Jacob's Date with Daddy

Jacob left for his date with Daddy right after school was out on Friday. It was the first thing he said after getting off the bus actually - "when am I leaving for my date with Daddy?" :) Jacob's choice was to go see the new Kung Fu Panda 2 movie in 3D with David - and lucky for me, I had 2 free movie tickets! :) Love those kinds of deals! They had a great time, and Josiah is looking forward to his date now!!! :)

Callie's Date with Mom & Dad

Callie got to be first to have her one-on-one date. Lucky for her, the perfect opportunity came up! Our senior pastor's daughter was getting married! Callie was SUPER excited to go see Miss Mary get married! :)

Does she look excited or what? (See the black and white bow that was on all the pews? Loved it!)

It was a beautiful ceremony! Her colors were black and lime green and I LOVED all the color accents everywhere!

During the ceremony, Callie must have asked me 100 times "When is she going to kiss the prince?!?!" It was very cute. I'm not sure if it's because we just watched the Royal Wedding not long ago, or if it's just because in her mind everything is a fairy tale. Either way, it was a cute question! :)

Her cake! :)

We enjoyed our evening with Callie. The boys were all home with a babysitter and so we enjoyed spending the evening just with her. She LOVED all the fun decorations and fancy things that go along with a wedding! A girly girl's favorite things for sure!

Josiah's Field Trip to the Zoo

On Friday, Josiah had ANOTHER field trip - this time to the zoo! They didn't need me to be an official chaperone but said that we were welcome to meet them there and tag along! :) As we were driving there, Callie was talking all about her favorite things that she was going to do. I reminded her that we were there today with josiah's class - and that his teacher was the boss! (This is the problem when you have a membership - callie is used to getting to do whatever we want when we go - all the activities are free for members). She was mad and said "No! I don't want to do that. I want to do what I want to do!" I almost laughed. But didn't - and reminded her again that if she couldn't follow directions from the teacher we'd have to leave! :) When the school first got there, they got to go into a special wildlife classroom for a special lesson, so I took advantage of that time to take Callie and Caleb around to do a few things that the 2nd graders wouldn't want to do! It worked out great!

We took 2 other little boys with us to go around the zoo until it was time to report back. I let the boys wear our membership bracelets so they got to do some of the fun member-freebies, like feeding the birds and the giraffes! :)

We had a great time! Have I said how much FUN school is? :)

Something's in my throat....

I'm forcing myself to sit down tonight and blog about this. It drives me nuts to blog out of order, but I had to get this down or I never would. I still have to blog about the weekend, but that will have to come another day...can't handle it tonight. Okay, so back to today.

We are starting Week 2 in our new karate schedule. When the boys had their last rank test and promoted to the next higher belts, it put them into two different classes now. They've been together for most of the last year, but now Josiah has to move to a higher class. It's thrown my whole schedule off. We've about got it figured out...I think....but I keep going back and forth. I know it's only temporary (once Jacob has his NEXT belt test, he'll be back in the same class with Josiah again) but it's making me crazy. I'm still trying to keep it to two days a week, so there is a class on Friday afternoons that is open to all ranks - both boys will do that class. Then on Tuesdays, Jacob's class is from 3-3:45 and Josiah's class is 4:45-5:45. For the hour in between today, we headed to the library and got new books so that worked out fine. It makes for a long afternoon for all of us to be gone, but it's okay. The only other wrinkle is that the boys REALLY want to add Sparring. We've been told it's not required until the Green Belt, but is open to Orange Belts and above. It adds another class during the week. Something I'm not super excited about, but the boys have been talking about it for a long time. It also requires a purchase of some safety gear (about $60-$80 per kid for a set of gear) which I'm also not super thrilled about. We have talked over and over about it. But wasn't ready to make a decision about it. Was trying to wait until school was out. Until today.

Jacob had his class first. He did great. Headed to the library. Got new books. All was well. Headed back for Josiah's class and everything was fine. First 20 minutes go by. All smiles. Then Sensei tells them they're going to be working on some of their self-defense moves and says for everyone who has sparring gear, to go put on their headgear and their mouthguards. My heart sank when i saw every other kid EXCEPT for JOSIAH run back excitedly to get their stuff. He just stood there. I wanted to cry. I knew his heart was broken. Sensei told him he could still practice the take-downs, but no one could take HIM down. Again, he just sort of stood there. Silent. Shoulders slumped. Keep in mind that this is only his 2nd time in this class. All new kids. He's still getting used to being in there. And now he felt like he was totally the odd man out. It makes me want to cry typing it now. I took Caleb outside to run around for a few minutes and when I came back in, Josiah came over to me (which he NEVER has done in the middle of class) and said very quietly "Mom, I think I feel a little bit sick." I asked him what didn't feel good, and he said "It feels like there is something in my throat." I thought I was going to burst into tears right there - I think he was feeling that "lump in your throat" feeling when you are about to cry but are trying really hard not to. Sensei noticed and came over and talked to him and told him he was doing great and that he just happened to be in a class where they all had the gear (his other class at this level has only half the kids with gear....), etc, etc. Poor Josiah. I told him to get a drink of water and sit down and watch the kids for a minute (I wanted to make sure he wasn't going to throw up or something). Sensei came and got him in a few minutes and had him do some of the moves and was trying to encourage him and bring him back up....but it was too late. Josiah was just absolutely crushed and lost all confidence.

I hate that feeling - I know that feeling and it's awful. And to watch your child feel that way - talk about rip your heart out! When we were doing "highs" and "lows" at dinner, Josiah hesitated about saying his "low" - I know he was embarrassed and didn't want to talk about it, but he finally did say it. I told him that was my "low" too! Man. Rough afternoon.

Backyard Friend

Am I the only one who gets the creeps when I see things like this on my grill? Gross.

The Torch Run and Building Dedication

As soon as the kids' musical was done, we changed into our running clothes and got ready to run a special relay! :) Josiah, Jacob and I got to be the first leg of a torch relay to run a torch from our current church property down the 4.5 miles to where our new property is! The torch and cauldron was lit at our church property by Mrs. Ruth - a sweet lady in her 90s that is the last remaining "original" member from when Northside was first started more than 60 years ago. She handed the torch off to me and then the boys and I took off running! We had a police escort in front and behind us, and their was a camera truck in front of us to record it. It was very fun and the boys LOVED it! Each of them took turns carrying the torch, and then after we ran our leg, we handed it off to the next runners for their leg of the run. The whole thing was recorded and shown at church during part of the dedication service while the song "God of this City" was played. It was very powerful and was a neat picture as we prepare to move this summer!

The kids and I grabbed lunch and headed home for Caleb to get a quickie nap in and then we headed to the new property! The concrete walls were up and the church body met for a dedication and prayer service. It was really neat to be in there singing praises to God with just David on a microphone and an acoustic guitar. Thinking about how it will be several months from now when we are all officially moved in there! We had communion and a candle lighting to signify our dedication to being the light of this community and sharing the light of Jesus with the neighborhoods around us. Then everyone was able to write on the concrete slab names of people that they were going to be praying for to come to know the Lord. Jacob wrote the name of a friend from school, David and I wrote the names of some neighbors, and Josiah declared that he wanted to write "Lincoln and Levi" - the two precious boys that my dear friend Courtney is adopting from Rwanda!! It was a really neat, special time. The family that was sitting in front of me has a little boy that's in my children's choir. She came and found me later and said "You know what Brennan wrote on the slab? He wrote Hebrews 4:12 - For the Word of God is alive and active!" I almost burst into tears. That was one of our four verses that I had the children's choir memorize - and he did and it is burned into his sweet little heart! It was just what I needed to hear after a VERY long and exhausting day. THAT is, after all, the reason that I work that hard and spend all that time on choreography and teaching songs to 4 year olds through 5th graders. So that they will KNOW and believe the truth that is in God's Word!

Under God's Sea in 3D

Once again, I was SO super proud of my kids' choirs! Their musical was called "Under God's Sea in 3D" and it followed the students in the Alleluia Aquatic Academy as they sought to learn more about God as they went way deep in the ocean in their submarine. It was a GREAT musical - fun music, catchy motions, and LOTS of Scriptural truths in the songs! I don't choose cutesy musicals - I choose solid programs with Biblical truth in their to get programmed into their minds and hearts!! We had a GREAT time working on it, and the kids were outstanding!

When we did our musical at christmas, I was so overloaded and stressed that I had forgotten to give David the camera to take pictures. I made sure he got some this time! After all, I was directing, but I still wanted proof of my own adorable kids! :)

David took lots of very unflattering pictures of me directing and doing the crazy choreography...which I promptly deleted. But at least this one proves that I was there and directing! :)

Professor Gill and the God Squad :) in their submarine

Josiah's in the brown shirt right in the middle - singing his little heart out :)

In the middle of one of our songs called "Daily Divin' Deeper", there were 4 Scripture verses that were read out by our characters. The song was all about diving deeper into God's Word so that we can know him better. I decided to challenge the whole choir (from 4 year olds up to the directors!) to memorize all 4 of these verses, and they did! Almost every single person! I was so proud of them. I chose these 4 kids to recite them during the song on behalf of our choir, and was so proud of them!

Jacob's in the yellow shirt in the 2nd row. :) He enjoyed himself...and the poison ivy was all gone thankfully!

Two of my main characters getting ready to go on an underwater expedition :)

Josiah had a solo during the song "Dive" (you know the one- by Steven Curtis Chapman). He did great! :)

...and apparently the SECOND he was done singing, he bolted to get back in his place with the choir! :) David asked me if I had told him to hurry or something, because he did! :)

The Last Soccer Game

A had a very sad little four year old girl this morning when I told her it was the last soccer game of the season. She said she wanted to play soccer forever! (and from the vast number of goals that she scored this season, i think we have many seasons of soccer ahead of us for her!) She did cheer up slightly when we told her that she can be a cheerleader in the fall when flag football starts! :)

Raising Up the Next Generation of Gamers

Field Trip to the SC Book Festival

On Friday, I got to be one of the chaperones for Josiah's class field trip! All of the 2nd grade classes from our school were invited to be a part of the South Carolina Book Festival downtown! I was super excited and Josiah was beside himself with anticipation! I even got to ride the bus with them! :) (Funniest thing - as we were approaching downtown where the festival was being held, we could see the skyline of the city buildings ahead of us. One of the kids shouted out "WHOA! I can see the skyscrapers!" You'd think we were pulling into NYC - not Columbia! But it was a big deal and a new experience for many of these kids! :) )

This is Josiah's buddy Will. They were in the same class together for 1st grade too. His mom and I worked together last year with alot of room mom stuff and then discovered at THIS year's open house that David knows Will's dad! Will's dad is one of the music pastors at another church here in town - and it only took us a year to put those pieces together! Isn't that funny? A small world! :)

That's alot of 2nd graders! They were wonderful though - listened SO well and SO well behaved the whole day! I was very impressed!

We headed into this ballroom at the convention center and got to meet Melinda Long - a wonderful children's author. She wrote "How I Became a Pirate" and "Pirates Don't Change Diapers" - two incredibly popular books illustrated by David Shannon that my kids LOVE! :) She was a great speaker - told them the whole process of how she began writing (at age 6 - her mom gave her a set of stamps and some paper and told her to use them to make a story!) and then all about the writing process. How long it takes, how many revisions, how she came up with the ideas, etc. She was wonderful! She showed them a few copies of her books that have been printed in other countries (the coolest is the Hebrew version - because it opens from right to left and that's how it is printed!) The kids were totally captivated! They got to ask her a few questions at the end, and she read both of her books to us! Loved it!

Cocky, the mascot for USC, came in to say hello to the students. The lady in the left of the picture is the president of USC's wife! She's an important lady!!!

The kids were all given a few gifts before we left the convention center - a wristband, some silly bands, and a free chapter book - and then we got back on the buses to head to a park for lunch. Josiah was excited that he had a lunchable! :) We ate outside in a pavillion and then enjoyed playing at a playground for a while!

There's nothing better than a HUGE open field and a good old game of tag! :) It was so much fun and I loved seeing Josiah with his classmates. School is SO much fun - I LOVE it!