Another Toy Bites The Dust

Not just one toy.... all the toys in the toy box. Yes, Lula Mae has once again lost her toys. This time they were taken away for a different reason. Our sweet little, bible verse reciting, yes sir saying, helping hand Lula Mae has started up with a terribly bad habit. She has become a bit sassy and quite ugly. Not only that, demanding almost. Very, very unlike Lula Mae! When the attitude first started I was shocked and began wracking my brain trying to figure out where she learned such behavior. Then it occurred to me that it was not learned.... it is just in her. It is hard for me to think that my sweet girl is dealing with sin, but she is. It is just her flesh. I have to really remind myself that she needs to be trained right now, not just disciplined. Sure I want her to listen and obey me, but I really want to teach her to listen and obey God. By helping her make better choices every day I am training her heart. I am training her to do what is right, even when no one is around. I am training her that how we treat each other is incredibly important. I am training her to love God and others with all of her heart, even when she doesn't feel like it.

So how is she earning her toys back? Well, being the visual learner that she is I decided to make her a chart. Right outside her door, on her eye level, I put up a behavior chart. Around the chart are little reminders.... talk nicely, clean up, eat what is provided, listen, obey, pray, have Jesus in your heart.... and every time I see her displaying Godly character traits, I reward her with a sticker on her chart. When she earns 7 stickers in a row, she gets to pick one of her toys out of the closet. She has already earned 2 toys back and I am very proud of her. She still has a ways to go, but I am seeing progress. It is so tough seeing Lula Mae go through these lows sometimes, but I know it is normal. The chart helps me to use our praise method (praise 90% of the time and correct 10%) in a very visual way. Lula Mae is really enjoying it. She is very proud of the stickers she has on her chart. She goes up to it constantly during the day and reads all the reminders on it. Hopefully she will earn her toys back at a good steady pace, but I know we will have our good days and bad.

Lula Mae is teaching me so much, and I hope I am doing the same for her. I hope that when I look at the women she becomes I can see godly qualities. Godly qualities that she learned from watching me and through these loving discipline actions. And, as always, I am praying for her to become a godly woman who strives to raise godly children herself someday.

Monday Mugs

It has been quite a while since I stopped being lazy found the time to link up with the lovely Heather at Oswald Cuties and her Monday Mugs. This week’s theme is Black and White. Come on, who doesn’t love a black and white picture! It took me nearly 45 minutes to pick which ones I wanted to post so you better appreciate them I hope you enjoy them. Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Things are still crazy around here but I am managing to keep my head above water.... barely, but hey I can't complain. God has been so GOOD!

Word To The Wise

If you have to say "I'm not trying to be rude", chances are....

you're

being

rude.

Just for future reference. Mmmkay?

Believe It Or Not

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. I love the smells, music, lights, family. I just love all of the Christmas cheer. It warms my heart. However, I am determined to make Christmas (and all holidays for that matter) about Jesus. I don't want my kids to think that Christmas is about a tree, some fun music and loads of presents. Charlie and I want Christmas to be about the birth of our savior. We want our children to understand that it is about giving and not receiving. We want our family to appreciate what God as provided for us. Lula Mae is already learning in school that Christmas is a day when we celebrate for Jesus. She understands that it is His birthday. She is even starting to understand that we give gifts on Christmas because God gave Jesus to us as a gift. She is connecting all the pieces. I am so proud of her and very glad that Christmas is already meaning something deeper to her. With all this knowledge comes a big decision.

Santa or no Santa?

When people ask Lula Mae about Santa she is very confused. She has no idea who he is and what he is all about. Charlie and I both grew up believing in Santa. We both agree that it was fun and harmless. We have still not come to a decision as to if we will have Santa or not. Personally I am leaning more towards no, but I don't know about Charlie. In the end, will it matter? Probably not. My main goal is to make sure each holidays, especially Christmas, is focused on God. Now this might be selfish, but I want my kids to understand that I got them their gifts.... not some made up man. I want them to know I got them gifts because I love them. I want it all to click, if you know what I mean. Lula Mae is excited to give her cousins the gifts she picked out for them. She has a few friends that she has mentioned buying a gift for and I can't wait to take her to the store to pick something out. I love seeing her excited about giving and thinking of others.

Our gift strategy is simple.... I buy each child one toy, Charlie buys each child one toy, then we both get them one more joint toy. So each child will receive 3 gifts each Christmas. We stick to a small budget and try very hard not to go over the top (although this is really hard because I show love by giving gifts so I have to hold back!)

We may decide not to do Santa and we may not get our kids a million presents but we will still have a great Christmas. Our Christmas will be full of time together with family. It will be full of celebration. It will be full of love! I just love Christmas!!!! Although I do adore Christmas music and a live tree with beautiful lights and decorations too :-) All those things help make Christmas extra enjoyable!

So do you have Santa in your house? Do you have any special traditions that make Christmas extra special? I would love to know! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I Smell A Holiday....

Thanksgiving is coming.... it's so close I can taste it! Who doesn't love to gather with the ones you love and eat delicious food? We do! This week in school Lula Mae is learning about Thanksgiving. Nothing too deep, just that we are going to gather with our family and enjoy time together. I am also teaching her about being thankful for what God has provided. November, Thanksgiving and Holiday are three of her new words this week and she already is reading them! Way to go Lula Mae! I felt like this year I didn't really need to go into the whole Thanksgiving story yet. I mean, she's 2. We can wait until next year to work on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria and all the Christopher Columbus stuff. After Thanksgiving we can get ready for Christmas! Super excited about taking Lula Mae to pick out a tree at the tree farm this year! She is going to really understand and enjoy this holiday season and that is exciting! I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy all those calories, but most of all enjoy the time you have with your family! Remember to be thankful for all things, big and small! I encourage you to be thankful all year long, not just at Thanksgiving. We don't need a holiday to be thankful!

Google

A Case Of The Mondays

Is it just me or did this past weekend fly by? We had a very full weekend and that typically makes it fly, ya know? Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day. Picture perfect fall day. So we packed up the kids and went to the zoo. The car trip was just fine for Jayce, which means the car trip was great for the rest of us. The zoo was not crowded at all, which was nice. The temperature was beyond nice! Needless to say we had a great day!

On Sunday we had Lula Mae and Jayce dedicated, which really has more to do with Charlie and I. We have dedicated ourselves to raising them for God. It was a nice step in our parenting. I love my children and want to do the best for them.

Sunday evening we went out and spent some time with friends. They fixed dinner for us and we hung out for a while. We got home just in time to put the kids to bed.

And that bring us to today. It is very much Monday around here. Laundry did not get touched this weekend, sheets need to be changed, dinners need to be planned out for the week, the budget needs to be looked at.... boy is it Monday. I am so glad that I have officially finished Christmas shopping! All gifts are ordered/purchased (Charlie has even gotten mine!) and some are even wrapped. With the crazy busy holiday season about to kick off I am very glad of that. It will be nice to not have to worry about shopping (since I hate shopping).

Also, we just got our inspection report back on the house. We have some reading to do! There isn't anything structural, but there is one thing that will need to be addressed before we move forward. We are hopeful that everything still going to go smoothly from this point.

Did I mention it was Monday?