Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A little perspective at the dinner table

It had been one of those days for me. The kind that left me feeling weary, and just tired from emotional and spiritual battles.
There were entirely too many me thoughts circling in my brain, aleksandr was fussier than usual, I felt like I accomplished hardly anything, and did I mention there were too many me thoughts?? And by this I mean I was pretty self absorbed today. I knew in my heart I was not letting go of my burdens to the Lord no matter how trivial I thought them.
And then we had dinner together.
Our new nightly routine is to read a passage of Scripture together right there at the table after we've all eaten. Well almost all of us-Oliver tends to be a s.l.o.w eater at dinner.
Well our discussion lead into heaven and how God and Jesus lived there. A brief thought from our son really gave me a new perspective.here was our conversation:

Oliver- Jesus and God come home soon.
Us- Well Jesus is always home, He is always with us and lives in our hearts, but His home (where we will go one day) is in heaven.
Oliver's understanding of all this-I go to heaven too.
Us- Yes, you can go to heaven.
Oliver-Jesus will play cars with I-yuv-er!
Us- Yes, Jesus will play cars with Oliver.

There were more phrases surrounding this but the one thing that I remembered the most was Oliver's childish and pure understanding and acceptance of Who Jesus really is.
My husband gave me an even greater perspective when he said that Oliver wanted to do his favorite thing with Jesus- play with his cars together. The one thing we constantly hear him ask us- "Mommy will play cars? Daddy will play cars?"
I love this for the fact that I should have this same mindset- to want to do my very favorite things with Jesus. My best friend.
Do I even include Him in my day, no matter how menial I think the task, do I talk with Him and include Him in it? Do I go to Him before I make decisions? Do I seek Him out when I am doing something I absolutely love, is He in it?
Sometimes the Lord speaks in the lives of those around us, we just have to listen for it.




Thursday, April 18, 2013

Blocks

Yesterday we pulled out Oliver's bag of wooden blocks.
I love the colors of these and the endless possibilities of towers, cities, roads and bridges you can create with them. Oliver enjoyed playing with them (briefly) and Aleksandr enjoyed chewing on them. I love sunny mornings like this when I can just sit and build with the boys.







Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Finger paints

So, I was excited about trying out finger paints.
I guess I was the only one.
I finally picked some up for Oliver and we went outside all set with our colors laid out, paper ready to go and some water for cleanup.
"Go ahead Oliver, dip your hands in it like this!"
Small finger dabbed in the paint.
"Go ahead, put your whole hand in like this!"
Hand in paint.
"Now you can paint on the paper with your WHOLE hand!"
Resistant to really get into the whole painting with his hand.
"We all done. I all done mommy. We take it inside mommy."

So. Live and learn. I still like finger paints. Maybe I'll save them for Aleksandr.
Or maybe I'll use them, ha!





gardening and compost

This year we decided to try gardening again.
Two years ago we were so enthusiastic about having our own little plot of land with fresh veggies.
We were so diligent about planning, right down to how far apart each vegetable should be. We had a diagram drawn out on the computer. Yeah, we are that prepared (um nerdy). We bought our organic seeds, spent hours digging out our 4'x6' plot (I think that was the size) spread out organic soil, tilled it all in, planted our rows, watered and excitedly awaited an abundant amount of fruit, or veggies rather,  from our labor.
WELL, we live in Georgia and here in these parts our ground is not rich fertile soil, it's clay. Hard, red, dense clay. So needless to say, the amount of dirt we poured into the clay was not enough.
We were both newbies at gardening, so we really learned a lot by all the mistakes we made.
One very important one- use containers or raised beds in our yard.
So it took us a couple of years to try again, really because I was pregnant last summer and did not have time or energy to think about gardening.
This time around to save some money, we used containers we had already, along with some beautiful ones that Jonah built out of scrap wood we found for free! So armed with our seeds, a few small plants we picked up and some armloads of dirt we started again.
So far we are seeing growth- but we'll keep watering and watching these little green plants to see if they will yield produce.
The benefits of growing our own- taste will be so much fresher, healthier than veggies I found shipped in at the supermarket, and hopefully we can have some left over to can (would love to try that this summer!), freeze, and share scrumptious meals with others.
I would love to add that another benefit is that it will save us money but I am kind of waiting to see if we get some produce this time!
The experience has been great with Oliver alongside us. He is learning about gardening at such a young age and already knows the name of everything (and where they are located). It will be so much fun to pick our own food when the time comes!
And now that I am in gardening mode, I am also starting a compost bin for us. I found a great article about composting here as well as here.
I was encouraged by how easy it seems to be. We'll see how easy it is when I follow through. I started our buckets of green and brown scraps today, the next step is to pick up a bin for our pile. I'll have to update when I have enough to start filling our bin. Hopefully we'll get some rich soil from it all.
And then I'll let Jonah add it to our garden. Just kidding. Although the thought of worms and lovely little bugs and smells does kind of make me turn my nose up- but I'm tough...I'll get through it.









aleksandr. chunk-a-roo

Our littlest one is growing too fast! Pulling up, crawling and into EVERYTHING. Baby proofing is a new thing to us since Oliver was never this fast. Not even after he started crawling OR walking.
Oh little one, you are surely giving this mama a workout in the day!
aleksandr in his favorite position, "standing". 7 months old.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

It's been a while

So it's been awhile since I posted here.
Honestly the arrival of baby boy #2 really threw me for a loop. I didn't realize how busy it would be with two little ones under 3. It took me a while to get my bearings again. I'd say a good 4 months or so went by before I felt like things were getting into more of a routine. But what joy these two boys bring into our lives. I am writing with hopes to keep this updated, but I am not sure how often I can update. I could go back the past several months and update what our going on's have been but I think I'll start right where we are today.
Aleksandr is our sweet little baby boy, born to us on August 27. He is 7 months now (wow!) and makes us laugh each day. So much different from his big brother. Having a second child made me remember so much more about my first child. Like when he slept through the night, started teething, started solids, rolled over, sat up etc. I think Aleksandr has mastered some of these things much earlier than his older brother did, and he has a much different personality too. I know we were surprised (and still are) when he started trying to crawl at 5.5 months. Oliver waited until he was about 8 months to even think about moving. Now little A is crawling faster and faster on his little chunky knees and it's adorable to watch. Especially when he pushes up on his toes with his rump in the air. Just today he managed to get both hands up on the ottoman and pulled up to stand at it. 7 months old! I'm seeing early walking here too. Sigh. He is growing too fast for my liking!
I am thinking that the influence of his older brother plays a part in his fast paced learning.
I love watching the two boys together. They are sweet gifts to us and we thank God for them daily.
easter 2013


sweet aleksandr at 7 months