Where is Wonder Woman?

[Source]

Not here. That's for sure!

When I was in kindergarten, my best friend Bre and I would sing this little song. I'm not sure if we made it up (I think not, but I can't find remnants of it anywhere on line) or where we would have learned it, but it went something like this:

Where is Superman when you need a helping hand?
Don't look for Wonder Woman when trouble is a comin'
And please don't count on Batman, to cover your mistakes,
I highly recommend a supernatural grace.
Supernatural (Peter walked on the water)
Supernatural (Jesus made instant wine)
Supernaturally!

I had this song randomly running through my head last night - or very early this morning rather - and got to thinking.

Sometimes, my pride gets in the way and I think to myself that I must be part Wonder Woman with all that I do. Christ-following church-goer, wife, mother, homemaker, cook, maid, friend, accountant, and so much more. The list goes on as it does for all of us who are living and breathing. The amount of stuff we do in a day is amazing at times.

But DEAR ME! How horrible to think that any of it is ME!

It's ONLY with the Lord's help and lots and lots of grace that I get through each day with the boys, wearing any and all of the above "hats".

Amazing how a song from twenty years ago can be so convicting at 4:30 in the morning, but it was. And how ashamed I am at the pride that has tainted my view of myself.

Oh, the process of sanctification.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil 4:13 And really, I can only do things because HE does give me the gumption to do them.

Thank you, Lord, for giving me the ability and the desire to do the things I do!

Pictures

Pictures are now up in an album. Have fun!

Colorado Adventure: Week Three

Here we are at the end of our wonderful vacation! The time here has not gone too fast, but it certainly hasn't dragged either. We've been pleasantly busy and happy. This past week has been full of adventure! Some of the highlights are:

America the Beautiful Park is home to the Penrose Fountain. What fun we had! The boys played and splashed and were soaking wet by the time we were done. A very fun friend, Elisa, made the trip down from Monument to hang with us and have lunch (thank you!). It was a very summery adventure to say the least.



Reading in the hammock. Literally hours have been spent and piles of books gone through by Evan and Grammy. It's one of his daily highlights, I think, and one of the things he (and my mom) will miss most.



Blueberry ice cream. One of the many perks of being here is that my mother owns a Vitamix (can we say Christmas Wish List?) and she makes all different types of cold yummy treats, to include Blueberry ice cream that we enjoyed on the front patio. Oh. My. Goodness. was it tasty. It was also quite the picture-moment when I realized that Drew (who was thankfully in just his diaper) was covered head to toe in it.



Kite flying. What is a childhood without the experience of flying a kite on a perfectly blue-skied-windy day? We've flown kites with the boys before, but this was the first time Evan got to "hold the reins" and he loved it!



General fun times with The Grandude and Grammy - it is so wonderful to see my folks loving on the boys and "spoiling" them with hugs and kisses and fun adventures and special treats (yogurt pops!) and sweet memories. Doesn't my mom look good without braces?!



Starsmore Discovery Center and picnic on the Cheyenne Creek! This place has all sorts of information on local birds, butterflies, flowers, animals, and vegetation. Evan had a blast making "tracks" in their sandbox with molds of deer, bear, and owl "foot prints". I had fun looking at all the varieties of butterflies. The picnic was just perfect, too. The boys played in the frigid water and splashed around to their heart's content. I didn't think to bring swimsuits for them, but they didn't seem to want to get more than their feet and hands wet anyway, so we were fine. They also had a great time raiding a wild raspberry bush - YUM!



The MOST beautiful rainbow we have ever ever seen. From one side to the other -- it was brilliant and awesome in the truest sense of the word. We saw all the colors - something I've only ever seen one other time. There was a double, too, and it was so neat for Evan to see and connect back to Noah and God's promise to us.



Outdoor concert and picnic. We love picnics - can you tell? A local church hosts live local music and treats guests to a simple meal of hot dogs, watermelon, chips, and drinks - but it was just what we needed. We met up with some friends and it was a great opportunity to just catch-up.

*****

We leave tomorrow morning -- and I just remembered that my original 2 hour layover in Chicago was doubled. Blah. Thank the Lord, though, for the fabulous play area they have for the kiddos. I'm thinking it will be a lifesaver this time tomorrow.

Hopefully, I'll have pictures uploaded over the weekend or very early next week, so check back for the link!

It doesn't get much better than this.

For a three year old, that is.

My mother's landscaper, Andy, is working to build a rock wall and some steps in their back yard area. Yesterday after naptime, Evan got the ride of a lifetime! Andy was kind enough to not only let Evan ride with him up and down the street, but also down into the back yard to place the rock in it's new home as part of the wall.

I wish I had close-up pictures of Evan's little excited face with audio. He absolutely glowed. It was about 15 minutes (longer than any amusement park ride, for sure) and about three times as fun as any other ride he's ever been on. He has such a servant's heart, so the fact that he was 'helping' Mr Andy with his work (on a dirt truck no less) was just the icing on the cake.

Just another reason that Grandude and Grammy's house is the best.

A few snaps.

Colorado Adventure: Week Two

I can't believe we're at the end of the second week already! But my goodness how thankful I am that we have another full week left here to enjoy everything! We've done so much, and still feel like there's so much to do.

This past week has been busy, but not quite as busy as the first. I think the lack of a birthday and holiday weekend had something to do with it. Overall, we've been spending time outside, going for walks, playing at more parks, splashing in the little kiddie pool, and playing with friends both here and in Denver. I have had a blast in the kitchen - check out the food blog to see some of what I've been up to! My grandmother left earlier this week and we keenly feel the lack of her presence - she was so good with the boys and really seemed to enjoy them as much as they did her. Lord willing, we will see her next year on our planned New England Autumn Adventure!

Some highlights of the past week:

ONE wonderful trip up to Breckenridge to include a stop on the way up in Woodland Park to the locally famous Donut Mill, a pit stop at Wilkerson Pass to take in the breathtaking view of the range and the continental divide, and of course, after window shopping and browsing, a wonderful lunch at the Breck Brewery.
TWO ice cream stops at each of our favorite ice cream shops. Old school soft serve at BJs, and local homemade goodness at Josh and Johns.
THREE different parks that we have visited and loved!
FOUR generations enjoying time together in the beautiful mountains
FIVE crazy minutes at bath time including me getting Drew out of the tub, Evan getting in, me getting ready to put a diaper on Drew but getting interrupted by screams from the bathtub where Evan had decided to wash his hair himself with body wash, successfully getting soap all in his eyes that I rushed to wipe and rinse out while Drew, crying, walked into the bathroom and peed on my feet. Go ahead - laugh. I did.
SIX fabulous friends who made time to visit me while in Denver for an entire morning. They're the best.

Some random tidbits on the boys:

Evan yesterday to me as I was taking my multi-vitamin:
"Does that make your smugit feel better?" (after a while, I figured out that my "smugit" was actually my "stomach"!)

Evan on the highlight of his day:
"Reading stories with Grammy." An almost daily occurrence, because what's a trip to "grama's house" without story time?!

Drew, who we've always known to be an eater, is outdoing himself. Maybe he's growing, maybe he's just enjoying all the yummy food, all I know is that we gawk at his ability to put insane amounts of food away.

Playing out on the back patio. Where else can you play in a pool with that view?


Wilkerson Pass - all 4 generations present!


The little dudes with the grandude. (My dad has a pictures of him holding Jared and me as kids in this exact spot in Breck - the plan is to put the pictures side by side)

Just some of the ladies in Denver!


OK you Ohio people - this is what we call a cloudy sky in Colorado!


Some extra-special reading time with Grammy. He found some ear muff things and kept telling me "I need it. My ears are cold."

Teach Them Diligently

This is one of the books I brought with me on vacation. Not exactly light reading, but very beneficial. It was easy to read, but it was a lot of material to digest.

This is a book that Ginger Plowman recommends in her book, Don't Make Me Count to Three, and after reading this book, I can see where Ginger gets some of her information.

If you've read Don't Make Me Count to Three, I would still suggest reading this. It really breaks down how to correct, convict, teach and train your child with Scripture. Which is very helpful.

Lou Priolo uses Scripture to make his points, which is nice, but there's not a lot of application. You have to apply the principles yourselves - which is fine, but I like books that really tell you how something could look. Priolo's voice, too, is a little condescending for my liking. I don't know if it was because he failed to put himself on the same playing field as the reader, or if is is simply a male voice and mind set and I'm female.

Colorado Adventure: Week One

Oh dear me. There is so much to tell that I have to get a head start on it now. So even though we've been here over a week, I'm going to update you all in week long increments. Sound good? I figured three weeks is a bit much to try and squeeze into one blog post, especially with how busy we've been.

Alright. Where to even begin?

We've had a blast so far and we expect that trend to continue. Beautiful dry heat, cool mornings, blue skies, and huge mountains -- life is good. Landing a few days before the 4th of July weekend put us hitting the ground running. We are thankful to have my grandmother visiting for a time, too, so that makes all our outings ever more fun. We've taken a trip to Garden of the Gods, walked and eaten at The Trading Post where Evan was able to pan for "golden treasures", and we were all able to enjoy buffalo something in our meal. We played in Manitou Springs one morning, having a blast at the penny arcade and especially playing Skeet Ball after a delicious breakfast at The Pantry in Green Mountain Falls. We've had days dedicated to parks and picnics and ice cream. Nights dedicated to pizza, popcorn, and a movie. Days where we do nothing at all but hang around the house playing with toys and splashing in the kiddie pool. This is vacation. If only Scot were able to be here -- then it would be that much closer to perfect.

And let's not forget Evan's actual birthday party! We had dear friends with us and Scot's uncle dave and his wife, Jenny with us, too. It was so special. I made an airplane birthday cake that he loved and he really enjoyed seeing everyone, too. He was prince for a day, and although he didn't like wearing the actual crown, he did enjoy all the special treats and treatment. Seriously, though - who wouldn't?

For the 4th - we did some festivities at the post on Sunday night and that was good to get us in the mood for celebrating our countries independence the next day. We packed a he picnic lunch on Monday and headed down to a local park that was hosting an art fest and live music all day long. We had so much fun - especially since this particular park has an amazing water fountain area where literally 100 kids can play and splash around. The boys were loving life. We're planning on a trip back and hoping that it'll be a little less crowded.

I have had a good time with friends, too. Another dear friend made a trip down here with her kids to spend the day with us. We had so much catching up and watching the kids play together -- sweet times. I was also able to grab lunch with a friend one afternoon, which was a treat to get out and have a girlie hour boy-free. My mom wasn't complaining. :)

As for the boys:

Evan is now paci-free. I've been prepping him for the last few months that once he turned three that he was then a big boy and he no longer got a paci at bed. I was a little nervous. New bed. Different surroundings. A brother in the pac'n'play at the end of his new bed to distract him. But I shouldn't have worried. Except for asking for it at bed the first night, he's been just fine. He also has continued taking good naps - something I was a little worried about.

Drew is finally -- after a week -- onto a good schedule. He got onto Mountain Time during the day after just one night. But he kept waking up at 5am and then taking a morning nap to compensate. So after a hard morning where I didn't let him nap, we were fine. But my goodness, that. was. rough. He's also teething - but thankfully doesn't seem to mind too much, for which I'm thankful.

We're all having so much fun hanging with my folks. They are so kind and generous to have us for three weeks. It's truly a vacation. I'm also getting to play around in my mother's huge beautiful kitchen and look through all her cookbooks. I'm finding lots of fun stuff and we've already made some pretty yummy treats. The food blog is my next stop this afternoon. I can't wait to share what I've discovered and made!

I'll show a few pictures now, but the big photo album link will be once I get home.