Just God Protects Us

It was so precious. On Tuesday we were coming home from the grocery store. Grant saw a police car. I said, "Grant, policement protect us, that's their job." Grant was quiet for a few seconds and replied. "No Mama, just God protects us." He was quiet for a few more seconds and then shared that insightful truth with Kyle. What a sweet boy!

We had a super fun day together today. We have been a little couped up with the cold weather but I was determined to have some fun today. We went and got donuts and then met up with Grant's friend Luke at Hoppin' House. Both boys enjoyed it so much, they had a blast! I can't wait to watch them together in just a year or so as Kyle gets more independent. I am loving my boys!

Thinking of Having Kids?

This forward cracked my up, it hits close to home at this phase of life!

Thinking of Having Kids? Do this 11 step program first!

by My Smart Hands South Calgary on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 1:26pm

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the newspaper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their.
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breast feeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behaviour. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel.
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out.
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favourite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

Thank You!

So Kyle went in for his nine month check up today. Praise God, he is strong and healthy. He is miserable with some new teeth coming in but we can deal with that! Grant was so brave with getting his flu shot and he encouraged Kyle to "be brave" and when he was crying he said "you're tough Kyle" Brothers are so sweet. Kyle has just started crawling and today he pulled up. I was sitting on the floor with him and he crawled over to me, pulled up and gave me a big hug- it was precious. After bathtime, Grant on his own initiative said, "thank you for my bath Mommy, I had fun on our walk" He is such a sweet boy. I got some sweet encouragement today. I love my boys! Oh, the other funny thing that happened. Grant and I read the story of Jonah in his Bible tonight before bed. At the end I was talking to him and said it's important we obey because it makes God happy. I said "Do we obey Mommy, Daddy, Cici, Mima... (he says yes), . Why is it important that we obey?" Grant: "I'm scared of big fish" ;) Me too sweet boy.

Summertime!

So Grant, Kyle and I just had such a fun morning and I was encourage by a friend to get back into blogging, I thought today would be a great day to start. I think it will be a fun way to document all of our fun times together. I have no pictures of our day, but it is one of those simple, sweet days, I pray gets seared in my memory- no photos necessary. We had fun taking Grant to swim lessons, CiCi came along for encouragement. He has gotten braver and stronger every lesson. Then we met our friends Sarah, Camden and Nolan at the Rollingwood pool. Kyle napped by the pool while Grant and I splashed and played. After his lunch, Kyle laid on a blanket by the pool and Grant and I swam and jumped. Then we had lunch on a blanket under a big tree. Both boys were so easy and content. It was so fun.

Addition- apparently you, Grant enjoyed your day too. You didn't want to take a nap, and found something else to do. I was looking at you on the video monitor and you were completely naked! You figured out how to take of all your clothes and diaper. When I walked in your room, you held up your clean diaper and said "broken!" It wasn't broken!

Grant is Crawling!

Well, this is Grant's version of crawling- he is starting to chase Seaweed around!

Ranch Christmas

We had a great time at Ranch Christmas this year! The hayride was great complete with a bridge to nowhere across the "river" and Uncle Brian made a big splash! We decorated a gingerbread house and celebrated Grandma's birthday then we took a tour of Brian and Wetonnah's new house and the boys did some skeet shooting while we hung out in the raquetball room and visited. That night Grant made his big debut as baby Jesus in the navitiy play at the chapel service. Scott and I messed it because Scott's dad checked himself into the hospital with chest pains. Everything checked out fine, he did have a mild heart attack but was back at work two days later. There is no stopping him! We are so blessed to spend Christmas time with our wonderful families!

We had a great time at the ranch this weekend!