Determined Moms Wait in Blizzards...

I decided that since Brian was going to be in seminar all day at school, I would get the kids out to see this great "Cars 2" exhibit at the transportation museum.  It was a free event, and advertised that it had life-size cars from the movie.  Cool right?  I hyped it up with the boys, and off we went. 

I figured that since we would most likely just be getting out of our car, walking into a warm building to look at the exhibit...no need for big heavy jackets that I'll have to carry. There would probably be ropes and a bunch of their cars, and we walk around and look and enjoy ourselves.  Just long sleeves and fleeces will do right?  *side note* check weather before leaving!

The exhibit was up this long hill, and there was a LONG line.  So we waited, and waited some more, inching forward.  Then it started to snow....and I mean SNOW.  Keep in mind, we're still not in heavy jackets.  I felt so bad for the kids, but we had already waited in line at this point, and they wanted to see Lightning McQueen. 

(waiting in line when snow just began)

(Bronson looking at advertisements while in line)

(waiting to see Cars)

We finally make it up there, and it was an outside pavilion with 3 cars.  Tow Mater, Lightning McQueen, and the blue one.  Basically, you could pick 1 car to get your picture in front of....they hand you a card, and you can look at it on your computer after 48 hours.  What?!  We can't even walk by all the cars to look at them.  Who designed this set up....clearly not a parent. 

We walked through the blizzard back to the car, (I warned all parents in line on my way back...I would have wanted to be warned)...kids were snotty nosed, red faced and Bronson was crying at this point.  Oh forgot to mention, that I had Bronson (40 lbs) on my hip for an 1 1/2 hours b/c otherwise, he would have ran everywhere.  We make it inside our car, and I look turn around in my seat and look at both boys staring at me.  Bronson is crying snot everywhere, hands red and puffed up like balloons they are so cold, and Brock wet with snow.  Then I started crying b/c I felt so bad, that it was so cold, and it wasn't what we were expecting.  So we all sat in our car crying. lol!  We got over it once the car warmed up, and now home eating a snack and drinking hot chocolate.  I'll be sure to post the "free picture" that we got with Tow Mater, once they post it online.  I'm sure it's quite hilarious.

(On our way home,....this is what we stood outside in)

Here it is....Here is the infamous picture we waited out in the blizzard for.

all I can say is....wow.

"Thank You" is for another day

I took the boys to the library today, and I usually let them check out a couple of dvds along with their books.  Bronson usually finds a Thomas the Train or Veggie Tales dvd that he likes, and then holds a death grip on it until we have to go.  When it's time to check out our books, I have to pry it out of his hands to let the lady scan and unlock the case.  During this time the "quiet" library is all staring at a screaming red face child.....who doesn't understand that he will eventually get the dvd back.  HOWEVER, today was thankfully different.

Bronson found a Veggie Tales dvd that he wanted, and I kept reminding him during the course of the library.."Bronson, you can take that home, but the lady is going to have to scan it first.  You are going to have to hand it to the lady".  I wasn't sure how much he was grasping, but nonetheless, it was check out time.  We walked up to the counter and Bronson WILLINGLY HANDED OVER THE DVD.  No questions asked.  I was amazed.  I said, "Good job Bronson!"

The library lady proceeded to go slower than molasses to check it out.  Bronson, not screaming, but insistently saying over and over below the counter...."tales, tales, tales, etc..."  "I know, bud, she's going to check it out and hand it back to you, good job.".  Meanwhile, I'm staring at her,...HURRY UP.  Then the 'all knowing' library lady tries to hand him a book mark to distract him.  Bronson throws the bookmark at her and says, "TALES!".  She asked me what he was saying, and I said, "He is saying Veggie Tales, if you could just please unlock it and hand it to him." lol.

She gives it to him and he smiles.  I was so proud of him!  Then the 'all knowing' library lady says sarcastically, "oh, was that supposed to be a 'thank you'?"  Expecting him to have said thank you to her.  Which probably a child that is his size and age, should, but she has no idea what a daily struggle or victory is in his life.  I just smiled at her and shook my head and said, "You know what?....I am so proud of him right now, for willingly handing that dvd to you.  You have no idea what a huge deal that was for him."  I look at Bronson, rub his head and said, "Proud of you, bud". 

Yes, "thank you" can wait for another day.

                                                                

Boys' Birthday!!!

I decided to do another video blog of the boys' birthday.  Brock turned 5 and Bronson turned 3.  Wow, time flies.

The boys had a GREAT time at their birthday!  They were worn out by the time we got home, and fell right to sleep with their new Woody the Sherriff and Buzz Lightyear!

Positive Reinforcement

1 Peter 1:13-14
"Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance."

Two lines stuck out to me today when reading this. "prepare your minds for action"--our minds are so clouded with useless information, or distractions rather,...how can God speak to me, if my mind is too distracted to notice.  We have to make a conscious effort to quiet our minds. 

"As obedient children..."-- This stuck out to me b/c I'm a mom, and desire to have obedient children.  We are God's children, and of course He wants His children to be obedient, have good attitudes, etc...  One thing I do with my children is positive reinforcements.  Not bribes, but reinforcers. (a bribe is when you give the blessing before the task....a reinforcement is given after the task is completed...just to clarify)  I'll tell Brock that when he completes such and such, or if he can sit quietly during mom's meeting etc..., then we will have this reward, or get to do this. I desire for him to complete his task!  I desire for him to see the reward that I have in store for him!  How much more does God our Father want to give us HIS reward?  Simple.  Be obedient.  But, it's not so simple is it?  So often we want our immediate man-made blessing....when there is a much better one ready to be handed out by God.

Happy 6 Years!

Brian and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on March 5th.  We got a babysitter and we just had a nice night out.  We went to BedBath&Beyond, out to dinner, and shopping.  We decided to do a video blog of the night with our new flip cam that Brian won in a contest. :-)  Enjoy!

I'll sit the bench!

I titled this blog, "I'll sit the bench!" because that was my goal concerning Bronson 6-8 months ago.  I wanted to be able to sit on the bench at the park and watch both of my boys slide down slides, climb the ladders, and pretend they are on a big pirate ship, on the park's jungle gym.  It warmed up this past week a little bit, so I took the boys to the park, and guess what....I sat the bench!  Bronson ran around, climbed the stairs to the slide, while holding the railing...no crawling, climbed the ladder all by himself, walked across a platform (with sides...don't worry) that you could see the ground through. (last time, sensory-wise, this was too much for him, so he would crawl across).  He did it!  This is a picture of him climbing the ladder!  Don't worry, the grumpy expression is one of concentration not irritation. :-)

We got done with TouchPoint 2 weeks ago, and it was a great program.  Bronson surprised me, along with his therapists, with how much information he retained, and how much he craved it!  He loved session time more than the play room!  He loves shapes, so anything they gave him concerning shapes, he was all about it.  He did great with block imitation, matching, imitating, etc.  I learned a lot with how to communicate with him.  I didn't realize how many times I repeat myself.  "Bronson, sit in your chair, Bronson, it's time to sit in your chair....Bronson, right here buddy, here's your chair, etc"  wow.  simmer.  I learned say it once!  Then guide them to do what you need them to do, otherwise you end up being Charlie Brown's teacher.  I also learned a technique "active ignoring", for bad behaviors.  And to constantly praise and get excited when he is doing something correctly.  It's natural to just go about your day when things are going right, and then say, "no, and stop" when things step out of line.  This is re-training your thinking to constantly notice and praise the good...so therefore it's reinforced.  I can use this with Brock as well, of course! :-)  This is a picture of Bronson stacking blocks at home.  He loves blocks as well.

Brock had fun at his preschool that he went to for those 2 weeks.  He's getting so big.  I can't believe he's going to be 5.  Brock is really good at leggos right now.  I can't even build the stuff he does.  He enjoys the computer as well.  He likes to play the games on playhousedisney and the veggie tales website.  Here are 2 pictures of some of Brock's leggo masterpieces.  The first one is of a boy, and the second picture is of a dog.

We've made it through another winter here, and ready for spring time, so we can continue to be outside!  Bring on the sunshine!!!

Country Music?

You might have heard through the grapevine, but I am indeed going into country music.  This is somewhat of a surprise for me b/c I didn't plan this since I was a little girl.  I've always known I've wanted to sing, and this genre fits perfectly.  A lot of the songs I write are secular...not bad morally or anything, but not something that I could get up and sing at a Sunday morning service.  I didn't know what to do with these songs...I started copyrighting them and then just hanging on to them.  Would I sell them to other artists?  Keep them for myself for the future?  One thing was for sure....I didn't want to just sit on them, and let life pass me by only to have done nothing.  It ended up being the latter option.  Country music is accepting of morals and family values, as compared to other pop genres.  Plus, I love it!!!!

I brainstormed on how I could make this happen, and what I wanted my career to look like.  Then I thought of my friend Jason back home.  We've sang together for years back in youth group and college, our voices blend really well, and personalities would work well for the music/business side of things.  I approached him about the idea, we talked and thought about it, and then, hey.  It's a go!  Now, between the two of us we have 18 songs.  Right now we're in the writing stage, as we are states apart.  We're going to be getting our stuff copyrighted soon, and start posting it on YouTube, facebook, etc.  So be looking!  We need all the support we can get.  It's our goal to get that done, and then by next year, start playing in local venues.  It's funny b/c our youth group...back in the day, recorded a CD, and Jason and I sang a duet on it with the guitar.  It was somewhat country in sound to, lol.  Who would have thought 10 years later, we would circle back around and be jumping into a music career.  You never know what you are doing now, will prepare you for something in your future.  On a side note, we have a lot of band names in mind, but the front runner as of date is, "October Creek".  Be watchin for us!!!