Boys' Room - All Done!

Boy, did we ever have fun with these recent bedroom projects!  Before covering the walls all by our grown-up selves, we let the kids climb into their painting duds and add their artistic touches (but we were abundantly clear that we'd be painting over them soon).  They had so much fun painting on the giant canvas that was bedroom walls!

When we finally told them that it was Mommy and Daddy's turn to paint, and that they should go play for a while...they didn't mind a bit.  Mostly because we had taken the king mattress out of the guest room (that we converted to the boys' room), and put it in the play room.  It kept them entertained for hours :)

Oh, by the way....I forgot to share one of my favorite painting tips with you.  Every now and then, we have to take a break from painting and tend to kids, or eat lunch, or run to the store for more paint or something.  It's such a hassle to rinse out the brushes and rollers...we just don't do it anymore!  We've found that simply covering the painting stuff with plastic will prevent it from forming that icky and irritating "skin".  Hubby likes to put the whole tray with the roller in a grocery bag - I prefer to use plastic wrap.  They both work fine for short breaks, but if you're interested in letting it sit overnight, I recommend using a couple of layers of plastic wrap.

Now for the fun pictures!  I'm thrilled with the way this room turned out:

I know it's supposed to be a big boy room, but I couldn't resist leaving some of the sweet baby stuff up for a little while longer.  Look at my sweet little Thomas' toes...

I also insisted on having a rocker for the rare occasions that Thomas will still let me rock and cuddle him.  This is the great quilt that my Mom made for him (she made a gorgeous quilt for each of my babies)...Thomas and I love to sit together and find the different animals and do their sounds.  He loves "ARF" for the doggy :)

Notice the bulletin boards?  I really like having a place for their individual artwork and special notes.  

I'm already happy with our decision to put boys in one room and girls in the other.  Sammy and Clara already play together, but I've noticed a fresh connection between my boys.  I love to listen to them settle into bed at night.  Thomas stands in his crib and says, "BEH!  BEH!", and Ben replies, "Night-night little brother".  Good grief...coulda cried the first time I heard that!  

As painful as it is to know that I'll never be pregnant again or nurse a baby again, it feels so good to just be moving on, ya know?  It's like I can finally find it in me to just relax and enjoy our little family instead of always looking forward to and planning for the next big change.  

If ever I need real physical proof that God loves little ol' me...I just need to look at my husband and babies.  What abundant blessings I have in my life (Sigh).

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Make A Homemade Bulletin Board

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? That I've already done a post on this topic? You're right - I have done a post about making a bulletin board before. And those simple, quick, and very inexpensive bulletin boards have been serving us well all this time! If you're looking for the ultimate in quick, functional, and frugal, I recommend making your own bulletin board out of cardboard and left-over fabric.

However...those bulletin boards are pretty light weight. We recently decided that our kids could use some bigger and more heavy-duty bulletin boards. We shopped and shopped, but everything just looked too industrial (and were expensive to boot!). Being who we are...we made our own. They are big, sturdy, strong....AND feature custom colors and fabrics to match our kids' rooms!

I wrote a detailed eHow article complete with lots of pictures. Go on over, print it out, and rate my article for me (pretty please).

By the way, if you're ever looking for one of my eHow articles, you can find all the links in my sidebar.

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Before And After

We're back to real life around here after a glorious week of spring break for the kids and hubby.  I was so shocked to learn that my wonderful man was planning on taking most of the week off to spend with his little family while the kids were home...after a few seconds of "aww, he's so sweet" my brain went straight to..."think of the projects we can get done!"

We love a good home improvement project.  In fact, at the beginning of our marriage, hubby and I moved from a 2 year old "all finished" home to a 50+ year old fixer-upper just for the projects!  We both enjoy the planning, the work, the hanging out together as we hammer, paint, arrange furniture...it's just who we are, I guess.

This past week, the kids' bedrooms were our projects.  Thomas (the baby) has been in his own room this whole time to keep him from waking his older siblings when he wakes in the night.  In the mean time, all three older kids were crammed into one room.  We've had room to spread them out, but they all love a buddy in their room.

Now though, Thomas is ready to share a room.  The most difficult part of the entire project was to figure out who should share with who.  Do we keep the older kids together since they're such good friends and have the same sleep and wake schedules?  Or do we do boys and girls together?  We went for boys and girls.  My goal is to help Ben and Thomas connect a little bit.  There's 6 years between them, and it won't be long before Ben doesn't want to hang out with the little guy.  Hopefully, this time of bunking together will help them grow to be buddies like it did with Ben and Clara.  

Besides...this way, we got to do a fun girls' room and a fun boys' room ;)

Enough of my chatter - wanna see some pictures?  

Here's the before shot of the room that we decided to use for the girls.  Notice three beds crammed in there and stuff all over the place:

We cleared out the room, negotiated with the girls on paint colors (I talked them down from BRIGHT pink and purple to a slightly less bright pink with a soft yellow), put on the hot-mama painting sweats that really do reach to my armpits if I yank them painfully high enough:

See?  Told ya...hot.

And then got to work.  I'm thrilled with our sweet, bright, airy, and pretty girl room.  The girls love it too.  When Sammy saw it for the first time, she wrapped her arms around herself and said in a soft whisper, "It's boootiful!"  

These beautiful sheer curtains were the inspiration for our paint colors:

I love this sweet photo.  We bought it when I was pregnant with our very first child, and it's hung in one of the kids' rooms ever since.  I don't think I'll ever get rid of it.  

We're not exactly 100% finished.  We have plans to make a big bulletin board to go over each of their beds - a great place to keep all those random works of art instead of having them taped all over the darn place.  Besides, it will break up that giant pink wall a little bit.

The boys' room is finished except for some crown moulding that hubby is working on as I type.  After shots will be available of that room soon...

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Seeking The One And Only

(Cross-Posted at Moms In The Right)

One of my favorite songs to work out to lately is "One Trick Pony" by Mercy Me.  The line that makes me smile every single time is:

If I hear just one more time that I should try and be more open-minded, 

I think I just might scream.  

The world says this is all there is, 

yet I believe the One who says there's life after this.  

Now tell me how much more open can my mind be?

The reason it's so striking to me is that it's the idea of being "open-minded" that kept me from committing 100% to being a Christian for the longest (and most painful) time.  

Have you noticed just how un-cool it is to be a Christian lately?  I'm not talking about "casual" Christianity.  You know, where a person (and I was there for a LONG time so I know what I'm talking about here) says stuff like "I believe in God, and I believe I'm going to Heaven some day because I'm a good person" and "I'm a Christian because it's how I was raised, but your should do whatever works best for you.  Hey, whatever makes you happy is sure to make a loving God happy right?"  No - not that kind of "Christianity".  That kind of Christianity is still very much accepted.

I'm talking about born-again, on fire for the Lord, Christianity.  I'm talking about "I'm a sinner.  You're a sinner.  We all need Jesus." kind of Christianity.  The "Praise God for his mercy, grace, and faithfulness" and "I love the Bible as God's literal and holy Word" kind.

Seriously.  Un.  Cool.

Why is that, do you think?  Based on my experience as part of that casual Christianity group for so long, I have an idea.  I think it's because Christianity, as the Bible teaches it, is viewed as an "exclusive" religion.  Christians go to Heaven, and everyone else goes to Hell.  Not an easy pill to swallow.

My argument for a long time went something like this:  Just look at the odds of being a Christian!  Sure, much of America is Christian.  But the vast majority of the globe for thousands (or millions) of years was not Christian.  Are you telling me that all those people are in hell forever?  That doesn't make sense.  It doesn't sound like the God I know.  It doesn't sound fair.  Heck, if you have to be a Christian or else go go hell - it's like me throwing my 3 year old in the ocean with a life preserver, screaming "good luck", and hoping the poor little baby finds the life preserver and makes her way to shore.  Ridiculous!

I also believe that most world religions taught the same basic things, so must all be of the same God.  Therefore, they're all good and fine.  Whatever makes you happy, friend.

And then I actually studied some of those world religions.  And I studied the Bible.  And to be honest, I tried my darndest to prove to myself that the Bible is a fraud and not possibly of God.

I learned that there's only one religion in the world that teaches that we can all be saved by God's grace if only we accept it, therefore not all religions are basically the same.  Yes, many teach similar things about how to live...but only one offers this unique teaching about eternity.  

And I learned that, despite my efforts to prove otherwise, the Bible really is the Word of God.

So if the Bible is God's Word, what the heck am I supposed to do with this Jesus guy?  If he really is THE way, THE truth, and THE life?  And if no one can get to God except through him?  Well, I guess I'd better get to know him a bit better.

What I learned about HIM...well, it just rocked me to my core!

The first thing I had to wrap my brain around was the fact that Jesus and God are One.  It's confusing, to be sure.  (Thinking about an apple helps me - there's the peel, the core, and the flesh.  All three have very unique qualities.  They are separate from each other in that the core can not be the peel, and the peel can not be the flesh, etc.  But...they're all 100% apple, all the time.  And by the way - you can remove the peel from the apple, but it is still 100% apple.)

Understanding that truth really made the whole picture change for me.  Suddenly, I was back to considering that child thrown in the ocean.  I realized that it's actually more like a child falling into the ocean, and the dad jumping in after the child and swimming to reach that child. And when the child finally stops thrashing around and panicking, the dad grabs hold and carries her to safety.  That dad?  He would rather drown than let his precious child drown.

And do you know what?  THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED.  There came a time when God came to earth to literally offer himself so that we would have a shot at eternal life.  There was no other way to save us, so he did it because he loves us THAT much.

And it's not just a particular child that God saved.  He didn't just come for his chosen people, the Jews.  He didn't come only for people who were really trying hard to live right.  He didn't come only for people who were generally good.  He came for every. body.  

He came so that whoever believes will have eternal life.

He came to save all men.

He came for all who will ever believe in him.

He came for anyone who will trust in him.

He came for anyone who will call on his name.

All a person has to do is to stop thrashing around and kicking Him away.  All a person has to do is admit that they're gonna sink without His help.  

To go back to that song I mentioned...how much more open-minded can I be?  

So yeah, I'm a Bible believing "praise God" kind of Christian.  Not because it's cool or because it's what I was raised with.  I'm that kind of Christian because there is nowhere else where I can find a living God who loves me and who would die for me rather than watch me die.  There is no other God out there that is truly for every person alive, no matter their past or present or future.  

I'm that kind of Christian because my God is the One and Only all-inclusive and open-minded God around.  

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For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  Titus 2:11

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. John 17:20 (NLT)

If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9

As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile - the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  Romans 10:11-13

When Jesus heard this, he told them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor - sick people do.  I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners." Mark 2:17

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It seems that we were down to just one or two weekly linkers to STLS, so I thought it might be easier to just have you link in the comments section.  What do you all think?  I definitely want you to still link up - do you prefer the Mr. Linky system over linking in the comments?  Please let me know :)  

Seek The Lord Sunday Participants

1. Goat

2. Bethany

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

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My Trillion Cents...

Oh wait - that's supposed to be "My Two Cents".  The word "trillion" is on my brain with all this federal budget talk of late.  

Let me get this straight - the budget that our President is proposing will put us in $1.845 trillion this year?  Can that even be called a budget?  I'm no economist.  In fact, I have a hard enough time trying to deal with our family's personal financial plan sometimes.  That said...I've always thought of a budget as a plan to spend the available money.  Notice the word "available", please.

Dictionary.com gives several meanings for the word "budget".  One of them is: "A systematic plan for the expenditure of a usually fixed resource, such as money or time, during a given period."

Yep, it seems that even the dictionary considers money a fixed resource. In fact, there was a time when I thought Obama had a similar philosophy about what a budget should be.  I guess the days of campaign promises are over and we're seeing the real Obama now.  So much for our "New Era of Responsibility" and "Renewing America's Promise."

So if a budget is a plan to spend available money, I don't think we should be calling Obama's plan a budget.  What should we call it? 

How about "Obama's plan to go frighteningly deep in to debt."

Or maybe "Obama's plan to spend all I want - I'll print more."

Oh, I know..."Obama's plan to make it look like he's fulfilling campaign promises...except the 'reduce the national debt' one."

Hee Hee - this is fun!

Here's another: "I'm the president darn it, and I'll do whatever I please" Budget.

Ooo, how about "I'm handsome, I'm not Bush, I can charm your pants off.  Now please give me your money without concern for the future.  What?  You are concerned for the future?  No need to worry cuz I'M KING OF THE WOOOORRRLLLLDDD!" Budget.

Or "Good thing I have a plan to create jobs (that may or may not work) because by the end of my presidency, we'll need lots of great paying American jobs since every American will need to pay a 60% income tax rate to pay for my nifty new "budget"" Budget.

Or maybe even "I have a plan - I'll just go ahead and destroy our country before all those newly released terrorists come and do it for us" Budget.

Okay, I'll stop.  He is my President, and I'm called to pray for him even if I do think he's off his rocker.  So I'll pray.  I'll also write to my representatives to let them know that I do not support Obama's plan.  I hope you'll do the same.

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Blown Away...

I've been having such a great time on Facebook over the past couple of months.  It's so fun to reunite with old friends and to see what's become of their lives.

(For those of you who may not know, Facebook is a social networking site.  You register, add as much or as little info about yourself as you'd like, and then start searching by school, town, name, etc. for any friends who might also be registered.  When you find someone, you invite them to be a "friend".  If they approve, then you're back in touch with your old buddy and you can get caught up via their info pages, pictures, and even something similar to instant messages.)

Well...today, my socks were blessed clean off.

A friend from elementary school popped up.  To be honest, I don't remember a lot about her (I was only at that school for 2 short years)...but she remembered me!  In fact, she told me that she had been praying for me since way back then!!!

Since getting her message, I've had the song "Thank You For Giving To The Lord" playing through my head.  I wonder how powerfully her prayers have moved my life?  It seems sometimes that God is so near...is he honoring her prayers for me by drawing me near and loving me in that moment?  

God tells us that he hears our prayers and that our prayers actually DO something.  And to think that someone has been thinking of me with love and hope and faith all these years.  I'm just so humbled and touched!

Has someone been on your mind and you're not quite sure why?  Maybe that's a Divine prompt to pray for that person - lift them up in prayer right now!  You may never know the effect that your prayers have on a given situation, but when we place people and situations in God's hands and ask Him to MOVE in some way...you just can't go wrong.

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Quick Tip ~ No Whine Haircuts

After the scream-fest that was Ben's first haircut as a mere one year old, I decided to cut his hair from that point forward.  I paid close attention to the woman who was working her magic on my howling babe so that I would be able to do it.  I'm no expert - the poor kid has seen some pretty scary 'do's.  But hey, I guess you sometimes get what you pay for ;)

I'm thankful that he's no longer an 18 month old (and has the ability to sit still for no longer than 24 seconds).  It makes it much easier now that he has some self control.  But still..."Are you almost done?", "Done now?", "NOW are you done?", "How much longer?" is the extent of our conversation.

I finally got wise and started trying to make it a touch more interesting for him.  Some of the little tricks that work for me are:

1.  Toss a vinyl table cloth down on the floor and cut his hair in front of the TV in the living room so he can watch a show.

2.  When the weather is nice, grab a stool and let him sit on it in the grass in the backyard.  The neighbor kids got wind of what was going on, and they came down to see what it was all about.  He was very proud to be the center of attention and showed slightly more restraint.  Promises of popsicles and playing with the garden hose after his haircut help too.

3.  When our toddler is up and about, we can't do the haircut in the living room.  Instead, I grabbed the portable DVD player (which we use to keep everyone sane on our long trips to Wisconsin), popped in Star Wars, and snipped away.

4.  Give him a mirror to hold so that he can see what I'm doing up close.

5.  Give him a hard candy to suck on and make it a game to see if I can finish his cut before the candy is done (he's not allowed to chew).  A sucker works too, but you'll likely have to rinse hair off the sucker from time to time...yuck.  BTW - only do this trick with kids old enough to know better than to try and swallow the candy whole. 

6.  I haven't tried this one yet, but I think I will next time.  Since Ben is always interested lately in saving money for the latest thing on his wish list, I have a game in mind.  I'll tell him that I'll pay him $2 for being patient while I cut his hair.  However, for every time he utters certain words, I'll take away a dime.  Some words might be "hair", "done", "almost"...and some random words just for fun.  And then I'll do my best to engage him in conversation and see if I can trip him up a little bit.  The key will be to make it fun, instead of like a punishment every time he speaks  (This might work on long road trips too).

7.  For my little Thomas who is only 18 months old (and can't yet sit still and isn't interested in TV), I plop him up on the bathroom counter.  He's sitting right in front of the big bathroom mirror, and gets a kick out of watching (for about 20 seconds).  When that grows old, he plays with the little jars of cotton balls, q-tips, and hair bands.  I have to work quick, but those little distractions buy me some extra time. (Don't forget to take him off the counter if you have to step away for a moment - those little guys move fast!) 

I've also found that just putting the plastic cape on the 18 month old buys me several minutes because that's how long it takes the poor little guy to figure out how to get his hands out from under the cape so he can explore all those fun jars!  

Some other miscellaneous tips for making the experience a little less painful:

1.  Wet the hair thoroughly to minimize those itchy little hairs flying all over.

2.  Let the child be in control of a soft brush or wash cloth to use on his face, neck, or ears when they get tickled by the hair.  

3.  Tell him what you're doing each step along the way so that he's not surprised.  "Okay, I'm going to go around your ear now", "I'll just snip the front a little bit", "Look down at your tummy so I can get your neck, please", etc.

4.  Let him feel the clippers on his hand before using it on his head.  Ben likes to feel it each time we do a haircut to remind himself that I'm not going to cut his ear off :)

Do you have any good ideas for making a haircut more pleasant for your child?  Please share!

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Goodbye, My Sweet No-Cal Friend

I've been so thoroughly frustrated lately.  I've been eating reasonably (mostly), getting moderate exercise (sometimes), and even making sure I get enough rest (almost).  So WHY am I gaining weight?  I'm normally not all that affected by the number on my bathroom scale - it's just a way to verify what I already know (my pants fit better/worse).  But lately?  That number on the scale has been downright alarming!  It hasn't ever showed THAT number unless I was pregnant!

I'd love to be able to say that it's all muscle that I've gained - after all, I've been exercising.  It could be muscle...right?  Please?

But it's not.  As much as I'd like to lie to myself, the roll of flab over my pants and under my bra strap just won't let me (or my "muffin top" and "bra-sauges" as they're known around here).  

I was expressing my frustration last night to my sweet man, and we started trying to figure out what I could do differently.  Part of it is simply that I'm no spring chicken any more...and I've had four little chicks.  My metabolism isn't what it used to be.  I used to just think about exercise, and I'd shed 5 pounds.  No longer, dang-it.

And then...my husband said something that I hadn't really put much thought into.  "Do you think it could be the daily Diet Coke?"  

"Naw, it's diet...that means zero calories."

"I know, but I thought I heard something in the news recently about diet drinks tricking your metabolism."

So I've been digging a bit.  It didn't take much - there are about a thousand articles saying just what my husband said!  How did I miss that little tidbit of news?  They need to start doing "Mommy News" segments in between Barney and Dragon Tales...then I might stand a chance.

Not only does the diet stuff trick your metabolism, but I think I eat differently when I'm drinking soda too.  What goes better with a nice cold and fizzy drink:  a big gooey plate of nachos or a salad with chicken? Yeah, I've been eating lots of garbage for lunch lately simply because I want to enjoy my drink with my lunch.  Crazy.  

I'm going back to my old way of doing things: having the occasional soda with lunch, and drinking the full strength non-diet stuff.  Before I got on the "zero calorie" bandwagon, I was drinking regular Coke about once a week because I'd rather have the sugar than the sweeting chemicals...turns out I was on to something there.

And guess what I had today for lunch?  Yep, a big glass of water with my salad (with chicken on top and peach-mango salsa for a dressing).  It was yummy, but it was no nachos.

I'll tell ya - I'd rather run 5 miles a day than make this sacrifice.  If I don't fit back into those shorts with this change?  Be ready to hear from a very grum.py. me.

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Taking a Sunday off

Taking the week off for Seek The Lord Sunday.  It's spring break here, and we're enjoying a nice "stay-cation".  Getting lots of fun projects done around the house, flying kites, reading books, spending time with local family.  Just not up for much seeking of any kind...except for maybe seeking a sunny chair to sit in while I read the next Vince Flynn novel.

Happy spring, friends.  See you next week (maybe...we'll see if I can get motivated again by then...no promises).

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Quotable Quotes

Ahh, kids and their honesty.  I love it.  And I hate it.  It all depends on what they're being so honest about.  We've had some really great quotes in the past couple of days, so I thought I'd share:

Sammy: "Mommy, can I see your belly button?"

"Sure, see?" as I lifted my shirt just a little.

She, every so slowly, poked her finger into my soft (hey, I've had 4 kids, gimme a break already) tummy and said, "Mommy, your tummy is a-dik-u-wus".  

Charming, my belly is now ridiculous.

I did the elephant ear wash thing on Ben's ears this morning (and got something out of Ben's ear that led him to say "wow, that one looks like a raisin!").  A bit later, I was asking him to put something away.  In the usual fashion, he ignored me.  I repeated my request, and he complied.  Clara, ever the observant one, said "Hey!  Now that you cleaned out his ears, you only have to say things twice instead of 3 or 5 times!"  It's progress anyway :)

I also gave Ben a haircut this morning.  As I pulled out the clippers and comb, Clara said "Mommy!  Make him all bald like the middle of Papa's head!"  Sorry Papa....

Out of the blue, Ben looked at me this afternoon.  With a puzzled and concerned look on his face he said, "Mom, what if when we die some day we learn that God isn't real and we've just wasted our money on AWANA all this time?"

"Hmmm.  That's an interesting point.  But what if we decided to live like God isn't real, and then we die some day and learn that God is actually real?  Then we would have wasted our whole lives instead of just some silly money."

"Ooooo, yeah.  I think I'll do it like God's real."

"Yeah, me too."

One of the best ones though, was a conversation we had with some little girls from next door.  They're LDS, so I'm sure that there have been some pretty firm conversations about the evils of alcohol and hot drinks.  Hubby and I were sitting in the front yard, chatting away while he sipped a beer and I munched on my crackers and Peach Mango Salsa.  We were enjoying the fresh feel of the day after a rain storm had just blown through.  Luke finished his beer, and the empty bottle was lying in the grass at his feet when the girls walked up to say hello.  One of them spotted the bottle.

"Is that BEER?"

"It was, now it's just an empty bottle", said hubby.

"Did you DRINK it?"

"Yep."

Long, loooong pause as they both eyed my husband.

"You drink beer?"

"Sometimes."

"Isn't beer BAD?  My daddy says is bad."

"It can be bad for some people."

"Wow", as she looked at my husband with a confused look.  "You're just so nice.  No one would even know you drink BEER."

They both walked away whispering to each other.

"I do believe you just rocked their world", I said.

We're off to the grandparents' house for dinner and grandkid spoiling.  Have a great weekend, everyone :)

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Pine Wood Derby '09

Our little man is is Scouts for the first time this year - it's been such an adventure for all of us!  As any of you Scout parents out there know, the annual Pine Wood Derby is one of their biggest activities.  My hubby even still has a trophy from one of the Derbies from his childhood.  Ben has been working hard for weeks on his car.  We helped him with the cutting, but the design, gluing, painting, etc. was all him.  Believe me, it was hard for his engineer parents to keep their hands to themselves!  His is in the far right row, about the middle of this shot, black with an orange "smile" shape on it.  

I had no idea what to expect with this event.  The tech geek in me was totally satisfied with the setup.  There was a single button to push to release both cars at the same exact moment, then there were sensors at the end of the track to precisely measure the arrival time of each car.  He had it programmed to figure speed in mph - some of those cars were going over 60 mph!

There's my little scout (all washed out in the light of my flash - I hate gym photography):

His sister jumped right in the mix, and went to watch next to her big brother:

"Hey Buddy, they called your name.  You're up next!"

Checkin' out the competition:

Waiting expectantly at the finish line:

Oh, so close!  It was a double elimination race, so everyone got to race twice.  I was so hoping that Ben would win one of his heats, but not quite.  He was disappointed, but such a good sport.  I was so proud of him.

There's Ben's little cousin with his pretty mama (my sister):

Thomas and Papa:

Can you guess who gets sick of me sticking a camera in his face?

Even Great Grandma made it out for the big event:

Ben's little car graces the bookshelf in our living room now - His little brain is already working on next year's car.  Mine is too - I was going to make one for the "open" division this year, but never got around to it.  I'm there next year though.  And my car?  It's gonna have a coat of the brightest pink paint I can find.

Which reminds me....the boys have the Derby, and the girls have, what?  Sewing?  It's no wonder more girls don't go into science, math, and engineering!  I might have to see what I can do about that.  Is there a Girl Scouts division of the Derby in the future?  Hmmmm...

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WW: Ready For Spring

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Christianity vs. Yoga?

I was paging through a trial issue of Parenting Magazine's new "school age" rag.  I loved being able to read articles that are more pertinent to what's going on in my older kids' lives.  I even saw a cute quote from one of my all time favorite bloggers (Rocks In My Dryer).  Cool...maybe I'll subscribe.

But then...

I came across an article about yoga in schools.  To quote the magazine:

"OH PLEASE!  A school in New York has renamed yoga: Kids can sign up for a "relaxation" class instead because parents complained that yoga would promote Hinduism and therefore violate the church-state separation at school.  Clearly, somebody out there needs to take a yoga class and chill." (April 2009, p. 16)

Wow.  Really?  Now if you don't want spiritual practices being taught in school, you're just supposed to "chill"?  

Before I let my feathers get too ruffled, I decided to check into it a bit more.  I did a Google search, and came across a post in the Yoga Journal.  The post itself was journalistic style - fairly neutral and fact driven (but short).  The comments to the post?  Completely different story.  Apparently, if someone who is not a Christian wants separation of church and state it's cool and enlightened...obvious even.  But if a Christian parent doesn't want their child exposed to spiritual teachings that are contrary to their beliefs? Definitely not cool.  In fact, according to the comments to that post, we are "brainwashed", "afraid", "so called educated", "strange", "judgmental", "ignorant", "stupid", "fundamentalist bullies", "warped", "foes", and even "d*heads".  

How very enlightened.

There has to be more to find...

So what is yoga, exactly?  

I once had a concerned friend comment on my blog when I mentioned that I was doing Yoga on the Wii.  But was I?  There was not a single word spoken on the Wii program about spirituality or "oneness" or "stillness" or "knowledge" of "union of human to the divine".  It was a basic "put your arm here, your feet here, and hold that position for 10 seconds."  Is that yoga?  No.  That's stretching in my book.

The Hindu Wisdom site says that "there is no Yoga without Hinduism and no Hinduism without Yoga".  It also says "The aim of Yoga is the transformation of human beings from their natural form to a perfected form.  Yoga is a precise practical method of spiritual training..."  Hmm...sound like more than stretching and deep breathing to me.  Not something I'd want my kids taught in their public school (if that makes me "warped", so be it).

About.com finally gave me some clearer insight: "Asana" refers to the practice of physical postures or poses.  Asana and Yoga are often used interchangeably, hence the confusion.  "Asana is only one of the eight limbs of yoga, the majority of which are more concerned with mental and spiritual well being than physical activity".

Okay - so maybe that New York school was teaching "Asana" instead of "Yoga".  In which case, it makes perfect sense to rename it, right (although they didn't name it "Asana")?  It's simply misrepresenting what's actually being taught to call it yoga.  If it's more than that...if there is a spiritual aspect to the class, then don't folks have a right to demand the separation between the spiritual and the public domain that has some of us missing school prayer?  

 

What do you think?  

Here's more info if you're interested:

Yoga at NY High School Causes Stress Among Critics - The Christian Post article

"Massena High School allows yoga, calls it 'Raider Relaxation'" - Syracuse.com

"Yoga Classes Challenged at Upstate NY High School" - blog article

What is Yoga: Definition of Yoga and the Six Branches of Yoga

Yoga - The Art of Living

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Play Dough Fun

As I was vacuuming today, I had to stop and scrape some play dough from the dining room rug.  It dawned on me...just how many times I've heard friends mention that they don't let their kids play with the squishy stuff very often because they're afraid of the mess.  

So, for the sake of those sad non play dough playing children everywhere, I decided to publish an eHow article describing my simple, cheap, and very effective method for removing play dough from carpeting.  I threw in my homemade play dough recipe just for kicks :)

Play dough...there's nothing like it for my kids.  It keeps them busy with fun and creative play for hours on end (especially if we throw in a few polly pocket dolls or those little plastic farm animals).  Let 'em play!  The mess is worth it...and it really isn't all that tough to clean up.

Here are those articles:

How To Make Homemade Play Dough

How To Remove Play Dough From Carpet

PS.  If you're gonna go over there to check them out, please (pretty please with sugar on top) take a second to rate the article for me :)

Now head back to That Family for more WFMW hints and tips.  See you next week!

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Negotiations

Look at me - two posts in one day!  I just couldn't resist telling you about a conversation I just had with Clara:

"Mom, I'm still hungry."

"Well you're in luck.  How about you finish your lunch?"

"No.  I want nothin' 'cept candy."

"Finish you're lunch, girly."

"No!  I want candy!  I'm hungry and I'm not eating nothin' 'cept candy, so if you want me to eat somethin', then you're gonna have to give me candy!"

"No.  Lunch.  Now."

"I'll eat lunch food after you give me my candy food."

"Sorry.  I have a strict policy: I don't negotiate with terrorists."

"Huh?"

"Eat your lunch."

Turns out she was hungry because she did finish her lunch.  I guess a girl has to try anyway.  Did you notice the wonderful grammar going on in there too?  Such a proud mommy moment ;)  

Some day she's going to call me on the phone and tell me about how crazy her child is making her.  I'm going to say only a few words: "Blog.  March 18, 2009.  Not the soccer one."

PS.  I just realized that my last post?  It was my 600th post (yes, six hundred)!  Holy cow!  And no one has even told me to shut up yet.  No, that's not an invitation... ;)

PPS.  I can't take credit for the "terrorists" reply.  Clara only has one parent clever enough to come up with something like that, and I'm not that parent.  Totally stole that one from hubby...

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It's Official: I'm a Soccer Mom

So far (from my very limited experience) I've learned that being a soccer mom means doing whatever it takes to see your kid doing stuff like this:

Here she is about to score her very first goal:

Snuggles with Yaya on the sidelines :)

I was shocked by what an incredible thrill it was for me to see my girl out there.  She just takes my breath away!

We sure had fun sharing this fun new "first" with Yaya and Papa :)  

I wonder - does this happen for every parent?  When I see my kids at an event like this it's as if it's just so OBVIOUS that they're special - THE most special, in fact.  I'm pretty sure there was some sort of heavenly spotlight shining on Clara this day...how could everyone not notice? ;)

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