Most days the boys watch an episode of Signing Time (with Alex and Leah) after lunch. This gives me a chance to clean the kithcen with out Magoo’s assistance. The boys cuddled for the first half of today’s show, then danced around the living room. In the above picture, Magoo is signing more. I think he was excited about the show.
I though I was doing a good job of teaching my boys about our faith until I realized it was Fat Tuesday yesterday only because everyone was talking about pancakes. We did a daily devotional during Advent that was okay for the adults, but lacking for the little guys. I had intended to find some devotional or activities appropriate for a 4 year old to learn the purpose of Lent and Easter. That was a great idea when Lent was 2 months away. Now its here and I don’t have much of a plan. I’ve decided not to take on any personal sacrifice or challenge this year because there will be so many changes for us in the next 40 days. Jared will finish classes and graduate, we will pack up the house, take a short trip to visit family, then move to upstate New York. Personal growth and spiritual development is inevitable.
Last night at dinner, Bebop got upset that Jared said a real prayer instead of “Dear God, thank you for our food.” I am going to take the next 40 days to be very intentional in leading and teaching prayer. I don’t like to make goals without concrete steps, but I’m not really sure how I will accomplish this goal. The first step will be helping Bebop to identify things his is thankful for and praying freely rather than recite a memorized prayer. I would also like to teach Bebop the Lord’s Prayer and possibly the Apostle’s Creed. I chose those two because they are commonly used in worship and I would like the elements of worship to be familiar for Bebop.
We took some family pictures together following the Ash Wednesday service at our church. Both boys received ashes, but rubbed them off before we got home. This is the first family photo session using Jared’s new wireless shutter release for the big camera. (Jared bought the remote using the gift card that his mom gave him for Christmas. Thanks Barb!) Previously Jared had to push the button on the camera and quickly run to get into the picture. Now he is able to click the shutter from behind his back. This allows for capturing more candid photos of our family, as the photo below shows.
In the interest showing a little more honesty and transparency into our family, this moment captures the way things devolve when the boys are tired. Bebop is crying because he got in trouble for not following directions. Magoo is crying because Bebop is crying. My eyes are closed just like they are in about half the photos. Jared looks great. One in four is pretty good for the first photo of the session.
Bebop received a dodge ball set with a velcro vest and shield from Aunt Bridget and Uncle Ben. While he does like playing catch with the fleece balls, Bebop prefers to use the set as his battle armor. He has spent the afternoon running around the house dressed as a “good bad guy” complete with a wooden spoon sword. After spending quite a bit of time “booming”, our house is now completely free of bad guys.
We had a wonderful time at Ben and Bridget’s wedding and suprisingly the boys were little dancing machines. Bebop and my cousin’s little girl spent most of the party on the dance floor. Magoo even spent several songs impressing everyone with his dance moves. The boys only got about 6 hours of sleep before we put them in the car this morning. I expected half alseep, cranky kids but Bebop and Magoo were all smiles and giggles at 4:30 am. They did fall asleep shortly into the drive. Despite the DVD player not working we had an uneventful drive home. I think they are going to be disappointed tomorrow when I’m the only one to entertain them.
Six years ago I married my best friend.
It is also the same date that Jared’s grandparents were married.
And now it is a special day we will share with my brother and his beautiful bride.
I took this picture at 9:38pm. Bedtime is normally 7:30. Magoo crawled into bed with a book ready to read as soon ans I put pajamas on him. This little guy is ready for bed!
Ben and Bridget’s rehersal dinner was tonight and we had a great time witbh family and friends. I promise to upload all the pictures when we get home.
Have you ever wondered what 18 rolls of toilet paper looks like wrapped around a car? Now you know:
This is a family tradition among the cousins on my Dad’s side of the family that started 14 years ago. Ben is the last in our generation to get married, so we decided to decorate his (actually Bridget’s) car a few nights early to be sure we would get the chance. Now we can all enjoy the wedding weekend.
On our way to Birmingham, we stopped at the NASA space center in Huntsville. Jared and I have seen most of what was displayed previously, mostly at the Smithsonian in DC. It was a nice place to stop and give the boys a chance to walk around. The best part, especially for a Magoo, was the Mars play area. They took turns driving the shuttle and pushing all the buttons.
We are half way on our road trip to Ben and Bridget’s wedding. As soon as we checked into the hotel, both boys headed streight for the bed. Magoo started jumping right away. Bebop didn’t believe me at first when I told him he could jump on the bed for 5 mintues. (They are not allowed to jump on the bedsat home.) We had a short drive today and both boys did great. We left right at nap time, and both slept about 2 hours. We didn’t even have to pull out the DVD player. Another short day tomorrow, then three days to hang with family.
