Christian's Abstract Thinking

We have all been sick in our home, just as every other home in America this Christmas.  Micah and I have bronchitis and fevers, and the kids are showing symptoms too.  As I was running our little foster guy to the doctor today, I checked and sure enough he and I were both running fevers. I knew that I had to make dinner and I decided to swing through and get McDonald's Chicken Nuggets for dinner to save me effort and energy.  
It was a win win situation with Christian as I knew it would be.  He as he was eating them, he stopped and said (with a great surprised look on his face) "mom, those chicken nuggets made the bad stuff go down and the good throat come back up!!!!"  I love how he thinks.  I guess he was saying the chicken nuggets felt good on his throat and belly.

Jim's Hot Pool - Christmas Eve

I have really been struggling lately with wanting to stick with traditions for my kids sake and making things consistent from year to year.  Then I realized I have spent a lot of my time worrying about cramming so much into everyday and every holiday that I forget to stop and just enjoy the moment. I started wondering if they felt it, if they felt the pressure I was putting on all of us to have fun.  The pressure was so much for me that I never really could enjoy what it was we were doing anymore anyway.  Something has to change.  I decided to take it day by day.  Enjoy the moment and live life day by day and not event by event that has to be done a certain way cause that is what we did last year. ;)  We started tonight. . ..

It is Christmas Eve 2012 and the kiddos are excited as they always are about Christmas. We got up and cleaned and organized because the next few days are crazy hectic as they are for everyone on Christmas.  My dad came up to eat dinner with us and then we did something really exciting. . something that I could easily make a habit of.  After dinner, we called our neighbor Jim and asked if he would mind if we came over and spent some time in his hot tub. . or "Jim's Hot Pool" as the kids refer to it.  He is so sweet and of course said yes, so now we had a plan.  The kids overheard my conversation with him on the phone and that was all it took.  They talked amongst themselves about it all day.  They were overly excited and hyper all evening anyway, as the snow was falling on the ground and giving us a nice White Christmas! 

My dad and I went over to prepare and then the Micah came running over in his swimming trunks and sandals carrying both kiddos so they wouldn't get their feet in the snow.  His feet were in some pretty severe pain by the time he arrived to the hot tub, but they soon warmed right back up in that hot water.  The water was so amazing and as I was sitting there in the hot tub with my family of four, I realized again how blessed I was.  The snow was lying on the ground and on the tree limbs and just made everything so pretty, soft and bright!  The world seemed to be quiet and asleep and here we were all in our own world of warmth while enjoying the freshly fallen snow.  Such an amazing experience.  The kids were so excited that they were bubbling over and just kept saying how much fun this was and thank you thank you.  It truly was a peaceful and beautiful moment that made my heart sing.  This past year, there have been many moments that I am walking through and though I am there for the moment, I often feel as though I am not really in the moment.  This special one caught me off guard though.  I didn't feel like I was outside of the moment at all, but rather I felt inside the moment all cuddled up with people I love with all of my heart. I am so grateful for my family and for all that God has blessed me with in my lifetime.  I am a blessed and happy woman on Christmas Eve 2012!!!!

Steeler Nation- and Pretzel Party!

 We had a little STEELER NATION get together at our house and while we were at it, we decided to throw some Aunty Anne's pretzels in the mix.  It was a blast, as per usual.  We had our little foster Guy, Johnny FIVE with us and we also had Julian over night that night too.  It was a great and busy night.  The kids were kept busy being entertained by dancing with Kelsey or making pretzels with Grandma.  Julian and Johnny met for the first time and they were not too sure what to think of each other, but Johnny sure did love being center of attention.  It was his first time meeting all the family and he warmed up to them quickly.  He was very happy to dance and entertain while in the middle of the living room.  Not a shy bone in his little body. 

Christian Fathering Skills

I was having a random conversation with my little man and he asked me if I had the ring his daddy gave me on my finger still. I said that I did and he grabbed my hand and was examining my engagement and wedding ring.  Then he went on to inform me that when he gets grows up he is going to buy a ring like mine with "that white thing on it" (the diamond).  I told him that when he grew up he would have to get a job to make money so he could save for things like a ring for whatever girl he wanted to marry and a car.  He interrupted me and said,
"for my son?  So I can buy a car for my son?" then he went on to ramble and tell me, "if I grow up and up and up, I will buy my son toys and cars and he will like them and he will play with them. I will tell him he can't watch BAD movies and he will be sad and I will say I love him. He will go to his room to pout and I will put him on time out." He said this so matter of fact and I was impressed that he wanted to parent like us and he is sure his son will do exactly what he does and like exactly what he likes. I guess the thing that makes me happy is that he said he will tell his not to watch bad movies, instead of saying he will let him do whatever he wants to do.  Maybe he is understanding that we do what we do because we love him and not to hurt him.  I love how his brain works and when he has moments that he rambles about things, I feel like a get a glimpse of what is really going on in his little mind, a hint of how he is processing it all. :)

Christian's Kindergarten Harvest Party

For Christian's Harvest party we had so many mothers' helping and a lot of them had kids on Christians soccer team.  The moms all donated food and we had SO MANY snacks that there were left overs to make snacks for the class for weeks to come. We started off with our food and snacks and then played some hot potato and hula hoop relays games.  Below is a shot of Christian posing with Jaden and Lexi, before starting on the games.  While playing Bingo, which was a huge hit, the prizes were a hit too.  Anna won a Bingo prize and she was very proud.  We also helped them make a photo frame they decorated themselves.  Then we got a group picture so the kids would have something to put into the frame and hang on their fridge.  Christian was blessed to have a great Kindergarten year with many of his friends in his class.  Anna Sullivan, Jaden Davis, Lexi Lawson and many more.  It ended up being a great first class party for the kids. 

Kindergarten was a fun year for little man.  We got to see him grow up so much and yet he still had so much further to go.  ;)  He did have a day that he actually punched a girl because his chair fell and she laughed and he thought she was laughing at him, so he punched her.  We had to have him write a note the girl (ended up being a girl named Emily) saying he was sorry for punching her.  He got a slip of paper home from school making us aware of what had indeed happened.  :(  The funny thing was that when we confronted him and tried to find out who he hit, he said, "um, the girl with the white squiggly hair."  We thought he was talking about Anna, so we immediately contacted the parents and were apologizing only to find out that it wasn't her. :)  What an event.  Kindergarten is quite the experience for us and Christian. :)

Ava's 1st Grade Harvest Party

 Harvest Class Party for 1-4. . .Ava's 1st Grade Class. The kids were very excited!!! They couldn't wait to see what they were going to be doing.  When we got there, we started with a fun craft where they put together a foam turkey on a paper plate.  The kids loved this activity and Mrs. Brubaker was still there to help because she hadn't gone on maternity leave yet.  Above Ava is getting assistance from her favorite teacher, Mrs. Brubaker.  The finished product turned out great.  Then they went on to do a dance line around the room to get rid of some of their energy.  They were practicing cheers and break dancing as a class too.  The girl sitting across from Ava at the desks was her best friend Jennifer.  Jennifer was in her Kindergarten class and her first grade class. :)

 We did manage to capture a group picture at the end of the party.  The kids were so funny and were all too busy to catch them all looking at the camera at once. :)  They did have a good group this year though.  Kylan and Trevor were the two boys that loved to fight over who was going to marry Ava.  She told them they had to bring her a ring before she would agree to marry them.  They both chased her at recess too. :)  Ava's Best Friends in Frist grade were Jennifer and Uriska!

 

Christian's Short Stories

On the first day of school, we got a special note from the teacher and she was saying how she had to make a small correction with Christian that day.  Apparently, he was in the front of the line and while in the hall, he turned around to yell at the kids behind him to "GET IN LINE" She thought this was kind of cute but had to correct him, so she asked him who was in charge here.  He looked at her so seriously and said, "ME & YOU". . .she said she was trying not to laugh as she had to correct him and tell him exactly who was the teacher.  The next morning, before he went to school, we asked him who was in charge.  He said, "Mrs. Boward."  Then he said, "I tried to be the teacher, but she told me to get in line!" :)

Christian - "mom, I got my star flipped today."
Mom - "Christian, what did you do?  Why did she have you flip your star."
Christian - "because I had to throw the pieces across the room."
Appears to me that sometimes the compulsion of doing what you want to do even when you know it is wrong, is worth the consequences because you just have to do it!  Hopefully he learns his lessons before he grows up. :)  He knew his star would be flipped but for some reason it was a necessity to throw those pieces.  Sorry Mrs. Boward.

At the kitchen table one morning, Christian and Westin were having a conversation.  Westin asked Christian why Ava didn't like school.  Christian said, "Well, Ava is just SCARED of school."

I was helping in Christian's class the other day and his teacher asked him why he had an ice pack in his mail box.  I listened as he explained it was from the nurses' office.  She reminded him that he was not to take the ice packs home and where to put them so they would get back to the nurse.  When we got home, I asked him why he was at the nurses' office?  He said he fell on his butt while running at Recess so he needed to get "fixed up"  I started questioning him and here come to find out he must visit the nurses' office frequently.  Anyone who knows Christian very well knows he ALWAYS has some sort of boo boo or reason to "need to be fixed up." as he calls it.  So what I realized is my son, the boy full of ailments, goes to the nurses' office for band aids and ice packs quite often.  I love that boy!!! I tried to explain it to him, that if he is not bleeding he or something isn't broken, he doesn't need the nurse but I am pretty sure that when I am not there to help him make those judgement calls, he will feel that anything warrants him the right to the nurse. :)

Christian's teacher pulled me a side the other day and asked me if I had issues with Christian paying attention, and if when he was asked questions did he give appropriate responses that made sense. I had to chuckle as I shared that yes this was an issue for us too.  I told her he was easily distracted and by that I meant, when carrying a toy from the living room to his room on a mission to put it away, he may stop and be distracted multiple times on the way back the hall.  :)  She said okay and that she was wondering if it was just with her or when he was in trouble.  Then she went on to share with me that the other day, she moved him to the front of the carpet so he wouldn't be distracted by the kids in front of him, but she thinks he may have seen it as a privilege. I laughed and told her that yes, he did think it was a privilege because he came home so excited and said, "mommy, Mrs. Boward moved me to the front of the carpet!! Aren't you proud of me?!?"  :)  Micah says at least we know he will be easy to please for his employer someday!!

Ever since school started Christian is working so hard at learning.  He LOVES learning which I wasn't sure whether he would or not.  He gets mad when Ava has homework and he doesn't and he cries when we have a day off.  We actually have found that the most effective threaten of punishment is to tell him if he doesn't stop, we won't let him go to school the next day.  It works every time!  So different than his sister.  He had his first sick day from school the other day and he cried because he didn't want to stay home with us, he wanted to go to school with Ava. :( He makes me smile all the time.  He is simply HIM!!