Trike-A-Thon

This week Collin & Grace participated in their first ever Trike-A-Thon at their school!  They had a blast and mommy was able to watch the whole event.  We talked it up before at home, so they were both really excited to "race"!

Gracie's group included all of the two's classes at the school.  She ride her tricycle for half of the event, and then switched it up by pushing a baby stroller in the second half :)

 Her teacher made them all team shirts and gave them matching sunglasses - of course Grace had to be purple!

Taking a "thirst aid" break with sweet friend Braxton.

Class picture - we LOVE Mrs. Rice!!

Collin's group was next and included 3 of the Pre-K classes.  He stayed on his bike the entire time and was more serious than his sister.

He had a blast weaving in and out of his little friends trying to go faster and faster. He is my competitive little boy :)

Waiting not-so-patiently to get back on his bike after the lemonade break.

VPK Lunch Bunch Class Picture :). We LOVE Mrs. Padgett & Mrs. Acree!!

What a fun day!

Nails By Grace

One if Grace's favorite things is to play "paint nails" - and honestly it's one of mommy's favorite activities too!  Today I let her paint my nails and I think she did a great job for a 2 1/2 year old!

 Fortunately it is peel-off polish!

My kids don't do that

You know those hilarious pictures that you see of kids covered head to toe in diaper cream, baby powder, lotion, and other substances that are to be applied by mommies only?  Well, that's not my kids.  I survived over 4 years without any such pictures of my own kids, and honestly I just thought that it would never happen to me...

I am not by any means trying to say that my kids don't make messes...they do...really really big messes.  They even got into the diaper cream, baby powder, and lotion before.  But my kids are not quiet and I instantly ran into the room as soon as I heard that "so loud squeal because we are doing something that is totally forbidden" laughter coming from down the hall and caught the mess before it got out of hand.

Not this time...

I was preparing dinner and the kids were supposed to be playing in their rooms.  I could hear Collin playing and just assumed grace was with him since she is never more than a few feet behind him.

I started to smell something minty and became suspicious...walked to the kids bathroom...and found this.

Of course the first thing I did was grab my camera.  I have to admit that it was really hard to keep a straight "you are in trouble" face while snapping pics of this messy girl.  And it was probably pretty confusing to her because once she realized that I wasn't taking pictures because I was happy she turned into this...

From this day forward I can no longer rely on the fact that I don't hear conspiratory laughter to tell me that all is well.  Apparently they do occasionally operate alone!

By the way, that WAS a brand new tube if toothpaste...and 2 days later I am STILL trying to wash the toothpaste residue from her hair.

Happy VBS Week

This week is Vacation Bible School at our church and we are all ecstatic!  Here are the sweeties before our first day - love them so!!

Collin James has turned into quite the little picture taker & always suggests poses for them.

"Take a picture of me kissing Gracie!"

"Let's dance!  Mommy take a picture of us dancing."

I love how Grace's shirt turned out.  Even the extra small VBS shirt was huge on her so mommy made it into a pillowcase type dress :). I also made mine into a sleeveless shirt and added some ribbon trim for fun.  It was fun...until my sewing machine needle broke...then I realized that I had no spares...and it was 10:00pm the night before VBS...

I love sewing but hate hand stitching, so my cute idea for my shirt got cut short and I finished putting the pieces back together with as little stitching as possible.

Today was day 1 and I was able to tag along with Grace's class for some of the fun.  But for some sad reason I didn't get any pictures of her except for this one if her back at one of the music stations in the experience room.

Fortunately one of her teachers took this one of her...she LOVED the goat :)

Tomorrow I hope to be able to tag along with Collin's class for some of the fun with him!

Faith

The past several Wednesday nights at our church have been a series on Faith by Reverend Blount.  I have learned many things about faith during this series, but tonight was especially meaningful.

He was speaking about worship and that if you are not passionate about worship one possible cause could be that you aren't trusting God for the big things, maybe you trust him for the small everyday things that require faith, but are you really trusting that he is going to keep his big promises too.

While I feel that I am passionate about worship, it hit home with me that often times I continue to worry about the "big things" and try to control them on my own.  I always pray for them and pray for God's Will...but one of the points if tonight's message was that God makes promises to us and we can have faith that He will fulfill them!!

It really made me examine my faith in His promise regarding my children.  There are many things that are easy for me to trust God with, but I continue to struggle with worry when it comes to raising Collin and Grace.

How can I be sure they will be become Christians?

How can I make sure they will not be influenced negatively by others?

How can I guarantee that the will excel in school/sports/etc?

How can I make the right decisions on their education and activities?

The answer to all of these questions is the same...I cannot.

But if I am willing to have faith, God can and He will!!  What an awesome realization!

Don't get me wrong, parenting still comes with its share of responsibilities, but once I realize that ultimately it is God and not me who determines their future I can rest in His promises for my children.

Here are the promises I am putting my faith in today!!

Pinterest Day

Today we were unexpectedly home and due to a sick little one we were unable to leave the house this morning...which was the perfect opportunity to try some if the Pinterest projects that I had been wanting to do!

First up was painting flag shirts.  It was simple since I already had all of the supplies:

Plain white shirts

Red & blue paint (I wanted fabric paint but didn't have it on hand...so I just won't be able to wash and reuse these.)

Brushes

They were super simple & turned out so cute!  Now I wish I had gone to another store to find the fabric paint...I guess we will just have to make more shirts another day :)

Next was a "Harmony Jar" idea I found on Pinterest.  Basically the idea is that any time they fight or argue with our another or are unkind they have to pick a task from the jar (in our house this will be in addition to other already in place).

I got my sticks ready and sat down to explain the concept to Collin & Grace.

They immediately both were begging me to pick something from the jar - not exactly what I was expecting.  I decided to let them just to see that it isn't always something fun.

Grace went first & picked "make the other person's bed".  We went in Collin's room and they both had a blast making the bed!  What?!?!?

Next Collin picked "read each other a book". I made them each go in their room and pick a book to read to the other person.  Collin picked one he already had memorized & I helped grace "read" hers by telling Collin what the people were doing in the pictures.  Again they loved it!?!?!?

I decided to stop letting them draw things and reserve it for bad behavior (even typing that it doesn't make sense but that's what I thought I was going to do...bad mommy brain moment).

Collin asked, "so if we do something bad we have to do another stick".  I was annoyed that my plan wasn't working and just said "yes". 

He then proceeded to punch his sister and say, "now do I get to pick a stick?"

Oh.my.word

So needless to say he DID NOT get to pick a stick.

During nap time I re-evaluated my plan and decided to use it as a reward instead since they both loved it so much...duh!!

So far we have danced to silly music, helped mommy clean the kitchen, said 3 things we love about the other person & given hugs & kisses.

I would say it was a Pinterest semi-success but hope that it still accomplished it's ultimate purpose of making them closer and more compassionate to one another :)

In Collin's Words

When Grace was trying to tear down a pillow fortress he had made...

"Mommy! I can't handle this!!"

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Trying to get me to play in his room instead of clean...

"I need two helpers in my room right now to work on these Legos!"

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When Grace was whining in the shopping cart at the grocery store...

"You need to stop right now or I am sending you to the office!"

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