Intentional

Intentional: done with intention or on purpose

I have been trying to be more intentional with the kids lately. Making sure that instead of just going through life with them, I am setting aside time to focus on them. You would think that as a stay-at-home mom, I would have plenty of time to just sit and play and focus on them. And I do have time to do that, sometimes it's just hard to do it. I sit on the living room floor for a minute to play and then realize that there are dishes in the living room that need to be taken into the kitchen. Then the kitchen needs to be cleaned. And it never stops. If I don't make an effort to be intentional, I can go through my whole day - spending lots of time with the kids, but not much time focused on them. I don't like that. I think it's important that they have time to fill themselves and they learn to play alone and with each other. And there are defnitely things that I need to get done throughout the day and people other than the two kids that I need to focus on. But, I want to be intentional with my time with them.

So, on that note...Elizabeth and I spent the day together. We took James to school and then she got to pick the activities for the day. So, we went to the zoo, she went to lunch with Dave, we got Frosty's at Wendy's, went to Chuck E. Cheese, then went and picked up James. It was great to have one-on-one time with her. I really enjoyed it.

Elizabeth at the Strawberry Patch

Here's a video of Dave "interviewing" Elizabeth about our trip to the Strawberry Patch. We had nicknames for the trip - hers was Tag.

Turbo Tube Slide

James just discovered the Turbo Tube Slide on our playset this week. He can't get enough of it.

From Dave

Dave's family has started a little email update that people reply to. It helps us all keep track of each other. So, here's what Dave put as his update last week. Just thought I'd pass it on, b/c it has a couple of cute kid stories in it.

Espanol de Courier

I taught James how to do this today:
"give me five" - he slaps my hand a few times
"Back side" - he slaps either my hand or his own hand a few times
"in the hole" - he either covers the hole with his hand, makes a fist (a hole), or tries to stick his fingers in my hand, the correct method.

Page is closing the doors on the towel business - the economy is just too rough. Plus we never advertised (did you even know about the business?) and we made enough money to pay for her super-duper sewing machine.

Elizabeth is getting pretty smart. Today I got a little frustrated that she was talking loudly in the hallway when I specifically asked her to be quiet, James was trying to SLEEP. So I explained to her that I was sorry I got frustrated, and she said, "Daddy, well I got frustrated too, when you asked me twice to be quiet and I heard you the first time."

Kids are great!

It's Not for Decoration

Last night Dave and I had a rare treat. We both got to lie in bed with Elizabeth before bed. Usually I am putting James down or he's crawling around being crazy while we're attempting a calm relaxing time reading books. But, James had already gone to sleep, so I got to join Dave and Elizabeth for bedtime. Dave read a VeggieTales book about how God made all of us special. When he finished I asked Elizabeth if she knew a way God had made her special. She said no. So, I told her a couple of ways that I thought God had made her special - he hass given her heart that likes to help people and a personality that is very passionate. We talked about it for a minute or two. Then Dave said that God gave her a pretty nose. I asked her what she thought about what we had said - whether she thought they were true. She said that mine was but, "not what Daddy said. I use my nose for smelling, so it's not pretty because it's not for decoration." Dave and I thought it was too funny not to share.