The Magician's Nephew

My earliest memory of being read to is being curled up on my parents' bed in our house in Montera. My dad was reading the beginning of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to me, and I remember being mesmerized by the concept of a fawn. Half goat, half human? How was that possible? (Of course, I was to learn later on that it is not.) The excitement and wonder of that moment was enough to not only stick with me (I couldn't have been more than four at the time), but it sparked a lifelong interest in stories.

As I grew older, the Chronicles of Narnia became favorites of mine, not just because they were great books, and not just because of the sentimentality that tied them to both my father and my childhood. I loved the writing style. CS Lewis had a way of storytelling unique and unmatched by any of his contemporaries. He also seemed to understand children better than perhaps most authors. As if all of this weren't enough, his stories, though often incorrectly labeled "allegories" are, in fact, "suppositions." This means that, instead of directly representing a story already familiar to our culture, he wrote a story "supposing" that there was a world like Narnia, and there was an evil that had snuck in (the devil), and the land needed to be redeemed. If that were the case, let's suppose that God sent his Son in the form of a Lion...

As Brother took off with chapter books this school year, I decided it was time to introduce him to these favorite books of mine. He's watched the animated movie with which I grew up, but he was completely unfamiliar with The Magician's Nephew, which is the first chronological book in the series and possibly my very favorite. I gathered both kids on the couch this morning after breakfast, and we read chapter 1. Brother begged me to keep going. Sister wasn't quite as interested, so she went to play with dolls. But we kept going, and went all the way to chapter 4 before we had to run some errands. I have the audiobook upstairs, so I asked brother if you like to listen as we drove. He said "Ooo yes, please!" so we listened and listened. By the time we got home, we were on chapter 7… halfway through! "Mom, can we please keep reading?"

As you can imagine, my mommy/teacher heart was exploding. Thankfully, we didn't have any big plans today other than a few things around the house and some errands, but even if we had, it's likely that I would've canceled them to stay curled up on the couch with my boy reading one of my very favorite stories of all time.

As it was, we finished this evening, and Brother immediately pronounced "Let's start the next one! I'll go get it." It was getting late by now, so I told him I would read the first chapter and he could take the book to bed with him if he would like to continue to read. I have no idea how far he got, but I have a feeling we will be reading the entire series in the coming weeks (days?).

I had always hoped my children would be readers. I had also look forward to introducing them to my very favorite stories. We called Pepa (my dad) and told him how we read an entire book in one day and how awesome it was.  It was an exciting thing to share with a third-generation! 

It's hard to put into words what today meant to me. ❤

Summer Vaycay: Getting There

On Saturday, June 25th, we set off on our first big family road trip since the summer after Lucy was born three years ago. Our destination: Gulf Shores, Alabama!

We picked Gulf Shores because we'd never heard of it and so many of our friends had been and recommended it. It was also notably cheaper than Florida and we'd heard it was less crowded. Win win.

Leg 1: Oklahoma

We drove to Tulsa (a journey we've made many many times before) and stayed at my brother's house. We ate at our favorite pizza restaurant (Hideaway Pizza) and went to their rockin' church. Then it was up and at 'em early the next morning.

Isn't Sister cute with her little magnetic fish puzzle?

Leg 2: Texas & Louisiana

On our way out of OK, we stopped and got a selfie with the Capitol. My kids are obsessed with Capitols.

We decided to go through Ft. Worth because Husband has cousins there whom we love dearly and haven't seen for ages. So after four hours of these types of activities in the car,

And Brother with his. He did 80% of it on his own.

we were ready for something besides the inside of Big Blue. Rick's cousin works at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and has for years, but we figured, since it was a Sunday, that wasn't an option. However, not only was it open, but she offered to take the kids on a gallery walk and let them do some actual art!

Oh, Sister.

It was so much fun. I even did some art myself.

And, to end our Texas visit, we ate at the best taco joint in all of Ft. Worth. I ordered the trailer park and it was delicious!

After that, we hoofed it to Louisiana, where we got a hotel in Shreveport and swam, ate Wendy's for dinner, and crashed early.

Leg 3: Mississippi & Alabama
I forgot to mention that I had done a TON of prepwork for the car. I wanted this to be fun and memorable for the kids so I put together all these busy-bags in the hopes that they wouldn't want to watch the iPad the entire time. I also made sure to get Brother a journal in the hopes that he would write his favorite parts of the trip down. But the best thing we did was download one of these:

for each state. We printed two of each and then each time we entered a new state, the kids got the new sheet to color. One of my favorite things about this process was how both my kids wanted me to look up a picture the actual flag, Brother so he could diligently copy it and match all the colors, and Sister so she could color it pink.

We stopped near Baton Rouge and ate seafood for lunch and then THE MOST EXCITING PART OF THE TRIP SO FAR HAPPENED. And we weren't even expecting it! The GPS took us to a toll ferry. That's right - we drove our car onto a ferry boat!

 

The kids FREAKED OUT. It was so much fun to watch. I had done this during my LA trip several years ago, but on that one cars were packed so tight and it was for such a short time that no one got out. This one was 30 minutes, so we got out and enjoyed the view!

But you guys, hands down, the highlight for me was when Brother, who sounded like a broken record with his wows and awesomes, looked at me and said, "Mommy, can I go get my journal and write in it right now?"

I'm not going to lie - there were tears. Yes, son, you can. Write your little heart out.

And then, we arrived at the condo, we ate dinner, and we did this:

It's hard to put this part of the experience into words. There is something amazing about firsts. Your first first day of school, your first lost tooth, your first time on an airplane. But the ocean is not like school or teeth or airplanes. The ocean is wild. It's fierce and majestic and formidable. It's like magic.  And getting to introduce it to my children is something I will always, always treasure.

Happy 3rd, Lucy Jean

Written 10/3/15

Dear Lucy,

You are three years old today - a "threenager," I heard someone say -and I think (fear?) this is will be the term to categorize the coming year. You are so independent, headstrong, and brilliantly creative, and I just know THREE is going to be a doozy.

You have so many unique characteristics at this precious stage. Whenever you see something interesting, instead of pointing like a normal child, you use your entire hand to gesture toward the object. If something is scary, you don't cry or shy away from it, you just watch with hesitant curiosity. You LOVE babies, and when baby Jonah was born this summer, you changed all the names of your dolls and stuffed animals to Jonah and rocked them and sang to them, and every time you prayed, you thanked God for baby Jonah. 

When you speak, you do so with grandiose expression, as if you are determined to hit every note in your vocal range in one quick phrase. You love girly things, like pink and tea parties and clothes nail polish. In fact, while daddy and brother were at man weekend, we went and got our nails done together. You loved it.

You LOVE your boots, and since it's starting to cool off, it's been fun to both wear boots so we match. 

And speaking of boots, you've got style, girl. I love helping you pick out things to wear. Here are a few of my favorites from this year:

Also, lately, you have loved brushing my hair and we have spent many moments at the bottom of the stairs, me on the first step and you poised above me, brush in hand. (Thankfully, I have a hard head. ;) You LOVE to read. We will snuggle up on the couch or in your bed and read books, and if I don't stop you, you would bring me books over and over and over again. 

You have a very tender heart and I pray it stays with you instead of becoming something you grow out of. When someone is hurting or sad, it breaks your heart. We are trying to teach you to respond by taking it to God. And you are learning.

We transitioned you into a big-girl bed this summer, and then wondered why we waited so long. You LOVED it! You called it your "big girl bed" and bedtime became something you looked forward to.

Something I WISH you'd do the same with is the potty. With your brother, we had a sticker chart, and every time he filled up one row, he got a train. With you, we decided to try the same tactic. You were NOT interested, not even when we threw M&Ms into the mix. Though one day this summer, when your brother had gotten his tonsils taken out and people were bringing him ice cream, someone brought you a book of stickers. I found you in the bathroom 15 minutes later, where you were adding the last few stickers to your now-completed potty chart. Sly, girl. Sly.

One of my favorite things about this stage in your life is watching you interact with your brother. You look up to him (certainly more than he realizes) and I love watching you learn new things from him.

Another of my favorite things about your current phase of life is watching your daddy be your daddy. I always knew the two of you would have a special bond and watching it has brought me so much joy.

We are so in love with you, Lucy Jean. You are full of life and you are making ours richer with every passing moment. I love you, and on this third day of October, 2015, I wish you a happy birthday.

Love,

Mommy

Big Girl Bed

My girl is two-and-a-half and ready for a big girl bed. We did this with brother when he was about her age too. We considered buying her a new bed. We went to several stores and looked around, but in the end, we decided she would get brother's bed and brother would be the one to get a new bed. But before I get to that, can we have a moment for this crib?

Both our babies spent the first two and a half years of their lives sleeping here. It was a great crib. And it made me a little sad to see it go.

But the cute little pregnant lady who bought it was excited, and I'm glad another precious baby will put it to good use. And we got $100 out of it, so I was happy!

We moved the bed up to Lucy's room and headed to Target to look for bedding. I knew I wanted bright, that was really my only requirement, which was fortunate because the options were limited. But the good news is we found one we liked and it was on clearance! We found two sheet sets that matched (one of which was also on clearance!) and headed home. We got everything set up and had one excited girl!

The transition has been very smooth. This one likes to get out of her bed (which brother never did), but she learned quickly. And we learned that if we just give her a couple of books, she will read to her heart's content if she wakes early. :)

Kindergarten Round Up

This post is only partly about kindergarten round-up. It's mostly about what it means to show up.

The morning of Friday, April 10th, dawned bright and clear. This was the day my son had been waiting for for MONTHS. Every day he would wake up and say, "Mommy, is today kindergarten round up?" and I would say, "No, son, not until April 10th." And he would say, "How many days Mommy?"

Every.
Single.
Day.

So when it finally came, we were excited. Actually, excited is an understatement.

 

This is his face as we prepared to pull out of the driveway that morning. If you've followed me for long, you know my son does not take good pictures. He hates them and does not smile. Guess how long it took me to get this one? Yup - one take. The boy didn't stop smiling all day.

 

I had arranged to leave school early enough to take Charlie to lunch. We went to Red Robbin, which he did not understand. Food was not important. Why are we WAITING? he asked. This is taking FOREVER! he said. Finally, and even though we were half an hour early, we went to kindergarten round-up.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't for the teachers to whisk my boy off and send me to the gym. I was a little nervous when he left me, but not him! He posed for one more picture, and he was off!

 Now, I need to explain that I brought my mother along with me. I did this for a few reasons. 1) She listens much better than I do. I tend to get caught up in things like looking at the principal's fingernails and wondering if they are real or if they are press-ons or if she goes to a nail salon and does that filler thing. I tend to hear a phrase and think of better ways to word it. I tend to start to count the ceiling tiles and then remember that ceiling tiles don't matter and what matters is what is coming out of the mouth of the person who is up front talking. My mother, bless her, does not have this problem. 2) My husband was unable to come. And when I say unable, I mean he was golfing in Oklahoma with my dad, my brother, and my uncles. It was a fundraiser for my cousin's volleyball team and it was a really cool, relational opportunity for him to get to spend some time with my family. I was happy to send him. Really.

Back to the gym. We sat at a table and were joined shortly by two women. We made nervous small talk and eventually got around to introducing ourselves. I introduced my mother and felt the need to explain why I brought her. I said something like, "I brought my mom because my husband couldn't come. He's golfing." I'm not sure I needed to say any of this, but as soon as it was out my mouth, I wished I hadn't said the last part. It made my hard-working, very loving and excellent father-husband sound terrible. Go golfing instead of going to your kid's kindergarten round-up?

I felt the need to elaborate.

"He's really a great dad, though. This was just on the schedule and it's in Oklahoma, and it was going to be awkward to cancel, so, well, you know."

"Well," said the lady at the end of the table, "He's doing better than my husband. He left when my son was two."

"And yours did better than mine," said the woman across from me. "Mine left when my son was 6 months old."

You know how when people are passed out, someone will throw a bucket of cold water on them and they suddenly snap right up? That's how I felt at that moment. The men in my life are reliable. My dad. My grandpa. My uncles. My brother. My cousins. My husband. Even my friends. They have always shown up. I listened to these women continue to talk about how their ex had neglected to be a husband to them and a father to their sons. I listened to them lament the absence of a strong, upright male presence in the lives of their sons. I listened to them talk about how hard it was to do ALL OF IT by themselves. I don't know if I had ever really thought about what that would be like until that moment. Don't get me wrong - I had thought about it. I frequently thought about it when my husband was working long hours and he hadn't seen the kids in three days and I was doing pick up and drop off and meals and baths and bedtimes and teeth-brushing and butt-wiping and all of that by myself. I thought, This is what it's like to be a single mom. But I was wrong. Being a single mom would be so much worse. The emotional toll - the weight of all the decisions, not having anyone else to talk to, feeling like you are a failure and not having someone to pull you back up to your feet - I simply can't imagine it.

And I kept thinking about it, even as the counselor, the secretary, the teachers, the librarian, the school nurse, the bus driver, the speech path lady, and the principal got up to talk. I thought about it as I was dismissed from the gym and went to gather my ecstatic 5 year old, who couldn't wait to show me all the things he had made and tell me all the places he had been. I thought about it as I picked up my daughter and drove home, as I prepared dinner, as I put the kids to bed by myself, knowing that my husband would walk through the door before I went to sleep. I wondered why my husband showed up and theirs didn't. I wondered why my kids have a dad and theirs don't. And I was thankful for the millionth time that my husband loves God and me and our son and our daughter. I don't have to worry about him showing up. He will show up for me and for them and for us because he loves us and he wants us and he doesn't know any other way.

I wrestle with that question - that tension. Why do hard, terrible things happen to some people and for others it's smooth sailing? I don't know. All I really know that I am very, very grateful to have dependable men in my life. Particularly my husband, who always always always shows up.

Get Financially Fit: Jr Edition

A year and a half ago, we took Dave Ramsey's financial peace class at church. One of the many, many, many things we learned from this class is that being financially responsible is not inherent. It must be learned and practiced. One of Dave's tips in teaching your children how to manage money well is to pay them, not an allowance, but a "commission" for extra work done. I wrestled with this initially. I want my son to help around the house because he's a benefiting member of the household. He should be a contributor. But Dave does make a distinction between HOUSEHOLD chores, such as keeping your room clean, putting away your laundry, and helping clear the dinner dishes, and EXTRA chores - those that are not a part of the child's daily routine.

We decided to try this at our house. Our son is five, and he is old enough, big enough, and strong enough to help with many things, actually. I was surprised at the number of things he could do once we got the ball rolling on this. The way we got the ball rolling was:

1. We talk to him about money. Just like every kid, when we go to the store, he asks for things. My response is always the same. "No Charlie, that costs extra money." And because my child asks 5 million questions about everything, he's been told many times that one of the reasons Mommy and Daddy go to work is so that we can earn money to pay for things like our house, our cars, our food, his bed, his blankets, his clothes - everything cost money.

2. He does the transactions. When we go to a store, or a restaurant, Charlie talks to the clerk or waitress and we have him handle the money. We give him the correct amount, but he makes the transaction and receives the change. Often, we will give him the coins for his own "money collection."

So by the time he was ready to start doing chores and making commissions, he had a working understanding of money. Dad and I decided ahead of time that we would invite Charlie to help us with our chores at a rate of $.25 per chore. Charlie loves to stop by the donut store on the way to school, so I explained that in order to buy one doughnut, he would have to do three chores to have enough. We started a few weeks ago, and here are some of the chores he's been doing to make his quarter:

-sorting laundry

-putting laundry in the machine/taking laundry out

-putting laundry that isn't his away

-helping empty the dishwasher

-helping load the dishwasher and starting the dishwasher

-helping get gas at the pump

-helping clean out the car

-helping Dad in the yard

-taking out the trash

So far, every time I've suggested he do an extra chore, he's jumped at it. He's even brought along a little stuffed animal to help him a few times. Last night, we decided to total up all the money in his money collection. I saw a used coin sorter for three dollars online, so Rick picked it up and we went about transferring the coins from his baby piggy bank to his big boy piggy bank.

He had quite a bit to begin with… it had $10 in it when he received it, and we have added change here and there. It took quite a long time to sort it all! When I was said and done, his total was:

Not bad at all. And the boy was excited. And Mom and Dad were a little bit excited too.

The Worst Mom Award

One of my favorite things to do with my children is go to the library. They love it because they get to play and get books and I love it because, after having taught all day, I can sit somewhere that is not my house where laundry, the dishes, the dirty kleenex on the floor next to the trashcan are not shouting to be straightened. It is a calm, quiet atmosphere and we go at least once a week.
Last week, they had these cars:

I tried to get a picture of the two of them playing together, because they truly were playing together. But as you can see, Lucy has her sights set on another toy. She immediately went for the toy and another little girl took up residence on her yellow car.

Lucy was having none of that.

She went SCREAMING back to the car saying, "Mine! Mine!" so loud you could hear her in the parking lot. I immediately intervened, taking her back to a chair and telling her she needed to sit with me for a while.

She was having none of that, either.

She began to THROW A FIT. Screaming so loud my teeth were rattling in my jaw. Kicking so hard her shoes were flying off her feet. Making such a ruckus that people were stopping and staring - like, stopping in the middle of the aisles and watching me try to unsuccessfully calm my daughter down. Really, all I wanted was to get her to stop screaming. Never mind the disobedience, never mind the disrespect, never mind the defiance JUST STOP SCREAMING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING LIBRARY.

Nope. She was having none of that.

It took me all of ten seconds of this to decide we couldn't do this - we were leaving. I grabbed my flailing daughter, groped about for her shoes, and said, "Charlie, we are leaving. Let's go."

You know that scene in one of the Shrek's where the cat makes his eyes go all big and sad? That's what my son did. "But Mommy, I don't have my library books yet." I wanted to shout "CAN'T YOU SEE THAT YOUR SISTER IS HAVING A MELTDOWN? WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR BOOKS!" But instead, I hauled myself and Lucy to my feet (bless the little random girl who found Lucy's shoes for me) and frantically said, "Go FAST! Find your books and meet me at the checkout in less than one minute!"

But one minute was too long. Because rather than calming down, Lucy was just getting started. Her face was red, tears were cascading down her cheeks, and she was wailing like a fire engine. I tried to sit her upright in my arms but she fell sideways, reaching for the floor and shrieking. I wrestled her shoes on to her feet and tried once again to calm her down. By now, the ENTIRE LIBRARY has stopped and is staring at me. I tell Charlie to hurry while I try to find the library card in the labyrinth of my purse. Lucy has once again kicked her shoes off and the little girl has once again found them and returned them to me. I find the library card, thank the girl, and call for Charlie again. He appears with an armful of books. Hands down the fastest he's ever been at picking. But rather than praising him, thanking him, saying, "My dear, dear son, THANK YOU for picking your books so quickly and without one word of complaint," I say, "Hurry up and get them checked out" because Lucy has hit some all-time high of toddler-dom - an award-winning level of fit-throwing that I hadn't known existed. I had to HOLD HER SIDEWAYS to keep her from falling out of my arms. Forget the shoes. They were going in my purse if the little girl could find them again. If not, they were the library's. Maybe they could find a little girl whose feet they fit because WE SURE AS HECK AREN'T COMING BACK TO THE LIBRARY EVER AGAIN.

Meanwhile, my son is trying desperately to check out his books. But he can't, because he's not good enough at the screen to put my code in by himself, even though he chants it to himself and does his best to hit the right buttons. I take over for him, but I can't see the screen through my tears. I am absolutely and utterly humiliated. I can hear the librarian calling to me from the desk but I don't turn around. I shove Charlie's books in the machine, yank my card out, tell him to grab his books, and take off out of the children's wing.

The hallway was empty (thank God), but the echoing acoustics magnified the shrieks and howls coming from the 2-year-old. Charlie is doing his best to carry his armload of books, but he drops them all every fourth step or so. And it doesn't help that his pants are too big in the waist (story of that boy's life, let me tell you) and he has to keep hiking them up. I cannot take the books for him because I'm still trapped in a weird vertical wrestling match with Lucy. As we walked out into the atrium, which of course was busy with people, I did my best to keep my head down and hurry through. Charlie kept dropping his books despite my constant hisses of "Come on!" and "Hurry up!"

It takes us FOR.EHH.VUR. to get to the car. I open her door and Charlie follows. I try to cram Lucy into her seat but she is doing that back arch thing so I can't get her in the car seat. I'm telling you, this girl is pulling out the stops. Charlie's whining about something. I think he's dropped his books on the ground again. I tell him to pick them back up and let me finish with Lucy.

Ohhhhh, Lucy.

I finally strap her in. I get in her face and tell her how upset I am. How terrible she's been acting. How this makes me never want to take her out in public again. Charlie pulls on my coat but ignore him. I say to Lucy, "Do you have ANY IDEA how embarrassing that was girl? You are in SOOOOOO much trouble!"

"MOMMY!" Charlie yells.

I finally look down. My boy is near tears, his library books are clutched awkwardly in his arms and HIS PANTS ARE DOWN AROUND HIS ANKLES.

"CHARLIE!" I yell, "What happened to your pants?"

"They fell!" He says frantically as I pull them up.

"Why didn't you just pull them up?

"Because you said I had to hold my library books!" he wails.

FAIL.

FAIL.

FAIL.

Worst Mom Award. Go ahead and lay it on me.

But give my son the Best Son Award. Both his mother and sister JUST LOST THEIR MINDS in the library. He got his books quickly. He did his best to get them checked out. He got himself to the car even though he dropped his books repeatedly and had to keep picking them back up. He obeyed and held his books even when his pants fell down around his ankles in the middle of the library parking lot. And when, after I finally get everyone safely into the car and started to drive away, I apologize to him, he says, "It's okay Mommy. And do you know what?"

"What, Charlie?"

"I will never ever ever stop loving you."

 Wow.

Does he get it? Does he know about forgiveness, really? Is a four-year-old child capable of understanding what it means to never ever ever stop loving someone? I don't know. But I do know that his Daddy models this every time he gets in trouble. When it's all over, he takes Charlie in his arms, makes him look in his eyes and says, "I will never ever ever stop loving you" and things go right back to normal. Just like nothing ever happened.

It was easier to forgive Lucy after that.

Happy Birthday, Lucy

Dear Lucy,

You are two years old, my girl! TWO! It's hard to believe that two years have passed since you and I first met. It's also hard to believe there was ever a time when you weren't here and you didn't yet have my heart in your grip.

I could go on and on about the adorable little habits you have - how you shout "Ayyyy-men!" after we pray, or how you pop your thumb in your mouth the second your head hits the pillow, or how you randomly burst into song (I'm not sure where you get that particular trait), or that fact that you are a true momma's girl. If I'm in the room, you aren't happy unless you are with me. That can get wearing, especially for your Daddy, who really wishes you would climb up in his lap and snuggle. (But there is a small part of me that really does love this). You are an absolute joy to your Daddy and me.

But you and I, Lucy, we have something special. We have moments. We have them when you get out of the bath. Before I can even get you wrapped up in the towel, you say "Hug? Hug?" and as soon as I do get you wrapped up, I hold you close and rock you and sing to you, and you are still and quiet. We have moments when I wake you up in the morning - you rub your eyes and tuck your face into my neck. We have moments when you bring me a book and say "Bowk pees Mommy" and I read it to you, and then you go get another book and say "Bowk pees Mommy" again. We have moments when you want to watch "Nemo" or "Let It Go" and you snuggle next to me without taking your eyes off the TV and jabber on and on about the movie. And we have moments like the one this morning where Mommy and Daddy were on stage and you came up to me and said "Up pees?" so I picked you up and we sang together.

(I can't wait until you are old enough to really sing with, girl. We are going to MELT FACES.)

I am so proud of you, Lucy. You have added a layer to my life - a depth that has made me a better wife, a better mom, a better teacher, a better follower of Jesus. You have brought alive the definition of joy. And I look forward to new moments with you in year three, my sweet daughter.

Love,
Mommy