Black History Month Easy Family Home Evening

I'm not one of those fancy moms who has Family Home Evening (FHE) with a lesson, a treat, a song, a scripture, and a game that are all thematically linked. Noooo....

We do a Church song (kid's choice), then, Nate or I yell a lesson over the boys' playing or fighting, and we end with a prayer.

And, then, we wonder why on earth we do this to ourselves while saying another prayer that our children will not be completely devoid of some sort of moral compass when they get older.

But, tomorrow, we'll have a super fancy FHE. I found Moses: When Harried Tubman Led Her People to Freedom at Barnes and Noble yesterday. Throughout the book, God guides Harriet to freedom by talking to her as she runs towards freedom.

A perfect story for emphasizing faith, courage, and listening to that still, small, voice while celebrating Black History Month. (Heck, you can get a twofer here--read it next month for Women's History Month!)

Now if I practice reading it outloud a few more times before tomorrow, perhaps I'll get through it without crying.

Nighttime Routines

Mom: What should we thank God for tonight, Asher?

Asher: Halloween, Christmas, Jesus, Santa Claus, and Paradise City (XBox racing car game)


Mom: Luke, what song do you want me to sing to you? Twinkle Little Star or I am a Child of God?

Luke: I've Been Working on the Railroad (Luke's all-time favorite lullaby)

Loosing Luke's Naps

I hate to say this, but I suppose that when you put your 2 year old down for a nap and he does this 3 days in a row, he's all done taking naps.

May God have mercy on our souls.

Gardening Adventures

Hello, little mouse, what are you doing? Oh...I see! Are you going to pick that red, ripe strawberry?
But, little mouse, haven't you heard about the Big Hungry Bear?

Oooh, how that Bear loves red, ripe strawberries!

The Big Hungry Bear can smell a red, ripe strawberry a mile away...
especially one that has just been picked!
We just harvested our one and only strawberry this weekend. We cut it four and all got a bite. It was delicious :)

Loosing the Nannies

So, a few weeks ago, Luke started showing signs that he was all done taking naps. I figured if a kid is old enough to take naps, he's old enough to not need a pacifier to go to sleep (um, yes, he'll be 3 in 1 month. I hate taking my kids' "nannies" from them. When a parent has the perfect set-up of saying "Time for a nap" and the kid RUNS to get in bed, just so he can have his "nanny," well, I'm certainly not going to mess with a good thing. So, Luke, if you reading this blog, know that I will give you back your nannies if you'll just go back to taking your afternoon naps!)

Anyway, I clipped all the nannies. I have all these friends who say, "Clip the pacifiers and the kids will throw them away themselves." Yeah, right.

Night 1: Luke bawls for 1 hour before falling asleep, wailing about his broken nanny while insisting on keeping it with him. Then, after crying about it from 1 am to 3 am, he falls asleep. I walk in to check on him and see that he's decided to make do with the broken nanny. I'm too tired and grateful to take it away.

Night 2: We go to Target and let Luke pick out something to replace his nanny. Asher suggests a Hot Wheels (and perhaps, Luke would like to get him one, too?). I steer Luke to the stuffed animal section, imagining something warm and cuddly will take the place of the missing nannies.

Luke picks a "chattering" Cookie Monster. So many kids love Elmo, but Luke, he's a Cookie Monster man. He likes to talk like Cookie Monster, he likes to eat like Cookie Monster (remember how Cookie Monster eats?). I wish Luke liked Elmo sometimes.

Luke goes to bed with Cookie Monster and decides he doesn't like Cookie anymore and throws him out of the bed. But, climbs out of his crib and goes to sleep with him. Wakes up for another couple of hours, but doesn't cry this time.

Still, I'm not so sure how I feel about hearing Cookie Monster yell, "COOOOKIES!!!" at random times during the night.

Night 3: Luke and Cookie are friends. Luke and I are not. Luke has slept 1 hour more than I have in the past 3 days. Seriously, I think someone is slipping him crack.

Another crying jag for 2 hours.

And, the nights continue with a little less crying each night but more wake-ups than we had in our pre-nanny life.

P.S. Nanny weaning is the best birth control ever.