puh

Everyone knows that we have been sick a lot since moving to Louisville.  It's just gotten worse and worse as time goes on, and lately it's been twice a month that Maryn gets a stomach virus or we all get something absolutely dreadful.  I had been taking Sudafed or other allergy medications every day for at least three weeks, had constant headaches and migraines and just felt generally exhausted at all times.  I don't think I had ever even taken Sudafed before in my life.  Maybe once a year in Florida, when the orange blossoms came out in Immokalee.  But other than that, I've been pretty healthy before moving here.  Maryn never had any illness aside from one fever from teething and a runny nose.  And now she's violently throwing up every other weekend?  That is not normal.  Even if she IS two and touches every thing in sight (and eats everything in sight), we should not be catching every germ we come in contact with.

Here are some things we are doing.  Please pray for us as we try to improve our health!

Vitamins:  We fell of the vitamin train a few months ago and have jumped back on, taking Flintstones vitamins and Vitamin D gummies daily.

Air Purifiers:  We got a huge one in our living room and one for Maryn's room.

Vacuumimg Daily:  Someone shoot me now.  But...it does make our house seem a lot cleaner.  We also got a handheld vacuum so I can sweep up little messes without getting the big vacuum out.

Bleach:   My old friend.  I thought I said goodbye to bleach long ago, but I'm currently wiping things down with bleach every day.  Just in case that black stuff I see on our floor is mold.

Dehumidifier:  We need one!  But we're working on it.

Opening windows in the early morning and at night, using our air conditioner less.

We tested for mold in our a/c unit....EW!  I don't know if we'll pay the $30 to have it tested to see what kind of mold is in there, but ew.  Ew.  Ew.  Ew.

The air purifiers are making a huge difference.  I have A LOT more energy lately.  And I have been drinking LESS caffeine, and I didn't sleep well at all last night.  

I feel like I have been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning.  Like overboard cleaning.  And our house doesn't look clean.  I know it truly is clean, but yesterday I spent two hours cleaning behind the fridge and stove, etc., and so the rest of the house stayed messy.

 I am completely overwhelmed by clutter.   I would like to send my children to a babysitter's house one day and seriously give away about half of their toys and MOST of their clothes.  I can't take it!

I also desperately need to go through our clothes and sort out winter and summer.  I wear about three outfits so I don't know why we have so many clothes.  None of them even fit me correctly.  I desperately need to go on that show What Not to Wear.  Why is it that my kids have a trillion toys and all these cute clothes, and yet I don't have anything to look pretty in?  Our Yard Sale day is coming up and I'm selling toys and kids' clothes and I'm going to buy myself a pair of shoes, for goodness sake.  And maybe some underwear if I'm really lucky.

SDO

On John's work schedule at Target, SDO means Scheduled Day Off.  He usually has an SDO on Thursdays. Those are also the days I tend to take off.  Meaning, I sleep in because I know he is here to help and I relax on the couch with him during nap time instead of cleaning.  Well today I only slept in a little and I spent a good two hours or so getting some spring cleaning chores done around the house.  And I made cookies, too!  I actually felt like I had some energy today.  And I only drank two cups of coffee.  And some iced tea :)

 Start 'em young!  Haha.  I actually took these pictures just to show you some of the CUTE clothes Josiah got from our neighbor, Eli!!

I think the air purifiers we got are making a difference.  I haven't taken Sudafed or any allergy medication in three days.  I've still had headaches, but not a single headache today.  I was taking Sudafed and ibuprofen or Tylenol every day.  Maryn seems to be sleeping better, but oddly enough, John and I have not been sleeping well.  We got new sheets!  Maybe that's why.  I like old sheets.

I honestly have been taking so many pictures of Maryn but she doesn't stay still!  All her photos are blurry.  She has been so much fun.  She is pretending and her imagination is so good.  She's been inviting us over to her "house," which is her little kitchen, but she uses her washer and dryer door as her house's door, and we have to knock, and then she lets us in and tells us to sit down for a tea party.  Yesterday an imaginary friend named Fox joined us for tea, and today an imaginary friend named Pinko came.

ok...the end.

Girly Girl Monday

 Only two of my "students" could come over yesterday for Preschool Monday, so we had a special girls' day.  We dressed up, had a tea party, did lots of reading, and made butterflies.  We also had a dance party!

 Well, there was ONE boy.  Who got a lot of attention!

Lily, Gabbi, Maryn and Mara.

Resurrection Sunday/Easter 2011

I'm still conflicted over whether or not to call this day Resurrection Day or Easter and what exactly we should do on this day.  But I really liked what we did this year.  We used Noel Pipers idea for "Lenten Lights" in her book Treasuring God in Our Traditions.  After spending some time studying the gospels, I planned to read a different part of the events leading up to the death of Jesus and his resurrection.  We also made the little mountain and did the little activities explained in this article.  I find it kind of silly to try to make things that are clearly Easter (eggs, bunnies) into Resurrection things, so I tried to keep them as separate as possible, saving the Easter stuff for after nap time on Easter Sunday. 

I'm glad we did stuff all week leading up to Resurrection Sunday because no matter what I did, I think Maryn was going to be more excited about eggs and candy than she was about a chenille-stem Jesus conquering death and sin.  Well, when she woke up this morning I excitedly told her, "Jesus is alive!  He is risen!"  But instead of being excited about Jesus, she wanted to get started making the bunny cake and she had to check on her beloved colored eggs in the refrigerator.  Ahhh well.  If she grows up to be a heathen just because we made a bunny cake, so be it. 

We made two precious little bunny cakes.  It was so easy!  It was actually easier than making a real two-layer cake the proper Wilton way that I learned at JoAnn's.  You can watch the how to video here.  I only had one regular sized cake pan (I do actually have two, but I couldn't find one :)), so I had to use a small one and a regular one.  The results were adorable, despite my sweet husband making an honest attempt to be generous, bought frosting with chocolate chips in it.  The chocolate chips made it a little weird. 

The Mommy Bunny is a little skinny on the sides.  I definitely should have put some extra batter in the large pan.  The eyes are mini marshmallows, the noses are Cadbury chocolate eggs (OMGOSH SO GOOD) and the mouth is a pretzel. 

Here are my little monsters before church.  We attended the first service and then served in Maryn's class.  It was neat to meet some of her little friends.  

Here's me and my sweet baby girl, with our two Easter baskets.  Our first Easter with two!

 In perfect Erdman style, Josiah did his egg hunting around his exersaucer.  If you want a flashback to Maryn's first Easter and her egg hunt around her exersaucer, click here.

 After our Easter egg hunt, we got to work on dinner (the cake, steak kababs, cheesy potatoes) and tried our best to just have fun with the kiddos without doing a lot of cleaning or other un-fun things.  Here's Maryn and Daddy doing her new princess puzzle "together."

Maryn got an adorable new Easter basket with candy, plastic eggs full of more candy, a giant princess puzzle and a princess dress up sticker book.  Josiah got a really cool soccer ball, a Snoopy Bunny and an Easter bunny book.  We used a neat little metal pail with trains, planes and vehicles all over it.  It's going to look great in his room, which we're trying to make more little boyish.  :)

It was a very Happy Easter and I am feeling super blessed.  Not only do I have a risen Savior, but I have a beautiful family as well.  It's so much more than I deserve! 

Creativity

 Sometimes I think I must misrepresent myself on my blog because I've been having a few moms come up to me and ask where I get my ideas.  And then they ask if they can send their kids to me for art class.  I seriously don't do "crafts" or art stuff on purpose; it usually just happens.  Or my Aunt Cathy sends us stuff that we just have to put together.  :)  Anyway, it occurred to me that there probably are a lot of little things I do without thinking about, maybe because I was an artsy little girl or maybe because I was a teacher.  And I was a teacher who desperately tried to find ways to work creativity into every subject just in case the principal walked in and wondered why we were painting.  :)

So here you go.  I'm doing a blog post about some things I do that are just what I do. 

First, I keep a Sterilite set of drawers inside our cabinet in the dining room.  Our dining room is not fancy and we have a table we inherited from the Wineys who inherited it from their parents who inherited it from their uncle.  So if it gets scratched or marked on, who cares?  There's just more important things to worry about.  Anyway, I LOVE Sterilite drawers.  I reorganize them quickly to suit my needs or moods, and I just leave a drawer out on our table all the time.  That's right.  24-7, there is a little Sterilite drawer on our dining room table full of whatever art supplies I'm in the mood to deal with.  Usually markers, scissors, and sometimes glue.  Elmer's glue, not glue sticks. 

Markers:  Markers are easier to clean off walls and tables than crayons.  And though the kiddos may get messy, they usually come clean eventually.  There are big consequences for coloring on anything other than paper.

Scissors:  Maryn understands scissors are for paper.  Sure, one day she may cut her hair and it will be a travesty.  She might cut her brothers hair, her shirt or her eyelashes.  But for now she does understand scissors are for paper and sometimes I just let her go for it. 

Other times, I cut her strips of paper and she cuts out squares, or I give her a hole punch (we also have heart and butterfly punches) and let her go for it.  Then she loves to glue down whatever she cuts out.  It makes a huge mess, but I just sweep it (no biggie) into the trash, usually soon after she makes it.  Or we show it to daddy and I throw it away after she's in bed.  She usually doesn't mind. 

 Elmer's Glue (not glue sticks):  Glue sticks are for sissies.  They don't work, for one thing, and kids like to use them as chap stick.  Or they roll them up too far.  Glue sticks are basically for one-time use.  We do have some, but I've yet to figure out how to teach kids how to use them properly and honestly, Elmer's is easier to clean up. 

 Here's a day I felt very artsy.  I got into our scrap fabric (courtesy Michele, thanks girl!), and let Maryn choose fabric for a shirt, pants, and whatever she wanted.  Then we used beads and sequins and bows, etc.  I had all this stuff in a make-your-own-card kit someone got me years ago for Christmas.  I don't like scrapbooking or making my own cards, so that stuff always gets used by Maryn.  :)

Having art supplies on our table 24-7 may not be socially acceptable, but it encourages creativity and brings us closer as a family.  Sometimes we all just end up drawing pictures together and we see each others' talents (John loves to draw geometric figures and architectural-like drawings, Maryn loves to draw families, and I just draw whatever Maryn asks me to). 

Stickers:  I've really enjoyed stickers, especially since Uncle Mark gave Maryn a HUGE sticker book full of stickers by Melissa and Doug when she was about a year old, and I realized how great it was for her vocabulary.  At that time, she pretty much just put them into piles.  But then she started sorting them and naming them and it was just a lot of fun.  She still doesn't make "pictures" with stickers like adults might, but she puts them in rows, makes checkerboards, sorts them, or makes designs.  And it keeps her busy!

One thing about stickers is I know they can ruin clothes, walls, furniture and wood.  So I take that pretty seriously, especially now that we have a crawling baby.  So stickers are for paper only. 

Watercolors:   If paint really intimidates you, I'd really encourage you to try watercolors.  Just put about half a cup of water into a heavy plastic cup (harder to tip), use cheap watercolors and cheap paintbrushes and let your kiddos go for it.  Watercolor sets can be as cheap as $1.  I tell Maryn when she begins to remember to rinse her brush before she dips in another color, but she usually does watercolors ALL on her own.  And she does mix the colors, but really it's not that big of a deal.  It takes a good bit of mixing to really ruin them and I have about 6 more sets ready for her.

Paint Shirt:  I gave Maryn my cute froggy T-shirt and she just loves it.  I think sometimes the heavier paint shirts or smocks can be annoying to kids as they work.  Any old shirt will do.  We only use the paint shirt for tempera paints, and really I've never had a marker or paint stain not come out.  I don't think her paint shirt even has stains on it. 

We don't do a whole lot of cutesy crafts that are china-cabinet worthy or even refrigerator material.  Just because something is a craft, doesn't mean it's creative.  I love it when Maryn comes home from church with a super cute craft (that mostly her teacher put together), but at our house I just want her to feel free to create.

I think one of my secrets to doing "art" with Maryn is that I just do it without thinking about it.  Sometimes I completely regret that we started.  Tempera paint, for example, seriously takes a big commitment because you can't just STOP without cleaning up (don't do tempera if you have a new baby!).  And there is some preparation involved (paint shirt, paint brushes, water).  But for the most part the things we do take zero prep and are about as easy to clean up as any toys would be.  Maryn is a pro with the broom and dust pan, too!  She can wash her hands completely on her own and wipe the table pretty well, so those things help me a lot.

totally random update :)

 Daddy had two days in a row off work and we did so many fun things!  We even colored Easter eggs.  Maryn thought "coloring" eggs meant we were going to color them with markers and crayons, so we colored them with crayons first and then put them in the dye.  The results were fabulous.  The egg dying itself was, um, chaotic.

Here's a random picture of Maryn with some of our neighbor friends today.  She's giving Chloe a glare like that because Eli is bumping her truck and I think she thinks Chloe is doing it.  :)

 This picture is for Kendra.  Apparently her little girl who is Maryn's age likes to do things like this, too.  Maryn started off doing a checkerboard pattern here, but then she started sorting them and putting them into lines.  She has filled an entire paper before with a checkerboard pattern using stickers.  It freaks me out, but Kendra reassures me that it might be okay to channel this...?

 Josiah!  This boy does not stop.

Here, he did his first drawing.  I wasn't watching my children.  :)

He grabbed the pen and drew us a little picture on the Magna Doodle.

 Maryn's chenille stick people from her Easter mountain celebrated the Passover tonight. Maryn said,

"I put Judas over here so him don't get Jesus."

 I really wasn't thinking much when I made these stick people.  We did it so quickly.  

I just wanted to have one clearly be Jesus so I chose a white stick for him (pure, innocent),

orange for the disciples, pink for Mary Magdalene and purple for Mary the mother of Jesus.

And I chose black for Judas.  I know, I know.  This is terrible!  I didn't realize my mistake

until it was already done.  I'm not sure what I'll do next year but hopefully I'll have a little more discretion.

This picture above isn't very good, but Josiah was tackling Maryn and they were both laughing.  It was just funny.  I wanted to write down a few things Maryn said tonight.  She had a meltdown at bed time and she was yelling about something.  I could not figure out what she talking about, and she was behaving horridly, kicking and screaming and freaking out.  Sometimes she does that when she's really tired.  Well, when she finally calmed down, she said, "I saw the guys on the sidewalk."

I asked her, "What guys?"
"The guys with the vacuums.  Him was vacuuming the leaves."
"Oh, the leaf blowers?  During quiet time you saw him?  He is our friend.  He's nice.  He was just blowing the leaves off the sidewalk so you can ride your bike without falling.  He's our friend."
Maryn starting bawling again, lip quivering, fearful crying!  It was truly awful. 

It's really sad when kids are scared because we can't promise to always protect them.  What do you say to little kids who are truly scared of something?

Smart Kids

In preschool, a common activity is drawing a picture and then having the kids dictate to the teacher what they drew.  So I usually have our Preschool Monday kids draw as they arrive and then I ask, "Tell me about what you drew."  Here are some of their responses today (sorry, I didn't think to take pictures).

Mara, age 4:

"This is an Egyptian scooping water out of the river, but the river is just blood.  God turned it to blood because Pharaoh wouldn't let God's people go.:

Caleb, age 3:

"This is Adam and Eve.  Jesus said, "Don't eat from that tree!"  But they did and that's when the people first died."

And below, you can see the picture that Maryn drew.  :)))

Loving My Babies

 They are so cute.  Josiah is waving bye-bye.  It takes about 20 minutes of waving to really get him to do it.  But it's the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life, aside from all the other cutest things I've ever seen in my life.

 Preschool Monday!  Here the kids were sorting shapes.  We used the hexagons (SIX sides) to build a honeycomb.  Then we counted SIX legs on all the plastic insects (and put the arachnids in another group), and we ate SIX veggie straws and SIX pretzel sticks (they look like legs kind of, right?).  It was a fun day. 

 Maryn is trying to tell us she wants something, maybe?  Click on this picture to see...

Marynisms

After reading Corduroy today, I was telling Maryn she could be like the girl Lisa in the book who saved her money to buy a teddy bear. 

Mommy:  You can start doing chores to earn money to put in your piggy bank.  But you have to do your chores every day.  Then I will give you coins to save in your piggy bank.
Maryn:  Ohhh...(looking very, very interested).
Mommy:  Then you can buy anything you want at the store, if you save up enough money.
Maryn:  At Target?!
Mommy:  Yes, at Target.
Maryn:  Something pink maybe?
Mommy:  Yes.
Maryn:  Something fuzzy, maybe?
Mommy:  Yes.
Maryn:  Something pink AND fuzzy, maybe?

Maryn's School, Holy Week Day One

 This is our Easter Mountain.  So, the idea is to go through Holy Week day by day with your kids using this mountain and the chenille stem people.  It's sooooo weird and crazy, I know.  But I can already tell that this is really going to help illustrate what events led up to Jesus' death and resurrection.  I am excited to see what Maryn learns.  Tomorrow, Jesus will ride through Jerusalem on a plastic donkey.  The donkey is enormous in proportion to everything else.  And the cross is huge too.  Oh well. 

Here's some other school stuff we've been doing.  Maryn has totally been loving the butterfly unit from aunt Cathy.  See the butterfly she colored all by herself?  Her coloring is getting super impressive! 

 Oh, and I wanted to show you this book from Cathy that is really helping her learn to count and recognize numbers.  She loves I Spy books, so this kind of combines the two skills into one book.  Perfect!  If you're having trouble getting your 2 or 3 year old to count and recognize numbers, a book like this might help.  She loves it.

 We have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I told Maryn we were going to use these pieces of manila paper to make a caterpillar, so she painted this (the white mark was actually much smaller but she messed it up before I took the photo:)).  She said, "It's going to be a caterpillar." I had a flashback and thought...did she...remember...the book that we read like, two days ago???  So I opened up The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle,,,

 ...and saw this.

 Now I don't know what you think, but I think that really looks similar!  And cannot be just coincidence!

Isn't she cute in her paint shirt?  I'm not sure but I think she must get it from me.  Her cuteness, that is.  And her creativity.  And her memory.  ;-)

Huge, Huge Update

 This is how Maryn plays doctor.  She LOVES to play doctor with daddy.  He loves it, too because all he does is lay there.  Except for the times where she makes him hold thermometers in his mouth.  "Thermometers" meaning anything remotely possible of fitting inside his mouth.  In this picture above I believe he has a plastic pay phone (part of our train set) in his mouth. 

And here are the two most handsome guys I know:

 We had our first trip of the year to the Louisville Zoo.  I love having annual passes to our local zoo because each visit is different.  But Maryn's favorites usually tend to be the snakes and fish, which I think is because they are behind glass.  No, Maryn is not an animal lover.  A few years ago I would have been determined to make her one, but thinking back on all the strays I begged and begged and begged my mom to keep, I am a little grateful.

 Come on, Maryn!  Pet the goat!  See?  He's nice!  (Keep hating the goat, girlfriend.  It's okay.  Ugly, stinky, flea ridden animals with many potential diseases!)  I seriously can't believe myself. 

 This is my kind of animal!  One made of stone.  Or plaster.  Or something of that nature. 

I'm sorry about my lack of posting.  I have decided to make one really LONG post to update my blog mostly for my sake because a lot has been happening that I want to remember.

Sick:  Maryn was sick with another stomach virus.  John had some sort of cold or allergy.  Josiah definitely has an outdoor allergy.  And I have been in pure misery with yet another sinus infection.  I finally just got my sense of taste back yesterday (I had not tasted or smelled single thing since Monday)  and as soon as I realized it was semi-working, I dove into a bag of Oreos and smelled them for about 120 seconds straight.  It's not 100% yet, but I'm enjoying having some flavor in my life.

God:  God is incredible.  He made so many foods with so many tastes and gave us this amazing gift of taste and smell.  I am in awe.  I feel really pathetic begging God to give it back to me, but it's a serious handicap.

However, I have learned how diverse textures in food are.  And you know, some of the yummiest foods also have the best textures.  I find myself eating a lot of crunchy things lately.  Buttered popcorn still "tastes" better than unbuttered.  So I think many foods yumminess factor has to do as much with texture as it does with taste.

Motherhood:  I never realized how much I use my senses of taste and smell as a mom.  Does anyone have a poopy diaper?  Is that poop on the couch or chocolate?  Is that vomit or pizza rubbed into the carpet?  Is this milk bad?  Does your sippy cup smell funny?  Does our trash stink?  Does our house smell okay?  Is this taco meat too spicy?  Does the spaghetti sauce need more garlic?  Oy.  I have had a rough week. 

Visitors!  My in-laws visited Monday through Wednesday and we had a lot of fun.  We ate good food, too.  I think it was good.  It probably was.  They took good care of us and Donna even babysat while I worked in Food Line on Tuesday. 

My Children:  I am noticing so many differences in my kids as Josiah grows.  I remember when Maryn was his age.  She would sit and read books with me.  She could sit through a whole MOPS meeting and be mostly cooperative.  Josiah....um...he is a handful.  Sometimes people say to me about Maryn, "She is a handful."  I'm not sure what that means since to me, she's just my Maryn.  But Josiah.  He is so different than her.  He will not sit.  He will not look at books.  He wants to eat.  He wants up.  He wants down.  He wants Mommy.  He wants to play.  He loves to be held by anyone and will willingly stretch out his arms to jump into anyone's, with a big fat grin on his face.  But he will soon want you to jump on a trampoline or go skydiving with him. 

And now I know, since I have two, never judge another parent.  I used to kind of pat myself on the back.  Maryn is strong willed, yes, but she is mostly compliant.  She is smart and intuitive, helpful and hard working.  How ignorant I was to actually think I made her who she is.

Josiah.  When Maryn would turn and strain against me, I could say NO very firm, grip her hand, give her a stern look, and she would fall to pieces.  Usually she'd learn so quickly.  If I do the same thing to Josiah, he laughs.  He full out belly laughs in my "stern" face.  Sigh.  It's going to be fun.

Maryn is such a good girl when other kids are not around.  :)  Sometimes I really get fed up with it.

Josiah:  Josiah is definitely saying Mama a lot now but his other words, car and ball, he hasn't been saying as much.  But he is really trying to clap his hands and he was even waving bye-bye tonight.  I'm not sure if he was meaning to wave, but he had his hand right in front of his face and just kept waving at himself, you know how babies do.  He just did that off and on for about two hours.  So funny.

Church:  We've really been enjoying our new class.  Our church staff gave all of us children's ministry volunteers a date night, so we dropped Maryn and Josiah off from 6:00-9:00 pm on Friday and went to Olive Garden with members of our new class.  So one new friend works in Maryn's AWANA Honeybees class and she and her husband (who teaches the class) have five children, two who attend Dorothy Sayers Classical School (that's a two day a week school and the other days are spent at home).  Our other new friends who work in AWANA Cubbies with me have twin girls who are Maryn's friends.  Their dad is a police officer and might like Moe's as much as John does.  Another couple has adopted their two children, ages 7 and 5.  And another couple has three children, ages 8 months (Josiah's girl-friend), 3 and 5.  Their mom is a pharmacist!  I'm trying to resist the urge to call her and ask if it's okay if I take all the meds I want to take to relieve this sinus pressure...

So I think that about sums it up.  I should have gone to bed rather than write this long blog, but that's how I roll.  Hopefully I'll get a good sleep.  Actually, I think I have to write another blog because I just realized I missed some pictures. 
 

I'm watching Eat Pray Love and it totally sucks.  I don't get people.

The rich young ruler

"And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"  And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good?  No one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments, "Do not murder.  Do not commit adultery.  Do not steal.  Do not bear false witness.  Do not defraud.  Honor your father and mother."  And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth."  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing:  Go, sell all you have to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."  Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."  -Mark 10:17-22

Why does Jesus say, "Why do you call me good?  No one is good except God alone?"  If he is God in the flesh, why would he say this?  Jesus knew what was in this rich young ruler's heart.  If the young man had known Jesus as Christ the Lord, he would have called him so.  But he didn't, he just called him Good Teacher.  Isn't that what a lot of people say, that Jesus was a good teacher, but he couldn't have been the Christ?  But Jesus made clear, and the Bible makes clear, that Jesus is the Son of God, God in the flesh.  So if that is not true, Jesus is not a Good Teacher.  We must recognize him, as CS Lewis wrote, a liar, a lunatic or Lord.

My other question about this story has always been, why does Jesus go through the commandments, when we know salvation only comes by Him alone?  Again, Jesus knew this man's heart.  It's hard to believe this guy thinks he has kept all these commandments since his youth!  Imagine a 20 year old who has never entertained lustful thoughts (adultery)!  Has never lied, stolen, and has always, always respected his parents. 

But after he confidently said he has kept all those commandments, Jesus still "loved him."  This reminds me of those times when Maryn just says something really silly.  Maybe a little ignorant, but silly, and I just love her innocence and winsomeness.  I wonder what Jesus was thinking when this guy made this completely ignorant statement.  But he didn't laugh at him.  He didn't preach fire and brimstone at him.  He loved him.

And then, he really hits the guy with this statement:

"You lack one thing:  Go, sell all you have to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."  

See, Jesus knew that this young man had not followed the first and most important commandment.  You shall have no other gods before me.  And in one little statement, he proved his point.  The man could not sell his possessions because he loved his possessions more than he loved God.

This rich young ruler was probably just the kind of guy that you would hope your daughter would marry.  Wealthy, possibly a deacon in the church, upstanding citizen, well respected and loved by all.  He had followed all the "rules" of religion.  But he fell short.

We ALL fall short.  And sometimes, especially for me at seminary, religion can take over and rules can take over.  And it seems just stupid that I could fall into that trap.  The Bible warns against it again and again.  We cannot earn our salvation.  Living a good life is not what this is about.  I will always fall short.  I need Christ alone.  

The gospel demands surrender.  It does not demand all your possessions, but the surrender of your first love and your heart.  We need Jesus, not a set of rules.  I'll sum up with the questions Maryn knows the answers to...

Why did Jesus die?
Jesus died on the cross, in our place, to take the punishment which we deserve.

(Romans 5:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:19-21, Galatians 3:13, 1 Peter 3:18)

Is he still dead?
No.  He came back to life on the third day.

(Luke 24:1-8, 1 Cor. 15:3-4)

Where is Jesus now?
He's in Heaven with God!

(Romans 8:34, Col. 3:1, Hebrews 10:12)

Jesus took our shortcomings, our sin, upon himself on the cross, so that we could live. 

Friends and Dating

My kids were so cute today for church.  Maryn wore this super adorable polka dot dress and she even let me put a barrette in her hair.  Josiah joined a new classroom because he's getting around so well.  We were all so excited to get back to church.  We have joined a new class and we're really enjoying it.  I really want to be friends with everyone in the class but without being creepy, you know what I mean?  I feel like I'm dating again or something.  Is it too soon to ask them over for dinner?  Would it be better to meet up for lunch somewhere?  Or maybe just have a play date at the park?  What if our kids hate each other? 

One thing about making new friends with little kids is parenting strategies.  Just writing about it makes me want to shoot myself in the foot.  Not really.  Sort of.  Like, for instance, say one parent spanks their kid for doing something and then your kid does the same thing but you don't want to spank for that, even though their child was just disciplined for the same thing.  Well, then I feel weird about that.  What am I supposed to do?  It's awkward.

Or say for instance someone comments on the way your child says this or does that, like, if Maryn just says something rude to me and I ignore it but our friend comments, "Wow, that wasn't very nice, Maryn."  Then that's just awkward, right?

Sometimes I wish I just didn't have any friends.  Or that I just had family, best friends and acquaintances.  Acquaintances aren't close enough to say much.  And family and best friends, if they say too much I can just tell them exactly what I'm thinking or feeling.  But just plain friends.  Those are tough relationships.  And kids make it really complicated. 

sick again

Miss Maryn Louise is sick.  At first we thought it was because she ate too much broccoli.  Yes, she turned down my extraordinary fettucine alfredo (I licked the bowl.  John took one for the team and ate up Maryn's leftovers) and opted to eat a bunch of broccoli.  And just before bed, she snuck up to the table and shoved a whole bunch more in her mouth.  So when she threw it all up a few hours later, we really weren't that surprised.  But her fever and vomiting continued through the day and through this evening.  Poor baby girl.  It could have been the broccoli that made her sick, or maybe I didn't clean up properly after making the chicken, or maybe it was the cookie dough she ate, or maybe it was the disgusting gutter water she was playing in yesterday...or maybe she got from our neighbors who had the same thing a few days ago.  Sigh.  We just keep getting sick.  And I am sick of it!

Anyway.  In other news, I've been following a "schedule" that is not a list or normal schedule.  I am a list maker at heart, but I've found since becoming a mommy of two that lists are very defeating for me.  I can never accomplish everything on my list.  And once I start making a list, I can't stop.  And once I start filling out a calendar, I just keep thinking of more and more things to put on the calendar.  So then I go through my day trying to complete my list, not succeeding, blaming myself and my children or whatever gets in the way, getting angry...Now come on.  Sometimes I think to myself, this is ridiculous!  Who the heck cares (SERIOUSLY, who cares?) if the laundry gets folded today?  And then other times I think, why is this so hard?  This is not rocket science, people.  Why is this so hard?

For example, Josiah peed on our bed the other day.  Long story.  I had over 12 hours to get the sheets washed, dried, and put back on the bed.  We live in the 21st century.  I have a washer and a dryer, two hands and I don't think I had anywhere to go that day.  I had very little on my to do list.  I didn't even get the sheets dried. 

Enter my new genius idea.

6:00-8:00 am         ME TIME
8:00-10:00 am       KID TIME
10:00-12:00 pm    Household Time
12:00-1:00 pm      Kid Time
1:00-3:00 pm        Nap Time

ME TIME is whatever I want it to be.  Guilt free.  The goal is to get up, shower, have breakfast and have my quiet time with the Lord.  But if I don't, I don't.  If I decide I want to clean the bathroom, fine.  If I want to sleep, fine.  It's ME time.  I can do whatever I want with it.  If Josiah is awake, he gets what he needs.  He can sit in his high chair while I read. 

KID TIME is play.  Play, play, play.  Without thinking about chores or whatever.  And if neighbors stop by, who cares if my house is messy?  I've been loving this time with my kiddos!  We just play and play.  And Maryn seems to be catching on to this.  She knows when it's over, and she adjusts to that.  She knows she'll get more time with Mommy later.

Household time is basically cleaning up from breakfast, making lunch, having lunch, cleaning up lunch, etc. 

Nap time is usually putting the kiddos to sleep/settling them down, and doing whatever needs to be done during that time.  I have weekly chores to do during nap time (Monday:  Kitchen, Tuesday:  Floors, etc.) and I usually try to do 10-minute cleanup in each area of the house. 

I LOVE this!  It's amazing how much time I can truly spend with my sweet children without distraction and then I still get stuff done.  Maryn has been so much more behaved and both kids are driving me less insane.  I love it when I can get up at 6 and have great time alone.  But it's also nice to sleep in if I need to and realize, it's okay.  It's okay!

Butterflies!

I decided to really start the butterfly theme tonight that my aunt Cathy sent for us.  I had no idea Maryn would LOVE it all so much.  Here's what we did.

First, Maryn woke from her nap to find little orange slices shaped into butterflies.  Which was something I made up about 2 minutes before she awoke.  Then, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle very, very enthusiastically.  I got some good tips from my friend Laura's website here:  TeachMeToTalk  Sometimes I get into the habit of reading like I'm teaching first grade.  Maryn is bright, but she is still 2, and I need to be a little more enthusiastic when I read to her.  I remember the way Maryn and Tye would be captivated by Miss Laura's animation.  Not that I need to always be like that (that would be exhausting), but here and there I think it's helpful, especially with something as important as reading.

Earlier in the day, we made butterflies out of plastic baggies and hundreds of construction paper squares.  This was a perfect activity for Maryn!  She loves to cut.  Squares are so much fun and easy to learn how to cut from strips.  AND here's the best part--it all got cleaned up!  After the squares are cut, you can have the kids put all the squares in the baggie, then tie the middle up with a pipe cleaner and voila!  Butterfly!  Maryn made THREE.  I literally had to stop her.

Then for Math we did some patterning.  For writing we did a letter B worksheet (Cathy sent us a week long lesson plan and we followed it).  The we did a "discovery table" by making a "butterfly garden" with Easter grass, silk flowers, play caterpillars and our plastic baggie butterflies.  She loves this garden.

The we played our butterfly music and danced around like butterflies.  We pretended to be inside our eggs, hatching, eating the egg, then we crawled around and ate lots and lots and lots of leaves (our leaves were blankets and Josiah, which he really loved getting "eaten"), and then we made a chrysalis (our tunnel) and without any prompting, Maryn burst out of it shouting, "Look Mommy!  I'm a butterfly!"

After that, we sorted some magnetic food and some Colorforms food (I had a Very Hungry Caterpillar Colorforms set from teaching) into food groups.  She loves talking about food groups, courtesy of Sid the Science Kid.  But she doesn't have a clue, really.  Eh, it was fun anyway.  She was very disturbed when she realized The Very Hungry Caterpillar did not have any cereal.  She's also decided that dairy is her favorite food group because, "I like ice cream and cheese," she told me, as she licked the ice cream cone sticker.  Yum.

This is Maryn sleeping before our butterfly fun:

 Cutting, cutting, cutting:

 Cutting....(observe our little classroom in the background.  Ah!  I'm such a loser!  Get a life, Amanda!)

 What did Josiah do the whole time?  He had lots of fun.  He's been pulling up on everything.  He's never satisfied where he is.  He is always diving right on his head to try to get to things clearly out of his reach.  He has been starting to crawl but always wants the next thing.  Or me!  But when I'm holding him, he wants to jump.  Or scratch or be somewhere else.  Agh!

If you zoom in on this pic, you can see he has some bad allergies.

 Oh, she loves this butterfly garden!

 When we were pretending to be butterflies, we took a break to drink nectar (juice) from flowers (plastic cups with construction paper petals).

We had so much fun!  Thank you Aunt Cathy!

 I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always.

As long as I'm living,

 My baby you'll be.

(This is a picture of Maryn at Josiah's age, 8 months old)