I promise ...

I promise ...

if my phone beeps while i'm talking to you, i won't pull it out and glance at it.

to put my phone away when i'm with family.

to not text or scroll facebook while you, my children, are talking to me, and clamoring for my attention.

to not answer my phone during dinner.

to keep my phone on the floor of the car while i'm driving, so i'm not tempted to text, call, or answer it.

to tell you that i love you personally, not facebook it.

not to spend more time getting to know friends over the internet, rather than my own friends and family right in front of me.

to be okay with not answering texts and emails instantly.

not to be a slave to my phone.

I promise ...

because you are watching me.

car ride musings ...

tomorrow is the last day of school! we are so excited for summer vacation - it's been an interesting week, for sure ... cameron and caloway came down with hand, foot and mouth disease ... gross. i guess it can cause blisters/sores on the bottom of your feet or hands, but thank goodness the boys only had sore throats and fevers. cal's fever hit 104 on tuesday night, which was pretty scary! not to mention that it was 96 degrees that day, and only cooled down to 79 overnight. our house was BAKING. we're in the process of finding someone to install central a/c, and that couldn't come soon enough!

anyway, the boys are MUCH better, and we're praying no one else comes down with it! after i picked up the kids from school, claire was telling me that they discussed Da Vinci paintings in art today - they looked at the Mona Lisa, and the Last Supper.

she said, "the last supper was about Jesus and his disciples having dinner together, and guess who was in it? JUDITH! judith betrayed Jesus, and stole money. i saw a picture of judith stealing money and giving it to the priests."

poor judith - she gets such a bad rap, getting mistaken for JUDAS. :)

from the heart- from may 2012

i had a great mother's day yesterday! when i picked the kids up from school on friday, both cameron and claire proudly presented me with a sweet little plant that they'd been growing for a few wks. caloway didn't offer anything, so i just assumed that he hadn't made or grown something. early sunday morning, after tim had left to prepare for church, i felt a warm, little body climbing in next to me, and a soft voice whispered,

"i LOVE you, mom. happy mother's day!"

it was cally, and he snuggled up next to me, and fell asleep. when we woke about an hour later, he said,

"wait here, mom! i have something for you..."

me - "where are you going?"

cal - "it's in the car!"

i was a little confused, but let him run off on his errand. he returned a few min. later, and handed me this:

it brought tears to my eyes, because caloway doesn't like expressing emotion, nor has he ever gone and "planned" a surprise for me. he made sure to hide his card on friday in the car, and remembered on his own, that it was Mother's Day, with no reminding/prompting from daddy! i will remember this mother's day for a very, very long time. my heart is full! :)

after i read his card, i gave him hugs and kisses, and he pointed to his card, saying,

"i meant that."

LOVE!!! :)

spanking college

driving home from school today, cameron asked me about college:

cam: mom, how much does college cost?

me: well, it's pretty expensive - anywhere from $20-40,o00!

cam: WHAT, SERIOUSLY? where can i go for cheap?

me: i'm not sure ...

cam: what did dad go to college for?

me: to be a pastor

cam: and?

me: that's it! just for ministry.

cam (knowingly): AND to be a dad ....

me (laughing): cam, you don't learn that in college!

cam, confused: but where do you learn how to give spankings?!

HAHAHA! that just comes naturally, dear :)

violent teeth

caloway lost his first 2 teeth this week! i've been routinely checking his mouth, to see if anything was starting to come loose, and those tiny little biters haven't budged. last monday, he was complaining about his mouth hurting, so i peeked in there, and lo and behold! there was a brand-new tooth fully emerged behind his bottom 2 teeth.

since the two baby teeth weren't loose, we headed

to the dentist. both bottom ones had to be pulled, poor baby :( those suckers weren't even RIPE! caloway very carefully stored his teeth in 2 tiny treasure chests, and placed them in a little baggie under his pillow. hooray! tooth fairy came to the rescue! $2 later, here's my little guy:

first day back to school yesterday, caloway told me:

cal - "mom, at school, there's another boy with violent teeth like me!"

me - "violent teeth?"

cal - "yeah! he has a violent tooth like mine!"

me - "do you think it's violent because it's pointy?"

cal, looking exasperated, - "yeah! violent teeth!"

okay.

story time

macky has been pretty sick lately - he and caloway came down with the BIG flu, type A, and as a result, mac also got bronchiolitis and an ear infection. after multiple trips to the dr, and a scary visit to the ER, i think he is finally starting to recover! you never realize how important it is to get flu shots, until your kids come down with it!!

last night, tim was reading to caloway, and we decided to let mac sit in on the fun :)

little update

soo ... life with 4 kids? ever since we've had mac, life has definitely been a whirlwind! i can't believe it's january 23, and we're almost completely done with the first month of this new year! mac is 3 1/2 mo. old, and slept for the first time in his crib last night. he was such a good boy - he slept ALL night! and it made me more than a little bit weepy to look over to where his bassinet used to be, and see it folded up against the wall. now, before you say - "well, just keep him in it a little longer!" - let me just clarify that he was exceeding the weight limit on the little basket. ;) haha! he is a chunk and a half! but i absolutely love my sweet, chunky monkey of a boy!! mac has just started grabbing things, and holding them in his pudgy little fingers - his favorite thing to yank and pull?? claire's hair. he's discovered his thumbs as well, and now slurps happily on his fingers.

cameron, claire and caloway are all doing great in school! caloway usually has the most colorful reports of the day, as we're driving home from school. behavior is graded by color-charts in his class; red is the worst, meaning call/letter home, see principal... yellow is warning! ... green means good behavior, and ORANGE ... outstanding! as of 2 weeks ago, caloway has officially worn every color on his chart. his first time pulling a yellow, a note was sent home from his teacher, mrs. jarvis (who really LOVES cally).

the note said:

i couldn't stop laughing when i read this! seriously - i could SEE caloway doing exactly that - hiding behind the door in the restroom, jumping out at whoever dared to enter. goofing off?? CAL?! never. this will be put in a place of prominence at his high school graduation. :)

so in short, we're all doing just fine - life is fuller, sweeter, and so much richer with mac in our lives. we thank God every day for enlarging our family - i wouldn't have wanted it any other way!! i love my dear, precious husband with all my heart, and i am so grateful for the partner in life he has been, and the amazing daddy that he is to our children.

my heart is over-flowing.

driver's ed ...

caloway finally let claire play with his LEGO space police. this is usually only reserved for him and daddy, and when they play space police, caloway likes to be IN CHARGE. he feeds tim lines, telling him word for word what to say, and always gets to be the one to "drive" the spaceship. tim, a.k.a. "lucky", can only ride on the back, and be subjected to occasional "blaster" fire. caloway, a.k.a. "chuck-tao", is the bad-guy alien, who likes to run people over with his space ship. (caloway came up with all the names, and we have NO idea where chuck-tao came from!)

we had a 2-hr. delay this morning, so while we were taking it easy, claire asked caloway if she could play Space Police with him. he was hesitant at first, but since daddy wasn't nearby, he agreed. she took one turn in the driver's seat, and knocked the whole front part of the spaceship off in pieces. looking at the broken front-end, she threw the ship down, and huffed ... "FINE. You can drive!!" and walked off.

i couldn't stop laughing.