PARENTING IS HARD. AND 2ND PLACE FINISH?!

i've been stressed out lately about making the right parenting choices. i feel like hallie is somewhat overscheduled, yes, but i also feel like we are overscheduled with things that aren't even her talents.

isn't that weird? i mean, talk about first-world problems.

anway.

i worry about these things. she's in dance on monday nights, tumble team on tuesday nights and horses every other wednesday. that's a lot, to me.

and she is so-so about dancing, loves tumbling and LOVES horses. but we can't do tumble team without doing dance, unless we want to do tumble team two nights a week. not fair, but thems be the rules.

so now we have hallie in one thing that she doesn't really like (dance) and another thing she isn't great at (tumbling). and we're thinking about doing away with the one thing that she truly loves (horses). so...how much sense does that make? NONE.

she is a fantastically awesomely strong swimmer. but to add swim lessons would be too much.

and we've already commited to tumble team for the year, because we're paying a ridiculous amount of money for a leotard that is still on order.

bah. we should have ditched the dance and the tumble team, and just done swim and horses. period. grow the talents, right?

too late.

there's always next year. i need to calm down.

IN OTHER NEWS HALLIE GOT 2ND PLACE (OUT OF 10 GIRLS!) AT HER TUMBLING MEET YESTERDAY (which was wonderfully hysterical and 100% unexpected).

HORSEBACK RIDING.

so, we're thinking of pulling the plug on horseback riding.

 

at least, until she's a little older. she does great, she has talent, but she can hardly pay attention and tends to do her own thing.

 

she has the attention span of a gnat right now and...yeah. we're not sure she's mature enough at this point. and it's not like this is a cheap activity.

 

i don't know.

 

she loves it. and she is good at it, but i don't think she is mature enough to listen or learn anymore at this pont.

 

i don't know.

 

dad, are you devastated?

 

(this piture is OLD, but so funny. and this will be her when we tell her...if we go that route)

BABY BEIBER AND TUMBLING MEETS ARE AWESOME.

hallie had her very first tumbling meet this weekend.

 

i have never been so proud of my girl. i mean, it wasn't pretty. it was...humbling, for me at least.

 

as a parent, you know, you want your kid to be the NUMBER ONE MOST AWESOMELY TALENTED AND SMARTEST KID IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!!

 

but kids are who they are.

 

hallie is so talented at so many things. so many. tumbling at this point...not as much.

 

and i'm so okay with that.

 

my fear was that she would be devastated when she didn't get first place. or second, or third.

 

she got 8th...out of eight. but by golly and PRAISE THE LORD they all get trophies. because i could just CRY thinking of how happy she was with trophey.

 

whew.

 

she was so confident. she wasn't nervous, shoot, she just got up there, did her thing and pranced off.

 

she smiled and had fun.

 

and that is what it's all about.

 

have you ever seen a cuter gymnast?

 

 

 

and in other news, henry woke up with justin beiber hair.

 

 

 

 

 

this kid.

 

HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE YOU'VE KNOWN SOMEONE FOREVER?

because that's what it felt like. all weekend long.

 

 

those flw people, i tell you what. they are like family to dave. and now, they are like family to all of us.

 

 

 

 

my kids absolutely loved everyone that we met. kim and elmo especially.

 

 

 

it was a wonderful weekend. i came home feeling so happy. my kids were wonderfully miraculously well-behaved, although hallie never once shut up (charlie! you bit me - that really hurt!) and henry was oh-so loud.

 

 

 

but those are my kids. and kim, elmo, spanky and the gang loved them even more because of their craziness.

 

it was a really, really awesome weekend.

REMEMBER THAT TIME I CRIED OVER CARPET?

well, i got home and i love it.

 

say whaaaa?!

 

yeah.

 

i ran downstairs to see the finished product and almost cried HAPPY tears. it looks so nice! it looks a lot lighter and you can see a hint of gray and it just looks...perfect. maybe it was the fact that you can see the trim now? who knows.

 

but, praise god.

 

seriously, praise him. do it. because he pours out his blessings on even the most trivial, ridiculous things. like carpet.

 

the kids ran from one end of the basement to the other, just having a blast in the wide open space. hallie did cartwheels and forward rolls and henry just ran around in circles. we didn't want to come upstairs, it was so fun.

 

 

 

awesome.

GOD'S PROMISE.

 

 

with hallie, you never know what is sinking in. it appears that she doesn't hear us or listen to us roughly half of the time. actually, probably more than that. it drives me nuts.

 

or i'll tell her to do something (brush her teeth, for example) and she'll run off to do it...and then find about thirty things to mess with between me and the bathroom. grrr.

 

but then there are the times thath she pulls random facts out of her butt from YEARS ago that she remembers. it's remarkable.

 

anway. i do have a point.

 

this morning there was a rainbow when we got out of the car in the school parking lot. i pointed it out as we were walking in and she was SO EXCITED.

 

mom! mom! that's god's promise!!!!!!!!! god showed noah a rainbow and said that was his promise that he will never flood the earth again!

 

so, lori, she was listening yesterday in sunday school. which is way cool.

 

***

 

on another note, i found out today that a local homeless/scamp man named whirly (whoorley?) died. he was only 55 years old. dave knew him from high school - he used to hang out under the triopia sign where the boys would meet for rides and such.

 

he rode his bike everywhere. i would see him in arenzville outside of our church. he would hang out at llcc in jacksonville and ask for change. he hung out at the corner of walnut and main street and i would see him so many mornings.

 

i wasn't always nice. he annoyed me. he sometimes harrassed our students and that wasn't cool. but it was obvious he had mental issues and was obviously homeless.

 

i had asked him only once to come to church. it was either a cold or hot day and he was sitting outside of our church. i either asked him to come and and warm up or cool down. i can't remember (hallie probably does!).

 

i forget that jesus wants us to care for even the least of these. it's a good lesson. sometimes the ones that make us want to turn our heads are the ones that needs jesus the most.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

this is hallie's favorite day! wednesdays are her horseback riding days. she gets to ride magic and live out her fantasy of one day becoming a real cowgirl on a ranch in wyoming.

 

i will post pictures tomorrow, because it is really cute to see. she is getting really good! she knows how to saddle him (mostly, and with help) and can walk, trot and weave magic around cones. she has zero fear, which i think is amazing. i think she is amazing!

 

and i think her bedhead is amazing. yowzers.

 

 

and here's some jesus for you today:

 

i know i will sit and complain and moan about my crappy somethings...but have i prayed about it? usually the answer is no. and usually prayer helps tremendously. even the act of praying is straight up comforting.

 

try it.

 

seriously. do you have a situation that just makes you sick to think about? just try saying a simple prayer asking for god's guidance and comfort. and see where it takes you.

 

or even if you have something silly and small - try it. you will be amazed at the power of prayer.

 

happy wednesday!  

MY KIDS ARE AWESOME. AND WEIRD.

 

henry prefers to eat food off of the floor.

 

and uses his middle finger for everything. everything.

 

he loves the vacuum cleaner and broom so very much.

 

he reaches for knives in the dishwasher while saying "no no no" to himself.

 

he loves to have things balance on his head while he's taking a bath.

 

he prefers to be without bottoms and plays with himself non-stop.

 

 

 

hallie prefers animals to people.

 

she makes up her own songs that are heartfelt and hysterical.

 

she talks about god a lot. i was explaining "god in three parts" and she interrupted and said "who cares mom - god is everything"

 

is a straight-up cowgirl. loves wearing her cowgirl hat and boots with real spurs.

 

sleeps with a giant bear that is literally bigger than she is.

 

demands to have her back, feet, legs, arms, head tickled if you sit down next to her.

 

if you don't sit down next to her she will move to sit by you and then demand that you tickle her back.

 

 

 

 

they are both just at a really funny, really exhausting stage. someone gave hallie caffeine on a school night last night (i'm looking at you, barb) and the girl was bouncing off the walls. but she was so funny and was cracking me up. i sorta didn't mind that she stayed up way past her bedtime. sorta.

 

and henry, geesh, he throws all of his food/sippy cups on the floor. it drives me bananas. he also is a very picky eater and will basically eat three things: hotdogs, mac n cheese and pizza. so different from his sister.

 

i don't know. there's not too much of a point to this story. i think just the act of writing down little memories like this is helpful to appreciate the blessings that god has given us.

 

"every good and perfect gift is from above" james 1:17

 

and it also reminds me how much i love being a mother. so here's a shout out to my lovely mother on her birthday today!

 

happy birthday, mom! love you!!!!

 

 

 

SOAKED. AND MORE TEEF. AND FRIENDS. AND SUCH.

this is how my morning started.

except it was pouring buckets when it happened.

but who cares?! because IT WAS POURING BUCKETS!

yee-haw!!! bring it!

in other news, hallie lost her other top tooth. it is pretty dang adorable. i never knew i wanted a kid with missing top teeth. she slurs her words and everything :)

(sorry, crawfords, she wouldn't pull it at your house!)

also, i went to a wedding that had donuts for the cake. and a chocolate fountain. and was at a winery. ftw.

and got to hang out with these peeps.

and this guy is home (until tomorrow, but who's counting?)

all caught up?

yes.

VIDEO ROUNDUP.

we take lots of video to keep dave in the know about our daily nonsence. and believe me, they are priceless. i love watching these videos of our normal, everyday life.

hallie will someday be a world-famous singer (haha).

or perhaps a cowgirl on a ranch in wyoming?

and henry will be professionally cute.

the end.

TOOF FAIRY.

well, we recently had a visit from the tooth fairy.

a top tooth this time. very exciting. funny for me though, because i can look ahead to the huge chompers she's going to have. dave and i both have large and in charge front teeth, so she's doomed. or blessed, whatever.

this front tooth was a long time coming. and then finally she wiggled and wiggled until it was juuuuuust almost out. i mean, she could seriously stick it straight forward with her tongue. GAG.

so we put some floss on that sucker and i yanked it out. it took a lot of yanks (and screams) but she insisted and out it came!

with a lot of blood!

lots of blood!

so gross.

and the tooth fairy brought two dollars. say what?! how generous!

(check out those pics...THREE outfit changes? i promise they all were taken on the same night!)

COWGIRL HALLIE.

well, we have a cowgirl on our hands.

and her horse room is (mostly) finished! I will post finished pictures, but here's what we have so far:

i'm realizing now i didn't take pictures of two of my very favorite things! i will tomorrow, for sure. also, the picture above is so NOT a finished product. geesh, keri. (that is hallie's art project, btw).

anyway, she's so into horses that we signed her up for one horseback riding lesson. my thought was that she might be too scared or too distracted to keep doing it.

so we would start with one and see if she liked it. and then if she liked it, we would sign her up.

sign me up, mom, she says.

she is hooked.

WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING INSTEAD OF BLOGGING.

we are re-doing hallie's room. HORSES. yes, horses. yeesh.

how do you make a cute little girl's room "horses" without looking like a western puked on it? or without going too overboard with the horses knowing that she will change her mind next week?

it's tricky, i tell ya.

her wants: a sky with clouds (whaaaa?), pictures of baby horses and a big horse.

my wants: organization. shelves. a place to put all of her many, many things.

what we did: blue walls, clouds handpainted by moi, a grouped-by-color bookshelf, stuffed animal net/hammock/thing, floating shelves, lots of bins and storage, a new toy chest, painted her headboard and dresser, added a mirror, put up a giant horse decal thing-y, new horse sheets, framed pics of baby horses from etsy and added a storage unit of drawers to her closet.

and it's done....mostly. i stayed up late lots of nights doing lots of stuff. and things are finally coming together. the headboard is still not on and the mirror is not yet hung up. and neither is the stuff animal net/hammock/thing. but it's really, really close.

and here are some pictures of the progress:

i'm not gonna lie - it sucked getting all of these stickers off the dresser to be painted. and sanding the crayon? not my favorite.

book wrangling.

color coding.

new shelves!

storage! organization!

yay for chalkboard labels!

clouds. boo-ya.

SCHOOL KICKS.

here are the shoes hallie chose for her back-to-school kicks.

pretty fly, eh?

these were the ONLY shoes she wanted. i begged her to try on a million others...but nope, she only had eyes for the high top converse. awesome kid, awesome style.

oh, and here's henry pounding a bottle while watching baby einstein.

and yes, he still takes a bottle. go ahead and judge me.