Friday, June 27, 2008

Princesses and Fairies

Today wrapped up the final day of a week long adventure Melody had at Fantasy Playhouse.


They have programs and classes during the school year as well as during the summer. She took a class last Fall that she loved, so when I saw that they were offering a Princess-themed session, I jumped on it! Melody essentially spends most of her days at home pretending to be either a princess or a fairy. So, I thought that a class entitled "Princesses and Fairies" would suit her quite well! She seemed to have lots of fun every day, and she came home with a different craft each day, including a picture she colored and sent to a soldier. After all, princesses have good manners, and are encouraging and kind to others! As a Mom, I really appreciated the teacher emphasizing good morals, and not just letting the girls escape into fairy tale world for an hour. She seemed to achieve a good balance among plenty of fantasy play, crafts, and moral lessons. Today the girls put on a final show for the parents, and they did a performance of "Sleeping Beauty". It was very cute.

The teacher recommended a book entitled "The Princess and the Kiss" to all of us. It's a book for young girls about seeking purity through God. The front of the book looked similar to all the other popular princess books out there, so it seemed as though it would appeal to children Melody's age. I thought it sounded pretty intriguing, so I will likely check it out soon. I guess it's never too soon to start teaching our children, in particular our girls, about these types of issues. Seeing as how Melody came home the first week of Kindergarten last year telling me about her new boyfriend, I think that solid, Godly lessons aimed toward our little princesses will never hurt.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Blasts from the past

I joined Facebook a few months back and since that time, I've been catching up with people I haven't seen, or honestly even thought about, since high school. It's pretty neat. Who would have thought that I'd be in conversation with someone I knew about 15 years ago? It's a shocker to hear from someone who is now married and has children...when I haven't seen them since they were at least 12, 13 or 14 years old!

A little history on where I grew up:
We moved to Thomasville, AL when I was in 2nd grade..it was about the middle of 2nd grade, so I think I was 8. We had moved several times already, so this move was nothing special. It was, however, the smallest little place we had ever lived! The town's biggest action was at the TG&Y (now I think the best action is at Wal-Mart), and that's really saying something. Thomasville is in the southwest section of Alabama, deep in the heart of the Black Belt. Logging is a big industry down there, and my Dad worked at the paper mill, as did many folks. Anyway, there were only a few churches in town, so most of my friends and teachers went to my church. A lot of my teachers sang in the choir with my Mom, so I didn't do much without my parents finding out about it.
I had a good time growing up in Thomasville, albeit a little bit of a boring and sheltered life. I had easily identified it as "home", though, so it was traumatic for me when my parents broke the news that they were moving. Thankfully, I was in college already and had some friends from Huntsville, so I'm very fortunate that this is where I developed roots after college.

The thing about it, though, is that since I never really returned to T'ville after college (or during), I never saw some people ever again. Therefore, I've frozen time for some people. They are still 10 years old to me. So, it comes as a big shocker when I now see photos of them much older and even with little kids of their own. It really ages me! All in all, though, it's pretty neat to see that people are still doing well and have definitely succeeded in life. Thomasville, AL grew some good ones, and for that I'm very thankful.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Not letting the hum drums take over

I seem to feel this way on rainy days, I've noticed..but sometimes it's a little too easy to get that hum drum/burn-out feeling. Now, don't get me wrong, I have plenty of daily entertainment between my 2 children, not to mention my husband; however, sometimes I feel boredom trying to sneak its way into my life. Usually it goes something like this:
waking up and thinking, "Okay, today I get to make breakfast, lunch and dinner AGAIN." Yippee! "I get to change at least 5 diapers and redirect several tantrums." Yippee! Once this negative talk begins, it's really hard for me to remember all the hugs and kisses and smiles I will get..By naptime, when I should be getting other hum drum things accomplished, like paying bills (lots of fun there---usually leads to depression!), folding laundry, cleaning the house, etc...I am hitting the procrastination button. I get absolutely nothing done during that 1-2 hour window of peace and quiet. Why? I haven't figured this one out, yet.

Sometimes these feelings take over and by the time Jamie gets home, I'm moping around and begging for some alone time. I call it being a hermit. Usually I end up telling him that I really just want to become a hermit and go live in the woods somewhere desolate and isolated. This is totally unrealistic and Jamie likes to point that out. He does a good job of reminding me of the things I would miss. So, no hermit life for me!

What I try to do to combat these hum drums of life is this: while I'm pouring the umpteenth sippy cup of juice or water, I remind myself that at least I have children and that they are healthy enough to drink from a cup. While I'm preparing another chicken nugget, I remind myself that our family is blessed with plenty of food, and yes my children can be picky because we can choose whatever food we want. We don't have to depend on rice or bread every day to sustain us. As I'm folding more and more clothes, I remind myself that we are blessed to have clothes on our backs. As I grimace at the dust collecting around the house, I remind myself that we are extremely fortunate to have a shelter. Sometimes this is a stretch, but some days it is the only thing that works. I'm a really lucky person, and although it's easy to not find contentment on a daily basis, I am striving for it in my overall life. God is giving me everything I need to be content, and I should (but don't always) give him honor and praise for it. I'm a work in progress. And maybe, just maybe, one day I'll be good at it!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Do you like my new blog design?

I think it's awesome! Thanks SO MUCH to Hilary for designing it for me! To check her out to do your own scrapblog design, check the box to the right of this post. She's very easy to work with, and she does it all from the love of her heart! :)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Beach fun


We just got back from our mini-vacation to Orange Beach, AL. We were fortunate to be able to stay at my cousin's condo for a very reasonable price, compared to many other places that charge an arm and a leg this time of year! Melody has been to the beach before (when she was 3 and I was preggers with Gannon) and she loves it! I wasn't sure how Gannon would feel about it, since it was his first time seeing open water, and I was proven correct in my suspicions. He took one look at the waves and balked! He said it was "mean and scary water" and wouldn't go anywhere near it! He was reluctant to put his feet near the water washing up onto shore, so he stayed in his comfort zone--if you can call it that--up on the sand.

Gannon is funny because he's always been very particular about his hands. He doesn't like to have dirty hands. He won't eat a cupcake for this reason--he might get frosting on his hands. So, it was no surprise when he wasn't a fan of getting his hands in the sand. We finally got a bucket of water just for him to wash his hands off. He was simply adorable, if not a little high maintenance. However, it was worth it and fun. Melody is the other end of the sand spectrum. She loves to wallow in it. She had lots of fun filling her buckets up to make sand castles, and walking through the water, letting it soak her. She's still a bit cautious to enter the ocean (thankfully!), but I'm sure she'll get there.

We also took advantage of the pool nearby and the kids loved that. Melody has improved her swimming by leaps and bounds, and Gannon is now a big fan of jumping in either from the steps or the side of the pool, as long as we hold his hands.
All in all, it was a fun trip!