing so fast...

YouTube Video











A quote to live by




"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."
(JFK 1962 State of the Union Address)
When I read that I thought of how many ways that can be applied in our lives. From religion, finances, family, marraige... very inspirational quote.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Valentine For My Grandmother

The other day I was driving Jack home from school and we saw a bunch of birds flying off of a telephone line. All of the sudden it sparked a memory from when I was little. My Grandmother told me if I could throw salt on a bird it would freeze... I spent many summer days chasing birds with her salt shaker and never got one to freeze... Oh but how much fun that was!

Of course I told Jack the same thing and his simple reply was "mommy... that's impossible!" It made me laugh because the memories of those days when ANYTHING was possible as long as your imagination was free were so wonderful. And I am so grateful to those who contributed to my many adventures and dreams that were fed to my imagination as a child. Part of me wished Jack had said "mommy that is very possible." But he is a serious little boy and I am sure his little imagination is just a big as mine was.

For Valentine's day this year I wanted to document all of the memories I have from playing and visiting with my Grandparents and actually say "Thank You" because memories aren't something you can lay down or misplace; have stolen or broken. They cannot be thrown out with the trash or even buried at sea. Memories may fade and come back but they will always be with you, for your imagination may be big, unrealistic and wild but it eventually forms memories and those are very true and real . It tucks them safely away in your heart only to be sparked by little things, such as birds flying from a telephone line...

To My Beautiful Grandmother:

I Love You For:
1.     Making the perfect oatmeal.
2.     Donating ingredients from your kitchen that were called for in our gazebo cooking experiments.
3.     Actually baking our gazebo cooking experiments.
4.     That extra “pat” of butter.
5.     Your flawless method for tucking us in at night.
6.     Teaching how to make the perfect pallet with the right amount of blankets.
7.     Using your yard stick to show us how far we could sit from the TV so we don’t “ruin our eyes.”
8.     Teaching how to sew by making little bean bags.
9.     Using tiny little bottles and hot water to remove a splinter.
10. Showing us that peroxide actually doesn’t hurt on a scrapped knee.
11. Taking us to Kmart after eating out and buying stuff we “had to have.” (a carbon copy receipt book for example. I can’t tell you the last time I ever had to write a receipt for someone because that situation has never occurred. Thanks to you I am ready if it does.)
12.  Putting perms in our hair and propping your back door open so the smell wouldn’t do us in.
13.   Associating the word “warmth” with a smell. When I think of how your house has always smelt the only word I can think of is “warm.” And that makes me smile.
14.  Keeping memories with your camera. Even when the subject didn’t want a picture taken, you never gave up trying to capture the moment.
15.  Creating each of us our very own photo album.
16. Giving us baths. I haven’t been that clean since. And I can still smell your soap lathered in that white warm wash cloth.
17.Cleaning the bottoms of our feet before we left “just in case.”
18. Allowing our dogs to visit and not seeming to mind as they tramped through your clean house.
19. Convincing me if I could get close enough to a bird to throw salt on him, he would freeze.
20.  Allowing me to wander around your backyard chasing birds with your good salt shaker.
21.   Opening the apartment when it was empty, for us to play “house” in.
22.  All of the hard work you and Granddaddy did on my first house. Or any of our families’ homes for that matter. 
23. Maintaining the perfect length fingernails for back scratching.
24.  Letting me watch “The Young and the Restless” with you. I actually always enjoyed your “stories.”
25. Having Nickelodeon on for us when we came early in the mornings.
26.   Letting us experience what a real picnic is like and making that a memory I want my children to have as well.
27.  Letting us pick your beautiful buttercups.
28.    Looking the other way when we fed the cows the good apples when we ran out of rotten apples to feed them.
29. Showing us how a real garden works by keeping us involved in the whole process. From planting the seed, tending the garden, shelling the beans and even canning.
30. Giving my memory of growing up at your home a sound. It is the sound of your pressure cooker; it will always remind me of your home and my childhood.
31.   Exposing us to liniment. The cure for anything that ales ya!
32.   Having the perfect cure for every possible ailment.
33.  Letting us use your little trampoline and record player to “Mousercise” with the Micky Mouse exercise record.
34.Giving us a place to come and be nurtured when we got sick and had to leave school.
35.  Designating one special drawer in your kitchen just for us. (And our children.)
36. Allowing us to jump from the barn loft into hay. Then helping us get cleaned off when we were unusually itchy afterwards.
37.Teaching me about ferns and birds; always keeping humming bird food available for the humming birds. This brought them close so we could see them just about any time.
38.  Being such a wonderful cook, your food always tastes the same.
39.   Always supporting us in school and sports events.
40.  Giving me the opportunity to tell people I have officially seen “Hee-Haw” and “Yes! in fact I do know the Oakridge Boys… and now that you mention it I feel the need to tap my feet while also tapping my hand on my knee in unison.”
41. Letting me lay in your lap while I thought I was about to die of appendicitis when it dawned on you to treat it with Tylenol and then you rubbed my head until my appendicitis very first experience with cramps faded away.
42.  For everything I may have forgotten.
43.  For loving unconditionally, never letting me feel judged, being a soft place to fall and for letting me call you my “Grandmother.”

Monday, February 13, 2012

Jacks 3rd Birthday

Oh boy, this post goes back to last August but it couldn't be left out... This year for Jack's 3rd birthday we got to take hime to Chattanooga to ride the train and see the train depot. We visited with Adelaide and Auntie A and Uncle Brett, and Jack got to stay in a hotel for the first time. (He was a little uncomfortable with not going home at the end of the night) but we had so much fun. We even got to go see daddy race!







Ah this brought back memories, I remember these bring in our mall and being so intrigued by them.


Here I am about 6 months pregnant with Sophie-Paige





Jack refused to take a bath unless "Ben" his new engine could watch...


Stuart and Jack in the hotel pool...


We brought Jacks (stuarts old) engineer hat and when we got to the depot we bought him a new one. Turns out that very old hat (Stuart is wearing) that Jack had worn around was bought for Stuart at that same depot and around the same age...



He got a little tired of the announcer talking about the train (and he was standing right beside us)


This picture is so beautiful to me, I just love it...











Jack's got a ticket to ride...


This was his family birthday party at Ya Ya's. He felt so special bc it was on his real birthday and he got to share it with his cousins...







































- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Little of this and that

These pictures are from Christmas, some projects we worked on and our ginger bread house.

Stuart and I think Santa must have been to tired too get out of our chimney this year so he took a short nap... He heard us waking up and in the process of trying to scramble out he left all the toys meant for the kids in half of the neighborhood! He even dropped some in our chimney on the way out. That is the only explination we can come up with as to why Jack got waaaay too much this year.





































- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Just Jack

Here are some pictures of our big boy over the past few months...













Luke's Birthday

Jack's best friend Luke had his 4th birthday party at the bouncy place in the mall this January. It was Jack's first birthday party to attend and to say he was excited would be an under statement. Jack and Luke were glued at the hip the whole time.