Long Week

Ok, Sorry that I've been gone so long. It's been a crazy week and a half. We've had our good days and stuggling days, but I won't bore you with too many details when so much has already been put behind us as we head on.
Joshua was gone this past weekend for a seminar in Chicago, so I was on my own for the Blue and Gold awards banquet for the cub scouts. I was really worried ahead of time how I would handle 3 young kids in an awards ceremony on my own, but my worries turned out to be for nothing. A friend from MOPS rescued me as soon as we got there, finding us places to sit with them and helping us through the food lines to get dinner for everyone. Then I must say my 3 kiddos were wonderfully behaved. Colten and Ashtyn sat through the awards cermony with only a couple prods from me to sit still, and really it turned out to be a relaxing fun evening all put together.
Saturday morning Jaden woke up sick, and much to his disappointment missed his friend's birthday party. So we were homebound, but the kids and I still had a relatively nice weekend together watching movies and just hanging out as that was all Jaden was up for. I was very happy to have Joshua return a few hours early on Sunday so we got a little family time, and I even made it out of the house (to the grocery store, but at least I left the house!)
Sunday night Jaden came down with one of his misterious allergic reaction rashes, and here we are Wednesday evening and it still hasn't subsided. We have been racking our brains, trying to figure it out and can't figure out what he is allergic too. To compound the problem while anithistamine usually will take away the rash (at least until it wears off), we woke up this morning and Jaden's rash is still in full force. Jaden of course was not concerned by this as it meant he couldn't go to school, but it increased my concern for that very same reason. Jaden's enjoyment of his free day was ruined when I got the teacher to send home all his classwork with a classmate and he's having to sit and work on that right now. I just hope we figure out what is causing these allergic reactions soon!
So not a super exciting post, but I'll try to get time for something more inspiring soon.

Happy Valentines Day!

We wanted to wish you all a Happy Valentines Day! We hope that you are feeling loved and cared about today.
Things are hard around the country right now, and we've been especially feeling that around here. President Obama came to town on Monday to hold a town hall meeting. Why would he choose the small town of Elkhart, IN for his first visit away from the white house? Our unemployment is up to over 15% and it's growing by the day as new layoffs are announced daily at local businesses. We have the honor of having the highest unemployment rate in the country, and people are really feeling it here. Now I must admit that my confidence in anything that Washington might do is not very high, and it's hard to watch those hurting around us. We've been feeling the economy too, but thankfully don't have to worry about being laid off, just decreases in income. I've struggled with the stress, frustration, insecurity of it all this week. But then I'm left feeling like the spoiled child afterwards-God has greatly blessed us, we are in a better position than most, and really we have so much more than we deserve. God has never left our side, He's always provided, and I know I can trust him to continue to provide for our needs.
So all this rambling to say, I hope that you feel loved today. Not just by family and friends, but by God. As we all struggle through these times together He is always there to lean on, comfort, and console and to guide us through.

Jaden

Jaden, he's our miracle baby, and such a precious boy. He's 7 now (almost 7 1/2 as I'm really late on getting this written).
The first thing I have to say about Jaden is that he has the best imagination that I've ever seen. He literally ALWAYS has a story playing in his head. This has caused some problems along the way in terms of concentrating on his work in the classroom or paying attention when we are talking to him, but overall it's a wonderful characteristic. Some of my favorite times spent with him is sitting down and asking him to tell me a story, he always surprises me with wonderful stories. We gets so animated acting them out as he tells them. With his imagination his choice of play activities are usually games the involve role playing-ie star wars, cops and robbers- over concrete sport activities.
Jaden still says he's going to be a Volcanologist when he grows up (It's been over 4 years he's been commited to that now without wavering), although he did say the other week that he's going to build robots in his spare time.
Jaden is a sensitive child. He's quick to take things to heart, and is often too critical of himself (I wonder where he gets that from?). He has a fear of failure that keeps him from trying new things sometimes when it involves others. But he has an insatiable curiosity that usually overrides that fear and pushes him on. He loves school-except when he is forced to write-he hates writing anything.
Jaden is a definite morning child. We have to have him check the clock each morning to see if he is allowed to be up yet before getting up or he'd be up at 5:00 everyday. He loves Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and his new interest is Pokemon (which we are still trying to figure out).
Jaden is quick to help out his little sister or others who need help. It's so fun to listen to him as he shows/teaches Ashtyn how to do things. He's so patient and good at breaking things apart into steps for her to learn. He doesn't like others to be sad and will stop to check that everyone is ok before going on.
A few days before Ashtyn's birthday, Ashtyn was sick with a stomach bug. She was feeling better the next day when Jaden went to check on her. He breathed a huge sigh of relief and said, "Oh, that's so good. I was praying before I fell asleep last night that God would help her get better before her birthday so that she could enjoy her birthday, and God must have wanted that too and heard me pray for her."
Jaden is such a sweet boy. We love you Jaden!

Colten

Colten is a big 5 year old now. His birthday was in December, but hey I'm a bit late on things these days.
Colten is an amazing boy. He is very independent and can be very stubborn. As I always tell him, "You are going to go far in this world, just not in this house." But really he's been such a big helper he's going far even here at home. Colten has inherited his Poppy's work style. He always has to have a job to do, can't sit still without a clear purpose. When wood gets delivered he goes out carries it to the backyard and stacks it without even being asked, he volunteers to help me cook dinner, set the table, clean up dishes, get the mail, etc. He just loves to work! If he's acting out you just give him a job to do and he's happy again and forgets about getting into trouble.
Colten is in pre-school this year but very anxious to start kindergarten in the fall. He loves learning new things, and again with the work effort tries really hard to do his best job. He's very proud of his accomplishments, but shies away from praise in public as he gets embarrassed by it. His teachers love him, and he always gets glowing reports. I've started teaching him phonics at home and if I miss a day of his "lessons" he's quick to remind me that he needs to learn more so that he can be reading soon.
Colten loves people. He loves spending time with people. He's our best chance for an extrovert in our family. Sure he can be shy too, but he's much more people oriented than the rest of our family. Everyone seems to love him from neighborhood kids, to teachers, to animals. He just has one of those personalities that makes you love him.
Colten also loves sports, and does pretty well with them. He was thrilled to be on his first soccer team last fall, loves taking gymnastics, and is excitedly learning to play any sports we'll stop to teach him. His latest sport he wants to learn is football.
Our kitten Fleur loves us all, but she and Colten have a special relationship. She sleeps at night in his bed, and we can hear the purring down the hall. She follows him around the house and he calls her "my girl" and watches out for her.
Colten is such a blessing to our family. We love you Colten!

Ashtyn

I told myself that I'd write about each of the kids on their birthdays in order to remember my vision of them at that age, a snapshot for later. Well, I missed doing that for both boy's birthdays, and I'm late on Ashtyn as well. But I'll start with her and then go and do my precious boys too.

As noted in an earlier post this week, Ashtyn is currently a handful. She is a very independent child who loves to do things herself. She likes to pick out her own clothes, dress herself, choose which hair pretties to wear that day, get her own cereal (although I still insist on pouring), pick out which cup she'll use that day. This is a great characteristic in a person, but the one that we normally butt heads over. She wants the control and has a hard time understanding that she can't have it all the time.
At the same time she is such a loving child who already likes to "mother" everyone around her, making sure that we've all had breakfast, that no one forgot their socks, sharing with those who are without (or already finished) their snack, comforting those who are upset, etc.
She likes things to be neat and orderly, is very thrilled to help me clean, organize shelves, put things back in their places. But she's still a kid and doesn't mind leaving some stuff out. 80) She loves to play in the dirt, with playdoh, etc. but wants clean hands the second that she is finished. She just about loses control if she spills something, being just so upset until it's cleaned up.
Ashtyn's great joys are dancing and singing. Any song she ever hears causes her to break into dance, and she is constantly walking around the house singing a song-whether one that she heard or one that she make up as she's singing. Other things that she loves-anything girlie (she is such a girlie girl it makes me laugh), drawing, animals, reading stories, cooking, stickers, and riding her bike. OH, and she likes to try to scrapbook alongside me-such fun!
While Ashtyn can be very shy, she is quick to warm up and then usually has no inhibitions within a few moments. She loves to talk, cuddle, and have people watch her dance. Her favorite color-PURPLE, she'll tell you that without hesitation. Oh and she LOVES Cinderella, she likes a lot of princesses, but Cinderella is definitely her favorite (hence her birthday cake). She announced this week that when she grows up she wants to be Princess Leah (Daddy is very proud to have Star Wars rub off on another of his children).
She's very expressive. Christmas and her birthday were so much fun as she'd start squealing with every present that started to be unwrapped. She's quick with "I LOVE that" and "That's beautiful" and really good at saying her please and thank yous and really meaning them.
Ashtyn is great at praying. Her "Thank you God, I love you, Amen" prayers have turned into lists thanking God for she part of her day. She amazes me in the thankfulness she expresses for little things I forget completely about, and her prayers for others who she knows are sick or her Daddy at work and brothers at school are just precious.
She really is such a delight and such a fun element in our family. I think we're in trouble as she gets older as she really is too cute for her own good. We love you girlie!

Women. . .

Joshua and I just had this conversation with our oldest and I just had to write it down before I forgot it. . .
Jaden had made some "Native American" pottery in his art class, he brought it home today to show to us. He was describing the drawings he had made on the outside showing the men heading off to war with tepees in the background, while the women were on the other side cooking. He carefully explained to us that this was how it used to be a long time ago-men off to war while women stayed home to cook. Joshua asked him how it is different today, and Jaden's response was, "Well sometimes today women also go shopping while the men go to a job, right?"
Oh the things that kids say!

3 year old free to good home . . .

There was a little girl
with a little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
when she was good
she was very very good
and when she was bad she was horrid

Ok, the curl part doesn't fit, but otherwise this old rhyme fits my daughter to a tee-especially lately. I'm really not sure what has happened to her, but she sure has learned how to push my buttons. Mormor-do you want your clone for a couple of years?
No, I love my daughter. And when she is good she is very very good. She's just been having to push her independence and buck the system lately. Hopefully this phase will pass quickly, and she'll learn that her actions aren't without consequences and that Mom and Dad mean what we say. I wonder how God has patience to deal with us when we act this way. Well I better run see what she's getting into now.

Ashtyn's Big Day

Ashtyn celebrated her 3rd birthday on Sunday. She was so excited in the weeks leading up to her birthday, and would ask daily if her birthday was going to finally come soon. Sunday morning she bounce into our bed saying "Today's my birthday!" I asked her how old she is now, she paused for a second then matter of factly said "10!" We quickly corrected the error, but it did make me wonder for a second just how quickly it will be upon us that she will be ten, time is flying by! I was then tell ing her how she is such a big girl now and she looked herself overcarefully before saying "I got a lot bigger over night? But my clothes still fit." (on a side note she is still in the 95% for height, and the 70% for weight)
We had a wonderful day celebrating Ashtyn. We invited our small group over to celebrate her birthday with us and then stay and watch the superbowl together. Ashtyn didn't mind sharing her big day with the football game. At halftime she put on her new ballerina outfit and danced for us all for our halftime show. We did her princess party before the game started, including a pink pony pinata that she had begged for when we passed it in walmart the other day. I made a Cinderella cake for her that she was so excited about. Happy Birthday Ashtyn!