First of many

Today….today was a day of a million memories worth preserving forever. When you hold your firstborn in your arms, so many emotions swarm inside you including love like you never knew existed. I had the privilege of spending the past five years day in and day out with one of the most amazing little girls who is totally going to rock this world one day with her love and her ability to lead and direct people.

Today, she rocked kindergarten, and I couldn’t cry and be sad as she got on that bus because I was too proud of her and too happy for her to be sad for me that the time passed so quickly. This was the moment we were thinking of when we moved back to Michigan and as we searched for a house. Kindergarten. The big new beginning. We had debated and prayed over school options for years, and to see it all come together today was breath taking.

MDM#20

We’ve spent the past few months talking a lot about friends and the importance of choosing good ones – friends who are kind and loving and respectful of others and treat people well. We told her there will be kids at school who might be mean and do or say mean things and disobey the teachers. We talked about how we are still to love those kids and be nice to them, but that doesn’t mean we have to play with them and hang out with them. This morning I prayed with her over breakfast and prayed that she would have a good day and meet some great new friends. After I said “Amen” she kept her hands folded and said, “And help me to know which friends will be good and which ones won’t be good.” Amen.

MDM#21

As she got on the bus, I was so concerned about getting a picture and not holding up the bus that I almost forgot to give her a hug and kiss. As I was nudging her to the bus she said, “MOM! Hug and kiss!” Aww, I love that, in front of the whole bus even. I snapped a quick picture and the driver checked her name off a list and showed her where to sit. Little Miss waved at me out the window and blew a hug and kiss with an ear to ear grin as they drove off. My heart swelled.

MDM #22

We had also talked about lunch quite a bit. Little Miss can be quite the chatterbox, especially at meal times. I told her it was going to be tempting to want to talk to all her new classmates at lunch, but that it’s important she eat her food first because they only have 20 minutes. We talked about how important it is to eat a good lunch so you don’t get hungry in the afternoon and can pay attention better in class. I went over the lunch I packed for her – pb&j, grapes and pretzels. I told her it would be best to eat the pb&j and grapes first for the most energy and if she ran out of time for the pretzels that would be ok. She came home from school and I asked her about lunch and how it went. “Mom, I did just what you told me – I ate the pb&j and grapes first and not all the pretzels and I still had time to talk!”

MDM #23

Almost in direct response to our breakfast prayer request, she was excited to tell me that she sat with a friend on the bus – another kindergartner that she had met at Safety Town a few weeks ago and had become friends with. We had no idea she would be on the same bus. She was rather excited to see someone she knew to ride with.

MDM #24

T-Rex refused to take any pictures with Little Miss this morning. I think he didn’t know what to think. After she left, I asked him if he was going to miss her. He looked at me and had to think for a second and then said, “Uhhh….well…..ye….no.” And went back to playing legos. My father-in-law came and took him fishing for the day. He had his own adventure to look forward to.

Recent Funny Moments

Million Dollar Moment #16

Little Miss just completed a week of Safety Town. Every evening for a week, kids entering kindergarten heard important messages from “safety heroes” in our town  – firemen, bus divers, policemen – and learned silly songs with memorable messages. At the end of the week, the parents came for a party and they sang us their songs and answered questions about what all they learned that week. Upon completion of the “Safety Town Celebration” Little Miss looked at me wide eyed and said, “That was the first time I sang on stage in front of people. I liked it. When can I do it again?” No doubting whose daughter she is.

#17

On the way home from Safety Town Celebration, we had a discussion on which Disney Princess was the most safety smart. We determined it was Cinderella. She had a mean stepmother, but she always did her work with a good attitude, and then she obeyed her fairy godmother and went straight home at midnight like she was instructed not even stopping for her slipper. We decided the least safety smart was Snow White because she let the stranger in the dwarves’s home. That was one of the most bizarre conversations I’ve ever had.

#18

One recent evening at the park, T-Rex kept asking me to do something for him over and over and over. I finally said, “I haven’t heard a please yet.” He looked at me and said, “Yeah, neither have I!”

Dreaming of Cheese

Million Dollar Moment #14

Of all the things that we look forward to as parents – first smile, first tooth, first steps, first words – there are so many things along the way that you never realize will be memorable milestones – like the first time they attach a real name to a toy, or the first time they tell you about a dream.

The other day, T-Rex told me about a dream he had while sleeping in the car. It’s the first time he’s ever re-told a dream to me, and it had me and Little Miss in stitches.

T-Rex: When I was in the car and sleeping, I was dreaming about a man, and every time he opened his mouth, cheese came out. It was like when a dragon breathes fire, but it was a man and he breathed cheese.

Little Miss: He was a cheese breathing dragon?

T-Rex: No, he was a man. He was a cheese breathing man.

And by this time, all three of us were cracking up. I knew he loved dragons. He apparently loves cheese too!

Floating Farm

#12 Million Dollar Moment

My dad is a magician/juggler/clown. My father-in-law is a magician/juggler/storyteller. I can do ventriloquism. My husaband and I and all 3 of our brothers can juggle. His sister can do mime. We all (including the mothers) know how to properly manipulate a puppet and at least twist a balloon dog.

Therefore, it should not surprise you that my kids would request a floating farm of balloon animals in their swimming pool and that my mom would happily twist a pool full of balloons to oblige.

My cuddle bug

T-Rex has developed a habit over the past six months of climbing into my bed around 7 a.m. and then falling back asleep for a little while before he starts the “I want brefast” chant. I didn’t realize how important this new routine was to him until a couple weeks ago. I decided to be a “good” mom and get up and shower and be dressed before the kids woke up. I stepped out of the shower, and a very red-eyed, poochy-lipped T-Rex was at the door trying to hold his composure. “What’s the matter, buddy?” The floodgates opened as he cried, “I didn’t get to cuddle with yoooouuu!!!” Break. My. Heart. I scooped him up and reassured him that we could still cuddle for awhile. And so we snuggled until he was satisfied and started the “brefast” chant.

This morning, he climbed in as usual around 7 a.m. and fell right back to sleep, but he grabbed my arm and wrapped his little arms around it as if clinging for dear life, and snuggled his head into my shoulder. He was fast asleep, but everytime I shifted, he grabbed my arm tighter and buried his head deeper.

I know our mornings are going to be seriously rocked in six weeks when Little Miss starts kindergarten. So in the meantime, I’m soaking up every second of summer morning snuggles while I can.

#10 MDM

umbrella sprinklers

The consensus in our home among those under 4 feet tall is that the best thing about getting new sod is how often you have to run the sprinklers. Hang on…I need to go move the sprinkler…

I’m back, and with a cup of coffee. Back to sprinklers. However, in the over 4 feet tall population in our home there has been some grumbling about water bills.

During one watering session, Little Miss Sunshine wanted to play in the sprinklers, but not really get wet. So she grabbed her umbrella out of the backseat of the car and stood in the sprinklers under her umbrella. Any excuse to use the pink umbrella works for her, even if it’s just a drip off a roof.

T-Rex, not about to be undone grabbed his umbrella as well. He really didn’t mind getting wet, in fact, his clothes were already soaked. He just wanted to play with the umbrella. It apparently makes a very good sword for fighting imaginary battles in the rain.

I sat on the steps trying to stay out of harm’s way, keeping my eye on the stopwatch to know when to move the sprinkler. A white minivan drove by, rather slowly, and I noticed a woman (undoubtedly another mother) getting a good laugh at my children sitting on the lawn under their umbrellas next to the sprinklers.

It was an unforgettable summer moment….oh, time to move the sprinkler again.

#7MDM

Float my boat

This past weekend was one of those weekends that gave me pause to remember just why we willingly uprooted ourselves from the community we love in Florida and moved back to Michigan. I need those reminders, because even though I’ve adjusted and settled back into life up here, there are frequent moments where emotion knocks me over like a tidal wave and I miss my friends in the south so very dearly.

It was Saturday afternoon, after The Narrator and one of his brothers had run a triathlon, and we’d had a birthday lunch for The Narrator’s 33rd birthday. The kids and I were floating in the pool with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Little Miss had hold of her auntie’s hands and they were twirling around the pool this way and that way, very lady like. And then there was T-Rex. Picking a fight. With his uncle. Who’s over six feet tall. Oh the trash talking. I have no idea (ok, maybe I do) how in short 3 years he learned how to trash talk so well, but he’s mighty good at it.

“I’m gonna get you Uncle K!!” Followed by much splashing and thrashing. “Nuh-uh, you can’t get me, I’m gunna get you. I’m gonna wreck you, you can’t get me!!” Uncle K let T-Rex ride on his back, cling to his neck, splash him, thrash him, and seriously trash talk him. It was quite the male bonding, while the three of us girls just tried to avoid the tidal wave happening in the other side of the pool. I’m not sure who wore out who, but I’m sure they both slept very, very well that night.

And as I floated on my little pink noodle observing Little Miss being very girly and T-Rex being as boyish as they come, enjoying playing with their aunt and uncle, I sighed a little sigh of contentment. These little family moments that happen now and then are part of why we moved back – for our kids to know (and trash talk) their aunts and uncles, to have cousins to play with and be friends with. To grow up around their roots. And so I can float in the pool while other family members entertain my kids. Ok, well maybe not consciously that part, but it is a nice perk

#5 MDM

Lentil Love

My kids are pretty good eaters. At my husband’s request, we don’t eat a lot of meat. In fact, he’d be perfectly fine if I never served meat ever again. My kids are good sports and they try most everything, and we eat some stuff that would be considered quite odd in normal households. Last night, I sat at dinner and chuckled thinking to myself what an unusual food- love I had stumbled upon. My kids devoured our dinner, asked for seconds, and thirds, and we had no leftovers. And it wasn’t chicken fingers or mac ‘n cheese; I made lentil and veggie tostadas. Little Miss asked for more lentils. And more. And more. She apparently loves lentils. And T-Rex devoured the veggies (lentils too, but he wanted more veggies) – zucchini, squash, broccoli, he was even snacking on them raw off my cutting board while I was mixing things up. I hope we are able to continue this love of healthy, not-the-norm foods as they grow older!

I would have taken a picture…but they devoured them too quickly!

lentil & veggie tostadas (from Better Homes & Gardens easy vegetarian dinners)

1 3/4 c water
3/4 dry yellow or green lentils, rinsed and drained
1/4 c chopped onions
1 to 2 tablespoons snipped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
4 tostada shells
2 cups assorted chopped veggies such as broccoli, tomato, zucchini and/or yellow summer squash
3/4 c shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Start to finish 40 mins, makes 4 servings

In a medium saucepan stir together ater, lentils, onion, cilantro, salkt sumin, and garlic. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 25-30 mins or until lentils are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Use a fork to mash the cooked lentils.

Spread the lentil mixture on tostada shells, top with vegetables and cheese. Place on a large baking sheet, Broil 3-4 inches from the heat about 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve immediately.

It’s really good served with fresh salsa. YUM!

Politics according to a 5-year-old

We were gathering opinions for where we should go to dinner tonight when this conversation erupted in the backseat:

T-Rex: Chick-fil-a! (his response every time we ask him where he wants to eat)
Little Miss: There aren’t any Chick-fil-a’s in Michigan remember?
T-Rex: Chick-fil-a!
Little Miss: We don’t have Chick-fil-a in Michigan because the governor doesn’t like Chick-fil-a. Soon we will have a new governor and maybe he will say, “Someone can open a Chick-fil-a in Michigan now!”
Narrator: Where did you get that idea, Little Miss?
Little Miss: Papa

I knew it.

I think that should be part of the gubernatorial debates, “And sir, what do you think of Chick-fil-a, and will you allow them to open franchises in Michigan?”

Fun with Fire(men)

learning about fire gear

Today was one of those days that I’m glad I always have my little Canon PowerShot in my purse.

We met up with The Narrator after Bible Study for lunch. As we were eating, it became apparent that our waitress was enamored by T-Rex. I mean, I can’t really blame her, he is an incredibly adorable, well-behaved, 3-year-old boy with eyes that just suck you right in. As a result, we had very good service at our table. My coffee cup never went dry, our plates were cleared immediately, and she really wanted to make sure T-Rex was enjoying his mac’n cheese, which was obvious since it was all over his face.

T-Rex’s footwear of choice is normally boots. Today, he was wearing his bright red firemen rain boots. The waitress asked him about his boots, and then pointed out that the table next to us was full of firemen. She asked him if he would like to help her give the mints to the firemen. He gave her a shy nod yes, and then Little Miss asked, “What about me?? Can I help too?” I think she was feeling a bit left out of all this attention.

The kids walked over to the table and the waitress introduced them to the firemen. The firefighters then asked the kids if they have ever sat in a fire truck, and invited us to come visit the station which was right behind the restaurant. The kids’ eyes lit up and I promised them we’d go over right after lunch.

We piled in the car and drove around to the firehouse where one of them men from lunch greeted us, along with a black lab who was five times the size of T-Rex. It turns out this fireman has a 3-year-old boy too who is, naturally, fascinated with all things fireman related also. We had our own personal tour of the fire station. He let the kids sit in 2 different trucks, showed them all the gear and what all the various parts of the trucks are for. He also gave them a couple fire hats, stickers, tattoos, magnets, and pencils. Talk about some loot!

My favorite part was when he showed them how they have their boots tucked inside their firepants so they can step into their gear and get dressed really fast. He said in school they have to be able to get all of their gear – boots, pants, jacket, gloves, helmet and backpack on in less than 70 seconds. I’m thinking this might be a useful technique when it comes time for school. We can half assemble their clothes and shoes the night before. In the morning we can set the timer. You have 70 seconds to get dressed for school. Ready, set GO!!

So, thank you to our firemen and women who keep our towns safe, help us when we are ill or in an accident, and for having an open door to the young kids in our communities! You made our dreary day memorable.