Growing

My two little precious boys are growing by leaps and bounds. The have both had growth spurts lately and I've noticed a big change in the way their clothes are fitting. (Time to hit some Mom 2 Mom sales for some clothes for Payton!)

But this weekend, I noticed mental growth for both of them. Maxwell is learning to identify his letters. He has A, B, C, D, E, F, L, M, O and P down pat...now we're just working on the rest. He really enjoys playing with his letter blocks, so we've been playing with those a lot. I'm impressed with how anxious he is to learn them because he's been so uninterested in learning up to this point.

Payton amazed me today, too. Last week I was proctoring all the testing at his school/my work, so I was privileged to see how he tested and watch him take the tests. On the math portion, he scored really high and I was so proud of him, but I noticed when he got to multiplication he had no idea what to do. No surprise really since he's only just entering first grade and has never had it explained to him. But I knew it was frustrating to him to have those problems there and not be able to answer them.

Today, we played a game and I explained multiplication x0, x1 and x2. He did a GREAT job and picked it up really fast. I actually had to tell him if he kept going his brain would hurt because he was trying to do too much.

I'm amazed at my lil' men and how they're growing up with the potential to be such intelligent and studious young men. Makes my heart skip a beat. ♥



P.S. The new song is my current favorite. Mom, listen close.

How He Loves Us
by David Crowder Band

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

The Anxiety is Gone

Entering my third week of working, I realized my anxiety about my job is gone. I'm more comfortable in my position, what I'll be doing and where I want to go with it.

I've been given a lot of freedom and leeway to get things done the way I want and to set my own schedule. I also have been permitted to work as I like and getting things done as I want. Of course I have goals, expectations to meet and rules to follow, but I'm really getting the hang of this.

My co-workers are calling on me for needs and I'm putting myself out there as a resource for the teachers and students.

I hope to really make the most of my year and I know God has amazing plans for me there!

Momma & Max time

Today is our day. Matt and Payton are in Ohio, and we'll be joining them tomorrow, but for today, it's our day. We started at 8:30am at Tim Horton's for doughnuts and muffins. We ran a few errands and came home and relaxed a bit.

This afternoon, we're joining friends at the zoo and then I promised Max some time at Chuck E' Cheese. I know it'll be crazy, but that's his favorite place to go. I'll get him $5 in tokens and let him have at it, pick his prizes and we'll be out of there.

I have missed seeing his little face so much. While we were shopping, I was allowing him to have more of the "helper" role in things; the role his big brother usually plays. I was in awe of how much he's grown and maturing. He understands reasoning now...which is good and bad. Watching his face while he interacted with the people around us was so cool. He's such a social bug and his face is so animated.

He really is a very special boy and I'm so very very blessed to have this day just the two of us!!!

A long time ago, in a land far, far away...

I actually had the time to blog and interesting things to say and comment on. Now, I'm dropping the ball. For that, I apologize. But currently, I should be sleeping. I still can't get on this work schedule thing.

Payton and I are both adjusting to school. He's already had a few days where he's "too tired" to get out of bed. Luckily I manage to tickle him out of bed and get him moving. There is no one to tickle me out of bed (thank goodness!) since I'm up at 6:30am and in the shower 1 minute later.

Overall things are going well. The family is adjusting. Max is having the hardest time. He needs his nap he's not always getting. And he's extra clingy to me when I pick him up from his sitter.

Matt is doing an amazing job keeping the house in order, running errands and working. My jobs are finishing what he didn't get to and packing lunches for the next day. I'm running out of creative solutions to the lunch situation at only two weeks out. This doesn't bode well!!

I hope you're all great. Just because I'm not commenting on your blogs or facebook pages doesn't mean I'm not reading. I miss you all.

Back to School

Today was the day. According to Michigan law, no school can start before Labor Day. That meant all of the state was back to school today.

I had trouble sleeping and when I finally did fall asleep I slept hard! Thank goodness. I woke to my alarm at 6:30am, said a prayer for peace and patience and a calm stomach and hopped in the shower. Shortly after I finished dressing, the entire house was awake.

I made sure the boys were all set for the day and headed out the door, leaving "first day of school pictures" to Matt. He was also in charge of taking Payton to his first day of first grade. Can you believe it?! Payton is in first grade!!! Geez. I feel old.

I peeked in on Payton a few times at school, getting great reports from his teacher Mrs. McCoy and the parpro, Mrs. Palm. Everyone in that class was having a great day. I spent the day hopping around the kindergarten classes, with a few minutes to pause for my lunch a 10 minutes rush to get prep work for tomorrow done.

Tomorrow I'll have my own first teaching group. I'm sure it will go smoothly...how much can kindergartners really be disappointed with going to the library and listening to a story, right? Right.....

Blake's Cider Mill

Saturday was family time! Much needed family time!

Matt has a three day weekend and we set out to start it off right. We hit the Farmer's Market on our way up to one of the best cider mills in the area, Blake's. It was so much fun...for the adults and the kids. We played a lot, having the funland to ourselves most of the morning, topped with a "train" ride. Then we went for apples, cider, doughnuts and lunch. We all had our favorite parts. It was definately a great wayto finish off our summer.

My Town Friday Shoot Out

LOCATED HERE

Whew! Life changes

With just ten minutes to type while the creseant rolls finish up in the oven, I thought I should update you all and let you know I'm still alive...and...ok, I'm well.

Adjusting to full time work has been a change for me. I'm tired. Really tired. A lot more than I remember ever being tired. I love my job (most of the time) and next week the students show up. That'll change things of course. The first few weeks I'll be assisting with Kindergarten/Young Fives classrooms. After a few weeks, when they start to get the hang of things, I'll be moving into the library. I'm really excited about that part.

I've spent the last few days pulling things together and decorating the library in great ways that I hope to really spread some interest and share the room with some of the teachers for displays. This month I organized an ocean themed display and a collection of things from Africa. I placed books pertaining to the stories with each display.

The boys are adjusting well. I miss seeing them, but when P starts school at least we'll be on the same schedule.

Matt is doing AMAZING as a part-time stay at home dad. He hasn't really had to run any errands or anything yet, but he's doing great with keeping the kids busy and happy. They're all having a great time. AND, the best part is that Matt has had a homemade dinner on the table most nights he's been off work!! That's better than I do! He rocks!!!

Keep us all in your prayers as this change will continue to effect us all, but right now, we're doing well.