Penny Jars

At my dear mother's request ;) I am blogging. Nothing all that exciting or super cute has been going around here. Actually, if anything, I am loosing my mind. My kids are driving me insane . . . I think they have decided to get rid of me by getting the funny farm to come and take me away, thus, there secret plot to driving me crazy with their bickering. Our home has been filled with kids bickering, arguing and being mean. I have talked before about our penny jars. We started this reward system last summer and it gave my kids some motivation to change their attitudes. They can gain a penny when we catch them dealing with a situation with a good attitude and the opposite, they can loose one by dealing with a bad attitude. It has also morphed into doing there chores without us asking to gain a penny. At the end of the week, if they have 10 pennies or more, they get to go to bed an hour later than our normal bedtime. The past few weeks, our penny jars have been going empty. Lazy kids and bad attitudes have taken over my home. Mike and I are again, joining forces and cracking down. Now, not only are my kids loosing pennies for there bad behavior and attitudes, they are learning verses. I love slapping the kids with a bible verse for them to memorize or write 10 times as an added "punishment." Which really it isn't a punishment at all. We are after our kids hearts and what better way to change the behavior than to go after the heart, the source of the problem to begin with! I love that they are hiding God's Word in there hearts and also gaining some understanding at why we don't act this way to begin with. God's Word, not just mom and dad, is telling them and guiding them in the path they should be walking.

Bowling Birthday

Today is my dear husband's 31st birthday. We celebrated his birthday this weekend at the bowling alley. Mike's father actually threw him the party and we all got our bowling groove on. It was a fun night with friends and family. How blessed we are to have such fun and loving people around us. We love you guys and thanks for making my husband's birthday such a fun night!

Where Babies Come From

"Mom, how do you get a baby?" Grace asks me while we were driving to go pick up Reece.

I have to admit, it took me by surprise, neither Reece or Madison have cared much to ask. They know babies come out of mommy bellies, but have not cared much beyond that. How they get there, where exactly they come out . . . .

"Babies come out of mommy bellies, Grace." Oh please let that be all I plead in my head.

"Yes, but how do they get there?" Grace asks again. She is not about to let me off the hook.

"Well, you get married (don't you love how I threw in that moral nugget) and then have a baby."

"Like Krista . . she has a baby." Grace muses.

"Mmhmm."

"But how do you get a baby?" Grace persists. Boy this girl is persistent today!!

"A mommy and daddy get married, they love each other and create a precious baby." I tell her. You have to cut me a break here, Grace is only four and I told myself I would always tell my kids the truth, but make it age appropriate. I thought I was doing pretty good.

"But Betty has a baby and she doesn't have a husband, Mom!" Grace scolds me, like I have told her something untrue.

Now how am I supposed to explain teen pregnancies?! I was just patting myself on the back for throwing in the moral nugget and Little Miss Smarty throws me a curve ball.

"That's true Grace," I tell her, "Betty does have a baby and no husband. She had love for another man that she didn't marry and they had a baby. The Bible tells us that we need to get married first though, then have a baby. OK Grace?"

"OK." Grace paused for a minute while I could actually see the wheels turning in her head. "I think I'll just have kitties."

"OK, Grace, I think that sounds lovely." I tell her.

My Morning Musical

I was snugly under my covers this morning, trying to ignore my alarm clock that would not give me an extra 10 minutes of sleepy bliss. The kids are awesome at getting themselves up in the morning and getting ready for school. I normally get up about 20 minutes after they have already risen. This puts them in the kitchen eating cereal when I stumble out of bed to start the coffee pot and make lunches.

"Oh Gracie, come out, come out wherever you are!" Says Mada from the kitchen.

Grace gasps, probably because Madison never calls for Gracie and especially in such a sweet, playful manner. Grace was down in the bathroom taking care of her morning business.

"That's Maddie. I'm here. I'm heeeeere. I will dance to you. I am coming, twirling my twinkle toes. I am dancing to Maddie." Sings, Grace.

What a great way to wake up this morning. This is so much better than the normal morning bickering. I guess all the Wicked songs I have been listening to lately are starting to rub off on Grace. ;)