because some days stink as a parent

Today has been a day. Please, please someone tell me you have days like this. Days when 9 am feels much more like bedtime due to the number of temper tantrums, time-outs, spankings, and "conversations" that have already taken place. Days when you feel like crying because surely you have completely failed at parenting your just barely three year old.

My "go-to" habit on days like this is to blast worship music. It helps keep me calm because no one wants momma rage running around with toddler rage.

So today, I was fixing lunch. Bethany was screaming about something. Worship was playing and I started praying while fixing quesadillas. Now don't judge me because I'm sure your prayers are much more holy than mine, but my prayer went something like this..."God this sucks!Every stinking day for the past two weeks it's been fit after fit and I'm tired today.I'm over it. Seriously! What do I need to do, because obviously I'm not doing this right!?"

Wanna know what he said?? "When did I ever say discipline was easy. It's hard. It's hard for the one being disciplined AND for the one doing the discipline."

What?? First, that wasn't the answer I was wanting, but since He rarely thinks like I do, because, you know ,His thoughts are higher than my thoughts...I decided to go to the Bible

Hebrews 12:6 & 11 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son....No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

God loves my kids way more than I love them (unfathomable, but true!). And He says He "disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness." vs 10

So the the whole time he is disciplining us, he has an end goal - our holiness.

So, the first word of encouragement I got out of this is He feels my pain! He knows all too well how frustrating it is to watch a child purposefully do exactly what you asked them not to do or exactly what will cause them harm. He understands and does not grow weary. So I can constantly turn to Him as my source of strength and wisdom. Thank you Jesus!

The second word I got out of that is do I know my end-goal for my kids? Because with out a goal, how do I know I'm moving in the right direction, right? I think I know my end goals, but i'm not sure I've ever written it down. I think I shall do that soon! More on this later...

Today after Bethany threw so many fits she sat down with all her lovies and started singing "Jesus loves me" It was truly just a precious reminder to me that Jesus loves me. Even on my hard days, he is here with me walking with me. He reminded me that seeds are being planted in my kids life. Seeds take time to grow. I can't expect my 3 year old to be selfless, kind and obedient overnight. But I can continue to plant and water the seeds. Our church, friends and family will help nurture these seeds too. And then eventually they will bloom into beautiful, loving, godly kids. I just need to be faithful in the process.   

Lane's Birthday

Monday, May 13th was Lane's 5th birthday. I originally planned to tape balloons on his door like I did for Bethany. However, after he fell asleep I remembered that he has several of his favorite school projects taped to his bedroom door. So, I changed plans and just put balloons in the little hallway to his room. He was so excited when he woke up on his birthday!

He ran to the table and found all his little presents wrapped in superhero paper!

 

 

Then, he and Chris spent a good bit of time launching catapults and driving remote control cars.

For his birthday breakfast, I offered to fix ANYTHING he wanted but he chose a frozen waffle. So, we stuck a candle in the waffle and sang Happy Birthday!

 

Then, it was time to quickly hurry and get ready for school. Lane was so excited to take his special snack to school. What did he want...cake? cupcakes? nope, plain sugar cookies with NO sprinkles or icing. (he was very clear about that!) So, that's what we did! Mom found some really cute cookies that had birthday pictures (They were just like the holiday cookies you bake with a flag, a snowman, a heart, etc) I had never seen them before! So we had those and true plain sugar cookies. Gigi came and surprised Lane at school during his special snack. Lane was thrilled! [On a side note, Bethany came with me to Lane's classroom and she had a blast. She sat like such a big girl at the table with him. She was SO PROUD to be at school! She even jumped in on a couple of class pictures!]

 

 

Sweet friends!

and Bethany :)

...and one with Mrs. Kay, the best 4K teacher ever! Lane absolutely adores her!

After school we took Lane to Treetop Family Adventure. We had never been out there before. Lane and Bethany had a blast playing in the playground, bowling and  

...."playing" miniature golf. Lane is in desperate need for his Papaw to come teach him how to golf. He has quite the unusual technique for hitting the golf ball!

We spent a VERY long time on this hole. It had four levels. The kids had a blast taking turns dropping the ball in the hole and watching where it would roll out on the next level.

After Treetop, Lane chose where he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner. He chose Don Pepe. Can you tell we like Mexican food just a little bit!

Overall, it was a wonderful day spent celebrating my sweet boy! We love you Lane!



Bethany's Birthday

I love Birthdays! I love letting those I love know how special they are to me and how grateful I am that they were born! So obviously, the kids birthdays are a big deal around here. The whole day centers around them and whatever they want to do!

On Bethany's birthday, when she woke up we all went in to her room wishing her a Happy Birthday! She was SO excited! I taped a number 3 out of balloons onto her door. (Last year I did that really cute pinterest idea of filling the kids bedroom with balloons while they were asleep. They LOVED it but it also started our day at about 4 am. I'm waiting a couple more years till I try that on again)

 

Then Bethany ran to the table, where a bunch of little gifts were waiting on her. Her presents were all wrapped in Hello Kitty. I think she loved they paper as much or more than the actual gifts. Even now, almost 2 weeks after her actual birthday, she still says she got Kitty for her birthday.

 

 

 

Then, we had a special birthday breakfast. She had a cinnamon roll with a candle so we could sing Happy Birthday. She SPAZZED out! The entire time we sang she cried and yelled No NO NO! It was only after the song that I realized she was scared of the flame on the candle. Oops!

After breakfast, we opened some of her new toys and played for a bit. Then we asked what she wanted to do for her birthday. THE ZOO!!! So we quickly got ready to go and invited Gigi to come along.

 

We had so much fun at the zoo! She led the way around. We saw the elephants and played on the playground. Then we found someone doing face paint! Lane wanted an Elephant and Bethany wanted an Alabama "A".

                                                                               Roll Tide.

 

We continued looking at the animals. We made it to the giraffes at feeding time. Lane and Bethany had a blast feeding the giraffes.

 

 

After the giraffes, we walked around the corner and found camel rides!

 

Bethany loved the camel ride so much she asked to pet the camel afterwards!

We continued on and had the best time watching all the animals. They were all so active since it was close to feeding time. We watched a zoo keeper hide several fish in one exhibit. Then she released the cats. It was so neat watching the cats "hunt" for the fish!

We finally ended up at the children's area. We did the new DINO exhibit first. Lane loved it!

 

Bethany was a little scared! Chris ended up having to hold her and sneak by all the dinos. Every time they would get close to a new dinosaur she would whisper in his ear "shhh. quiet!" So funny!

 

Thankfully, Bethany warmed up to the dinosaurs by the end!

Then we moved on the carousel. She rode 5 times in a row.

 

   
















She only got off because we wanted to try to catch the zoo train. We hustled over to the train and made it just in time for the last ride of the day!

On our walk back to the front of the zoo, we found the photo booth. The kids wanted to take a picture so we took on set with family pictures and one set with Gigi and the kids. I love how they turned out!

 

About that point a rather large man with a growly voice came by to make sure we knew the zoo was closing. Yes sir!


When we got back to the car, it was time for Bethany to decide what she wanted for dinner. Mexican!

So we eat then went home after a fun-filled day. It was a perfect way to celebrate B!