What a guy!!

You know how sometimes you look at your kids and think "What am I missing? I've done SOMETHING to cause a rift between us, and I'm not quite sure what it is." You know those times, when they start misbehaving where they hadn't before. Well, I was seeing some new things sprout up in Quenton in the last month or so, and thinking those very thoughts. Instead of his usual cheerful, chipper self when asked to do something, I was getting a mellow "ok". Things that used to elicit an excited response, got little to none. My Mama heart knew something was "off". So, I started praying about it. God is SO good, and SO faithful! As I continued praying and seeking God's face, He reminded me of something I've read many times: For every one time you have to correct or rebuke your child, there should be 4 or 5 times that you are praising or speaking well of them.
As I started to reflect on my interactions with my children, and particularly Quenton, I had to admit to myself that I was/am really rather critical. Which, translates into me correcting/rebuking them a lot, and praising them only occasionally. It was causing my son to feel unappreciated, and probably bitter in some ways, among other things.

So, I began to pay closer attention to praising him, even for the little things. Within a day or two I noticed remarkable changes in him. He became more affectionate, showed a marked change in attitude, and seemed as though he was striving both to please me and the Lord.

One prime example of the change in him was: The other day we were sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch. He looked over at his little sister, who was drinking a green smoothie, and, as always, making quite a mess of her face. He started to laugh and say "Ari, you have a ....." He stopped mid-sentance and said "No, I shouldn't say that, that wouldn't be nice." I immediately knew what he'd been thinking of saying (she had a mustache) and my jaw nearly dropped while my heart nearly burst with pride. Even in the midst of finding amusement with something, he was taking time to listen to the Holy Spirit and reign in his tongue. He's four years old folks. Yet, he took time to think about and realize that perhaps saying that his sister had a mustache would not be a kind thing to say. My heart does and did rejoice with gladness at the maturity I saw/am seeing in Quenton. To God be the glory!!

A birthday fit for a one year old

I can't believe it's been a YEAR already!!! *shocked*
Yep, that's right. Caleb turned 1 this past Friday, June 5th.

We didn't do the standard birthday party as one normally thinks of birthday parties... but I think he enjoyed it none-the-less.

We started out by going to the park, and unfortunately I managed to forget my camera. Suffice it to say, they all had fun. That was followed by a trip to the thrift store to see if we could find anything that just called out "Caleb" to me. Not so much. We headed home for a nice long nap... I got Quenton up a little early and he and I got some good one on one time together searching out some toys and a cake for "Lubby".

All of the above made dinner late, so after dinner and cake there wasn't a whole lot of time left for anything but bed, so the gift opening came the next day. That's another post ;)

But, I do have plenty of cake pictures to share, so, that's got to be worth somethin' ;)

Quenton is picured here in an uncharacteristic show of "grubbiness" ... He's usually very precise and I was quite surprised to see him using his hands instead of his fork. :D



And even more to my surprise was Ari, who normally IS my grubby one, eating very delicate bites with her fork. Notice she's not wearing a bib (usually a very BAD thing), and there's nary a spot on her shirt.

This expression on Caleb's face begs the phrase "Pleased as punch".

There's MORE??!!!















Hooray for Cake!!!!! :)