Long Term Gratification

Bode saved his money for over a year to buy the Lego Millennium Falcon.  

If you know how much my son loves to buy stuff, you will understand how big of a deal this is. 

 It was a great lesson in self discipline and the pay off was huge.  

One morning he woke up at 6 AM because he "heard a plop" and thought it was the mailman dropping his treasure on the front porch.  It was actually me trying to do the Insanity Workout video in the living room.  How sad is that?

We could have bought this for him for Christmas or his birthday, but there is something to be said for saving and buying something with your own money.  

I don't really know what is to be said for it but it's something profound, trust me.

When the day finally came he declared it the best day of his life.

This should keep Andy and him busy for at least a week.  It also looks like we won't be eating dinner at the table for at least that long.
I see a Full House marathon and several bags of jelly beans in Mia's and my future.  
So basically, we all win.

Every Woman's Dream Come True

What woman doesn't want to be in a wet swimsuit in the middle of the winter?  I know! Thankfully, my husband knows this and booked a trip to Great Wolf Lodge.  

 He splurged on the "Kids Kamp" room complete with a little sleeping cabin for the kids.  Totally worth it because that meant that there were no children in our bed or anywhere near it.

 Bode began every single ride in tears and ended it begging for more.  We've always been willing to emotionally torture our children for the sake of a theme park ride.  We're all, "If you don't die, you'll totally thank us for this.  Now get up there and slide down that 30 story water coaster.  Don't make me tell you again."

 Mia and Andy went strong from open until close. Bode and I like to break it up a bit with food and naps. Thank goodness I insisted on having that second child.

 Might I suggest going to Great Wolf on a weekday in February? There is no one there. It's awesome.

 Poor Andy spent half the time bench pressing Bode.  He was one for 1,452.

Despite the impending snowpocolypse looming over our us, we had a wonderful time and the kids were thrilled to pieces.  I'd totally go again...in one year.

Worth the read

Heaven knows I'm not one to give parenting advice - these kids don't even have hats and gloves on for goodness sake.  However, I came across this article recently and it has some great reminders about how we talk to our kids.  It's worth the read.

In other news, we had a snow day today.  Andy was less than thrilled since Thursdays are his day off - my heart breaks for him, really it does.

Bode has said some pretty incredible stuff lately.  It isn't that he is especially funny, it's more that he never shuts his mouth, and when you're talking at that kind of rate you are bound to say something pretty outlandish at some point.

Yesterday he said he loved watching Ringo (the dog) pee "It's amazing how much pee comes out of that dog.  I love it!"  Immediately after that he asked me to join him in the bathroom for his morning p00p because he had lots of stuff to tell me.

And he did.  Believe me.

I asked him what he was going to do next year when he has to go to the bathroom at "big" school.  He said he would just ask the teacher to come in there so he could talk to her.

Wowzers.

Love Him

Faith like a child

Our sweet small group kids signed a soccer ball and sent it to Ghana.  It wasn't much, and it wasn't going to change the world or anything, but the point is they did it.

And it did make a difference.

A lot of times I find myself paralyzed by all of the pain in this world and I rationalize away my conviction to do something about it.  I reason that if I can't do everything I might as well not do anything.  

I totally get why Jesus loved kids so much.  I have no doubt that they are a lot less infuriating to Him than adults.  Absolutely no doubt.

Holy Cuteness

This is Abigail Abeka, Mia's pen pal at the Village of Hope.  

My MIL and her travel group were able to get a picture of her last week holding Mia's letter.  

Love. Love. Love.

Abigail wanted to know who Mollie is.  So do I.

After almost four years of trying to grow her hair out like Pocahontas, Mia finally faced the reality that is her thin, limp and lifeless hair.  Sorry, babe, you can blame me for that one.

However, this girl can rock a mom bob like nobody's business.

 Notice the jersey:

Notice how I am still biting my tongue and letting him wear it everyday. 

 Every. Single. Day.