Free Range Kids

This was my also a February and March book and it was fabulous.

If you're thinking of having kids, have kids, or are a kid yourself (and I don't know any children reading my blog, but still...) this book is for you. Seriously. It's just that good.

Lenore Skanazy puts into book-form an idea I've had about raising the boys for a while and gives such great insight and application along with this idea of "Free Range" parenting.

Essentially, (and really, it's so difficult to summarize such a book as this) she goes into detail about how life was 50-60 years ago, even just 20 years ago, and debunks so many myths that keep kids indoors all day. Kidnappings and abductions, eating Halloween candy, walking to school, Internet predators, playing on the playground and so so much more.

She is a proponent of play. Outside. And if the area is safe (and she goes into what that means) and the child is old enough, unsupervised. She is a proponent of a good number of things, safety being one of them, but she has a wonderful understanding of what children are capable of and the joy it brings them to do things on their own.

She is not a proponent of the very prevalent helicopter parent. She is a proponent of empowering a child by letting them try something, making mistakes, and learning a valuable life lesson in the process. And I'm all for that.

She gives "Free Range" tips after every chapter that I found very helpful with age appropriate guidelines. She talks in depth about how the media's "job" so to speak is to scare viewers into believing that the world we live in is this horribly unsafe place for our children and we therefore need to buy all the latest and greatest safety features (such as baby knee pads for toddler knees) and to keep kids inside for fear that someone may snatch them away. From your fenced in back yard.

She is witty and practical. Logical and researched. She makes a lot of valid points and explains a lot of unknowns.

If you had a childhood anything like mine, where I was allowed to ride my bike to the library or swim practice, play in the woods for hours on end, walk to a friend's house, build forts in trees or bushes, play at the local playground with my only instruction to be back home before dusk and you want your own children to have similar experiences but you think that's not possible -- you really need to read this book.

If you're interested, and you should be, here is a link to the book that has a little video along with it that's worth watching. She does a lot better at summarizing the book's main point than I did.

Challenged

In Muscat, Oman

My dad has always challenged me to think critically. He has always challenged me to think. Period. Recently we were talking (thank you Skype!) and he commented on my blog title. And mostly on on my new subtitle. [Our exciting and sometimes less than exciting journey through life]

He asked me to think of it through a reformed biblical viewpoint. Is the word "excite" even in scripture? Is the "less than exciting" aspect of life any "less" in the Lord's eyes than the "exciting" parts?

So we had this mini-conversation about how I honestly wasn't even thinking down that path when I named the blog. I just like alliteration and it worked. As for the sub-title, I was blunt -- not all of our life is exciting in the full sense of the word. I didn't want readers to think that I was just putting this happy-go-lucky version of our life out on the web for everyone to see.

He made it clear that there was nothing wrong with my title or sub-title. He was just filtering it through a Biblical world-view and was challenging me to do the same.

Through our conversation, we did agree on the fact that we should be excited about Christ and living our life for him. We should. That doesn't mean it will always show, but we should be excited about becoming more Christ-like. We should be excited about showing Christ to others around us. Being salt and light. (I did tease and tell my dad that I could change the sub-title to "Our salty and sometimes not so salty life" - we both had a good laugh at that.)

So over the last 2 days I've been thinking on our conversation. I did not originally set out to have the word "excitement" mean anything more than it is. It was just a word. But I want it to mean more now. I want it to be a show of our family's dedication to Christ. Of our excitement of and in Him.

So I searched high and low for the word excite, excited and/or excitement in scripture and found nothing in the ESV - my favorite translation. I didn't like the verses in some of the other translations (NIV, NASB, NKJ) that came up in my search, so I kept plugging along. I found a verse that I liked in the Contemporary English Version (CEV). It's a translation I would never probably own, but I liked the verse in the ESV and what it means.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
Ps 63:5 ESV

In the chapter, David is talking about his desire and deep yearning for God. He tells him how in need he is. He then starts talking about his satisfaction or excitement in Him and then closes the chapter with words that speak of his dependence upon Him. And simply put, that's our life. So I decided to use this verse as my new sub-title. In the CEV, though, since talking about eating fat and rich food is more suited for my food blog than my family one.

Here is the ESV version of the first 8 verses of Ps 63:

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

So dad, thank you for continuing to challenge me all the way from Kuwait. Thank you for reminding me that the not so exciting things going on in our life can still be used excitedly to grow The Kingdom. Thank you for reminding me that having a Biblical Worldview does include little things like my blog and its title. Thank you for always making me think. I love you.

Funny Litte Man

Evan has always been a little character. There's no doubt he's an extrovert, something he comes by honestly from both Scot and me, and he likes to be the center of attention, something he comes by honestly through my dear brother.

He has also hit this "goofy" stage, that I'm really thinking is less of a stage and more of a life-long trait. Something else from Jared, I think. Or my dad. The story does go that my mom first saw him dancing on the lunch tables in college.

Evan now talks in funny voices, hops instead of walks, pulls funny faces out of no where, saunters like a cowboy after a long days ride, and in short, is a nut. Some children have imaginary friends. Mine has an imaginary pet. A lion.

We've had a few disciplinary issues with all this since his goofiness sometimes interferes with obeying right away, but on the whole, it's been a fun transition to watch.

He is also undoubtedly my child.

He is starting to be bossy. For some reason, I thought this was a trait only carried by oldest females. Nope. Oldest males, too, apparently. Thankfully, he doesn't try to boss me around, but I will commonly hear "No touch, Drew." or "Don't eat that, Drew." or "Come over here, Drew. ... I said come here, Drew!"

He often hears "Evan, I'm right here." or "Evan, when you grow up and are a daddy you can make the rules." or my favorite "Evan, Drew already has two parents, he doesn't need a third."

Though sometimes his bossiness is good. Like when I'm not around and he keeps Drew from trouble. The trick is having him distinguish from when I'm around to when I'm not. How am I supposed to do that?!

He is also particular. In so many ways, such as his socks, but most recently...

While commenting on how blue and cloud-free the sky was the other day, Evan very nicely pointed out to me "No, mom. There is a cloud in the sky! See?"

Yes child. I do see. The sky is not all cloud free. Even though that one itty bitty little cirrus cloud is almost invisible.

Yesterday while driving, Evan was playing with Drew's water bottle and got some water on his pants to which he started to complain. So I said: "Did you get water on your pants from your water bottle?" To which he said no. Followed by "I got my pants wet from Drew's water bottle."

Seriously? My follow-to-the-letter-of-the-law and loop-hole-finding personality is very evident in my child.

Oh boy, here we go.

Sunshine Fun

A little sunshine fun in this cool March weather was just what the doctor ordered yesterday as both boys (and their momma) were getting a little antsy and a touch disobedient. Well, they were disobedient -- I was just antsy.

There's just something about running off some energy and a wonderful intake of crisp fresh air that does us all a world of good.

A few wet eyelashes

When I think of a classically "cute" picture of a wee one, the image that comes to mind is full of soft skin, water, and wet eye lashes. Is there anything cuter than a little guy (or gal) in the tub or just coming from it? Splashing with a big grin or a towel wrapped tight with only their face peeping out? For me, those pictures are the best.

We had a late-afternoon bath today while my pizza dough was rising and it just so happened that the sun was out and the bathroom was full of natural light.

I just had to grab the camera.

Actually, Scot grabbed it for me since the boys were all ready in the water.

If you look closely, you can see that his eyes are still blue with a star-burst of brown in the middle!


He has this thing with sucking on the washcloth. I don't get it.


Bath time is one of his all-time favorite past times. Can you tell?


Evan. All concentration pouring water from one receptacle to another.


Silly messy face. Hence why we were in the bath. The face. Not the silliness.


Cheesy "cheese"

New Feature: Email Subscription

I don't know how many people have said at one point or another: "Oh, I can follow your blog? How?!"

Then after I describe the whole RSS Feed thing to them, and they admit that they don't ever get on their feed because they don't blog, we both realize that the only way they can follow the blog is by saving the link and checking it whenever they think of it.

Well now, there is a simpler and easier way to stay up to date if that is what you want to do! I have seen on other sites an email subscription button and thought to myself Hmmm....that's a good idea. So I finally researched it and figured out how to get one on our blog, too.

So for all you out there who don't blog or don't check your feed very often but want to stay abreast of what our family is up to, just sign up for the updates to be sent to your inbox! It's safe and secure and most of all, easy!

Rescue

This was my March book and I did not like it at all.

I don't know if it was the total two dimensional-ness of the story and characters or the complete unnecessary overuse of the F-word. Bottom line, I will not be recommending this book to anyone.

I have read, or at least started to read, every single one of Anita Shreve's books and have really enjoyed most of them. She usually has such a wonderful grasp on humanity and writes in such a beautiful way that transports the reader right to where she wants you. It's amazing. Books of her's that I really enjoyed (since this one didn't do it for me...):

• Body Surfing
• A Wedding in December
• Light on Snow
• The Pilot's Wife
• Weight of Water (to be followed by The Last Time They Met)
• Resistance

Frugal Fun: Breakfast Cookies

I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but do you ever run out of the house, kids all fed and dressed, snacks packed, grocery list/sand pails/books to return all in the car ready to go, and realize as you're backing out of the driveway, Oops, I forgot to eat breakfast. Again.

Am I the only one who does that? On a consistent basis?

Well no more! Thanks to a blogging buddy, I found a fantastic recipe for these way yummy Breakfast Cookies. I had my first one today and I went all the way 'til lunch without getting hungry. It was amazing! I'm now also kicking myself for not making these 6 months ago when I found the recipe. I don't think my freezer will ever be without these!

Because I wanted to "feature" these cookies as a fun frugal tip, I actually went to the trouble of calculating how much each cookie costs to make and while .50 cents may seem like a bit, realize that just one cookie is an entire breakfast. You'd probably have to eat 1 and a half or 2 whole Kashi bars to equal just one of these bad boys. And those Kashi bars are not cheap.

So go get a big mixing bowl and don't make the same mistake I did. Gather the ingredients and make these and never face 10 o'clock again with a growling stomach.

My Boys . . .

...and their chalk. We had a wonderful weekend as a family, but our time outside was one of the top moments for both Scot and me.

Oh yes. And happy first day of Spring!

A Trip to the Fire Station

I have been promising Evan a trip to our local fire station for a few weeks now. We pass by it every time we go to Target - which is at least once a week - but the weather's been icky and who really wants to go to a fire station alone and be looked at weird because it's just you and your 2 little kids?

On Tuesday, though, I found out that a fireman who goes to our church actually works at our fire station. The one we pass by at least once a week. The one with the beautiful vintage-looking fire trucks that you can see through the vintage-looking garage doors. The one that's 2-stories and may possibly even have a brass pole like in Evan's book!

I quickly found out what our fireman friend's schedule was for the week (thank you, facebook!) and today, another sunshiny day here in Cleveland, we went for a visit. I have learned: If you're going to a fire station, make sure you know someone there! You get such a better tour!

I think I may have had more fun than Evan who passed up a chance to ride in the front seat of the actually-almost-vintage (20 yrs old and in beautiful shape) firetruck and try on a real helmet. He did, however, get to see both ambulances (inside one, too!), both fire trucks (one of which was a huge ladder truck like his toy), and all the coats, hats and boots! We got a special peek at the "Hose Tower" where the hoses are hung out to dry, and one of the other firemen slid down the brass pole which was a particularly nice treat.

At the very end of our fabulous in depth tour, Evan was allowed to push the button to raise the huge garage door - I wish I had my camera out for that. His little face was priceless he was so shocked and excited all at once. The trip is now all he has talked about and most likely all he will talk about for the next few days. Looks like a jaunt to the library to find firetruck books is in order!

Also, I think I'm about blogged out for a few days! See you on the other side of the weekend!

Proof of Play

I'm not sure you can see the mud stains on Evan's shirt under all that chalk dust, but they're there. Hastily smeared when I called him in for lunch, effectively pulling him away from mud-puddle jumping. Nothing a little detergent can't fix. And maybe some Oxi-clean.


It has been gloriously sunny here today, with a high in the mid 60's that we took full advantage of. We've been outside pretty much all day.


Why do you see just me here today? Well, because Drew has 4 (or maybe even 6) top teeth coming in all at once, so he's pretty miserable and just sleeps all day.


He's my little climber!


Also, proof of life! I raked our little garden area today and found all these wonderful shoots of green under the nasty brown mess. Ahh...Spring!


Don't you just love seeing all these little shoots?! It's so promising that winter is really almost over!

Another Day to Remember

One of the slides from the slideshow shown at our reception

I just looked to make sure that this wasn't a repeat story. And since I couldn't find it anywhere, here it is.

Five years ago today...

...Scot was at the end of his week long Spring break. I just knew I was going to get popped the question at some point, but hello, it was Thursday and he was leaving on Saturday morning! I was starting to freak out. I was on edge. I was not wanting to go to bed another night thinking "Maybe Tomorrow". . .

Am I the only one who has ever felt this way?

So on this chilly Thursday afternoon, he asked me if I would take a walk, he had a surprise for me. Of course I said yes. But then he told me, and I quote, "Now this has nothing to do with a ring. Okay? I want you to just enjoy the afternoon and stop expecting things." (Have I ever mentioned how good my husband is for me? He is.) As he emptied his pockets to prove there was no ring on his person, my stomach dropped and a teeny tiny black cloud appeared over my head.

We proceeded to walk, briskly, up one of our favorite hills. I was frustrated. Why was he trying to rub it in my face that he hadn't proposed yet? Did he really want to wait 'til the last minute and take away all the surprise? Didn't he know that a girl liked to be surprised? And then my sweet husband, who wasn't my husband then of course, gave me a hug, and told me that he did truly want me to enjoy the surprise, and that maybe we should just take a moment to breathe. (His version of the story and what was going on in his head at this point is pretty funny.)

So we (read SARAH) took a few deep breaths, realized it wasn't the end of the world if right now wasn't when the question was going to be popped, and proceeded on our walk. At the top of the hill I found "I <3 U" laid out in colored rocks in the sand right where we watched our first sunrise. I thought it was sweet, but I was cold, so after about 5 minutes of looking at the view and the message, I said I was done and wanted to head back to the car. Scot wanted to take just one more picture. So we did. Then, with hands shoved deep into my pockets to keep them from freezing, I turned around to head down the hill only to be called back again.

When I turned around Scot was on one knee. (I know you knew this was coming, but I didn't!)

The little scoundrel! He had emptied his pockets! Was he seriously proposing without a ring?!

Ok. So are you getting the whole picture? Me with hands in my coat. Cold. On top of a hill. Windy. Guy on one knee. Ok.

So he gave me this great speech that I'm sure he had rehearsed more than a few times. I don't honestly remember everything he said I was in such shock that he was actually proposing when he had just said that he wasn't going to. And where was the ring?! And then he got to the end of his soliloquy, held out the ring, and said "So?".

Without missing a beat I said "So what? You haven't asked me anything yet!" (I was obviously paying enough attention to realize that)

The poor guy, so nervous about the speech that he had forgotten to actually ask the question, quickly fixed that and I gave a resounding yes! Best answer I ever gave. Except for maybe "I do".

The end.

Oh, and the ring. He had hidden it under the tongue of his shoe so that when he bent down to propose, it was right there waiting. Brave brave man.

Some Favorites

We love books around here. Here are some of our favorites right now.


This book is actually written by my mother's cousin, Tim. It's a cute rhyming story about a finicky frog who goes in search of food. I love the illustrations and I love the adorable story. Here's a short youtube video of Tim actually reading the story.


This book was given to me 20 years ago this month by my kindergarten teacher, Mrs Shink. I loved this book as a child and now Evan does, too.


He also has parts of it memorized, so he'll 'read' it to himself. Where he doesn't remember, he'll just talk about the picture. It's pretty cute.

A Giraffe and a Half is our other standing favorite. Sorry for no picture. I'm lazy and didn't feel like going to get it and then taking a picture of it. It's a great book, though. Be warned, you say the same stuff over and over and over again as the giraffe keeps collecting items. It's hilarious how he 'loses' them all, too!

Go to your library and check these out!

Pi Party

Our pies. I think Colin was eying which one he wanted.

Yesterday was Pi Day -- and no, I'm not a closet math geek, I just like a good excuse to throw a party. And a party about pie, oh yeah! I got the idea from a blogging buddy who has been throwing Pi Parties the last couple years and decided that this was the year we were going to start having our own Pi Party - and so we did.

There were about 20 of us in our little house, but it was so much fun. I made my Key Lime Pie as well as a new one: Banana Cream! (You can see those recipes on the food blog if you're so inclined.) There was also an apple, a bumble berry, and a chocolate caramel pecan...pure decadence. Lots of laughter, too, of course, and kids going crazy -- it was so much fun.

We squeezed 8 of 10 kids onto this table. It was fantastic.


Colin got his choice and he was happy.


Evan and his 'Nana Cream Pie.


A little storytime.


The aftermath.

One fine day...

Today was a spectacular day.

Scot was home in the morning. We were all able to have breakfast together. We played (and picked up) the playroom together. We just were -- and it was amazing.

To bolster our glorious morning, the late morning proved to be what I like to call a "Denver Day". The skies were perfectly clear, the sun was out, and the snow was melting. The boys and I took full advantage and played outside.

Well. They played. I cleaned the car.

I even left the front door wide open when we went in to have some lunch. The smell of the fresh Spring air was invigorating. I literally went around the house singing I was so happy. I almost did a little gig, too. Almost.

He has been begging to ride his bike for the last few weeks. The sunny day I've been promising finally arrived.


Getting some much needed Vit D and loving it

Green Eggs and Pancakes

Tonight for dinner, Evan asked for Green Eggs and Ham. Since I didn't have any ham just laying around, we thought that pancakes would be a good stand-in.


A helpful brother. They both loved their dinner!


Drew-boy especially -- he just kept asking for more. And more. And more. Maybe there's a reason he's just shy of 22 lbs.

Oh Spring, why must you tease us so?

Yesterday the weather was very bearable. It hadn't snowed in four wonderful days, and even though it rained non-stop for two of them, it was nice to see the ground again. I even caught a glimpse of something growing in my little flower garden. Just a few green shoots reaching toward the sky.

But no more.

We got dumped on last night. And when I say dumped on, I don't mean just a few measly inches, I mean almost a foot had accumulated by 8:30 this morning when Scot went out and shoveled for an hour so he could get to work.

And it's still coming down (although not as fast, thankfully) five hours later.

My man, shoveling the heavy wet white stuff this morning


Here you can actually see the bottom 'rail' of the fence. You can't right now.


Even though I don't like what all this snow means (read: bundling kids up, slower driving, freezing cold, not seeing the ground again for a while...) it is pretty.

Well, it's happened...

...I now have more people wanting to read the blog (whether or not they do on a regular basis) than I am allowed to have with a private blog.

I love that people want to keep up with me via the blog and since I can't really tell who all reads it and who wouldn't even notice if I kicked them off the "private readers" list, I've decided to just go public again.

I know. Gasp.

Seriously, though, the random person who randomly happens upon my blog will not find much specific information about us and be able to stalk us. If for some reason someone were to use my pictures for something horrible, I just pray that I will never find out. And I may just start stamping them just in case. But since they're all downsized and cropped most of the time, they wouldn't really do much good to anyone else. I think.

Anyway. This is just to let you all know that you no longer need to follow the "updates" blog anymore. Just follow this one and you'll be fine!

New things

Ahhh...we are in the throws of major changing and growing right now. Here are just a few things to give you all a taste.


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A conversation between Evan and I:

Me: Do you remember anything from before Drew?
E: Yes.
Me: You do? You remember times when it's just you and mommy? (shocked!)
E: Yes. Evan bored. Evan bored without Drew.

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Drew sometimes comes up to Evan and slobbers all over him giving him kisses. He also hugs him, but sometimes, he pats Evan's head.

Sometimes, Evan hugs and kisses back (usual response) and says "Oh, good brother love" and other times, he jerks back, looks at Drew, and says, "Be kind, Drew. Be kind!"

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Evan's funniest word that he mispronounces right now is "correctly". It comes out as queckely

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Drew is now a pro on the steps. So much a pro that I let both of them play on the steps while I make dinner. I figure Evan is right there to help if needed, and if one of them falls, it's only 6 steps, right? Thankfully, though, that hasn't happened yet.

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Evan has always slept with Jolly, his little blue Ty Giraffe. Over the last year, he has added more stuffed animals to the list. Blue Bear being 2nd in command. I used to say that I would never let my child sleep with tons of stuffed animals. And I'm not, really. Because while he likes them, and he does actually sleep with Jolly and Blue Bear on occasion, this is typically what happens:

He puts them all to sleep. On their tummies.

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Recently, we've been trying to explain to Evan that princesses are girls. Seeing as he has so many little girl friends, he is exposed to lots of princesses and he really likes them. He likes them so much that he told us the other day he was a princess.

Then we had the talk, again, about how he's a boy and that princesses were girls and since he's a boy he gets to be a prince. And boy did I talk up the prince. Riding horses, jumping off towers, and of course, saving the princess (who just had the boring job of siting and looking pretty)!

So the other day he came up to me and said: "I'm prince, mom! I save princesseses!"

Good boy, Evan!!!

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It's official - I have finally graduated! For the first time in almost three years, I am babybag-less. And I love it. I'm really just a wallet, chapstick, keys kinda girl, so those cute little clutches that were oh so popular when I was pregnant with Evan worked great. Now, though, considering I do still keep a toy, some snacks, and a single diaper just in case, the larger purse was a bit more accommodating.

Twenty-seven...again

Scot has this thing about growing old. His mantra is "you're only as old as you feel", and since he still feels 27, we celebrated his 27th birthday this morning. For the third time.

Seeing as he had to work today (but not until 10!), I sent him to work with his birthday cake and we celebrated over breakfast and with a walk since the sun decided to pop out a wee bit to say Happy Birthday, too.

Baked Oatmeal (Scot's favorite of favorite breakfasts) with a candle...and two blowers!


We were all so excited for Scot to open his presents, even Drew got caught up in it and started to clap!


Evan was all anticipation as Scot open the present from him. He just kept jumping up and down saying "So excited, daddy! SO EXCITED!"


Evan's hand-picked present. A wasp. Or a Yellow-jackets. I can't tell. But he loves it.


My matching boys! Evan got this adorable Puma jacket in FL and Scot mentioned in passing that he wanted one to match. I took note and got him one, too!


I just love father-son photos!