Saturday's Friday Four

All of our highlights are going to follow a theme, seeing as though all we had time for this week was moving back into our house and packing for NY. So here goes:

Matt: Having a bunch of guys come help him with all the finishing touches around the house. It was nice to know that there were friends and family that were willing to interrupt their own busy lives to help us. He knows how precious evenings are, so for people to come out and help on multiple nights meant a lot to him. 

MY Matt highlight on a much more shallow level- :) 

He dominated the phone lines to get us the only pendant lights that we agreed on, which might I add, were not even for sale. We've been looking for a matching chandelier and pendants for a while and haven't been able to agree on any. We finally got a chandelier but there weren't any matching pendants. Matt had to contact the corporate office, who sent him on a wild goose chase that eventually lead us to the beautiful pendants that will hang from our ceiling in 5-7 days. Thanks, babe!

Emma: Since I forgot to ask her, I'll have to guess that hers was all the time she got to spend with her wawa as her mommy was M.I.A. working on the house. She loves her wawa time.

Jax: Last week Jaxie found his lip, this week he found his toes. He loves grabbing on and rolling 'round.

Me: After almost eight months out of our house, we finally moved back in this week- obviously my highlight! I just like to sit on the floor in out great room and look around at how pretty it is. I mean, how many people get to live in their first house for a year, figure out everything that they would like to change and make all the changes at no cost. There are some benefits to toxic gases being emitted through your walls! Thanks Chinese drywall. We owe you, except not really. That would almost be akin to Stockholm syndrome. 

Sunday's Friday Four

I'm adding some of my own observations to Matt's today. Since I'm writing it, I can do stuff like that! 

Matt: Spending a lot of time with Emma this week. She was super excited when he came home from work every night, which isn't always the case. There's been times when she's just downright mean to him. Not this week though.

I've noticed how this sneaky thing called family keeps interrupting my husband's life, and he's been powerless to do anything about it. He really wants to get into shape (Though he already is in good shape, might I add.) but doesn't have a lot of time to do it. He works out during lunch so he can spend time with us at night but tries to go for a quick run as soon as he gets home from work. Twice this week his plans were thwarted, and I have to say one of my highlights has been how he's responded to the interruptions- because I'm not sure I would have had the same response. Tuesday night he came home and was about to go running but Emma looked at him and said, "Daddy, pwease don't go wunning. Don't you want to come hang out with me in the basement?" HA! He explained that he's be right back and then they could play. Then he changed his mind. He just couldn't resist his little girl's desire to spend time with him. Emma put on a baseball helmet (yeah I don't know) and they played ping-pong. So sweet. Then he skipped out on another night of running to come to the park with us. Emma loves going to the park with Daddy because she gets to do all the dangerous things that Mommy won't let her do. I almost had several heart attacks watching her climb things that she was way too little for, but Daddy was always there to catch her just in case.

Emma: She's had three parties since last Friday, so my girl's been in heaven playing with all her little peeps. Plus, it's been gorgeous in FL lately so all of said parties have been outside. Extra bonus.

Jax: Jax has found his lower lip and loves sucking on it nonstop. Smiling, laughing, crying- regardless of what he's doing it's the ultimate baby soother/entertainer. 

Kelly: Can we say stainless steel appliances upgraded at no cost??  I never thought I'd be so excited about appliances, but I can't stop talking about the great deal I got on a range in the beginning of the week and an even better deal on a beautiful french door fridge at the end of the week. Now if only I could learn how to cook!

Woe is She

My poor Em had her first taste of the real world today. We were at a play area where she usually knows most of the kids and runs around like a maniac. Today though, there were two other little girls there that she didn't know, so she just hung back with me while I fed Jax. After several minutes of watching her quietly watch the girls longingly, (seriously, she looked like a puppy waiting to be taken home from the pet store) I suggested that she go introduce herself. That was all the prompting it took for her to walk over. 

And then I watched her get shot down.

Crash. And. Burn.

One of the girls said, "No! We're playing," and proceeded to push her away.

She stood there for a moment looking like she was going to burst into tears, and then walked back to me.

Curses! She's only two! Isn't it a little early to deal with playground bullies?? I mean, I'm used to the not sharing or throwing fits about some perceived playground injustice (where she's often the culprit), but to see my kid being left out and knowing that she felt the sting of it just broke my heart. 

She sat quietly next to me and continued to watch the girls. Then her daddy came to see us, expecting to hear her jovial, "Daddy!" followed by a big hug, but instead he got an embarrassed look while she just sat. And then decided to try again. And was rejected again.

Dangit.

Aah well. Such is life. I guess two's old enough to learn to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and keep going. I think she'll survive to play another day. Hopefully, there was a lesson learned too. We talked about it on the way home, and I reminded her to remember what if felt like and that she needs to include everyone when she's playing. Except from what I remember about child development, she's not really in the empathy stage yet. Stink. Regardless of her ability to empathize, she is old enough to know right from wrong. I hope when she finds herself on the other side of the situation, she's able to make the right choice.

WYSIWYG

My sophomore year of college I was on a drama team with five other people that traveled around one summer in a van together, putting on programs at churches and camps. One afternoon we were all talking along the lines of how we wanted to just be real with the people we encountered. One friend turned to me and said, "You know, WYSIWYG." I stared back at her in utter confusion. Nope, didn't know anything about this wysiwyg. As she continued to look at me as if I was a complete moron, she tried to rally the troops in support, expecting everyone to be with her on this whole WYSIWYG train. Everyone else was staring just as blankly as I was. Finally, in complete exasperation she explained, "WYSIWYG...what you see is what you get."

Oooooh.

Well that made a whole lot more sense after the explanation, and I have since used the expression often, and expressed my own exasperation for any fool who does not know what I'm talking about.

Last night Matt and I were talking about one of our good friends who we both agreed that we really enjoy being around. As we tried to nail down why that was, we concluded it came down to he's a WYSIWYG. He's just completely comfortable in who he is, and so he makes other people comfortable too. He doesn't try to impress people, and if someone doesn't like him he's not going to sweat about it. He's a confident dork, which we determined to be a great combination.

This doesn't come naturally for most. I was reading a passage from James about how people were showing favoritism to the rich that visited their gatherings. James was a little confused because these same people that were being treated better than the poor were the same people that were swindling them and taking them to court for all their worth. Seriously? Why do we do stuff like that? It's like we start acting like morons when even the slightest possibility of getting pushed up the social or financial scale emerges. Our own pride starts rearing it's ugly head.

So glad we don't have to live like that. So glad we can teach our children that Jesus shows us a better way. We don't have to impress; we can just be WYSIWYGs. Through Jesus we are completely loved, completely accepted, and completely free.  So here's to the nerds, dorks, dweebs, and even the coolest of the cool kids, laying it all down at the cross, trusting Him to be the only thing good worth shining through us anyway.

Seeing vs. SEE-ING

A few weeks ago as I was getting into my car, a man came up to me and asked if I had seventy cents. As I don't carry cash with me, I truly didn't have any change to spare. He quickly turned away with my quick response and started walking away. He didn't expect me to give him any money. He had been brushed off many times before, I could tell as soon as the words came out of my mouth. In that split second I realized that I had completely looked at him without seeing him at all, as if he had no value. I quickly reconsidered and asked what he needed the money for, to which he replied that he just wanted something to eat. Since I had no kids with me and McDonald's was a five second drive, I looked him in the eye and told him I'd be happy to go get him something to eat. (Aside to my mother, so I don't get yelled at: I was safely in my car and he was a good distance away, as well as about 130 lbs. soaking wet. At no point was I in any danger. :)) He returned my smile with gratitude and waited in the parking lot as I got him his food. This was an easy situation that cost me nothing, apart from the $5 value meal, but made me think. What if I took that split second to reconsider the value of every person I talked to before responding to them? What if I really saw the people that I interacted with? What if I viewed them as the people of worth that they are, created in the image of God. What if I didn't roll my eyes (on the inside, of course) at the middle school boy acting obnoxious in Sunday school or the high school girl trying too hard to get noticed by boys. What if I just loved them right there in their present situation? What if I didn't cringe at the story of the crotchety old person that thinks the world's problems revolve around whether or not they sing a praise chorus written in 1973. What if I let the people around me not feel like they need to try on another persona in order to have my approval?

What if I let my own guard down and let people see me just the way God created me to be?

What if I loved because I was first loved?

What if we all did this? What could our homes, our churches, our communities look like?

Sunday's Friday Four

Ok- so I'm a little behind...

Emma- My girl transitioned out of her crib at fourteen months when she started jumping out and consequently, falling on her face. The transition only consisted of moving her mattress to the floor, but at her grandparent's house she upgraded to a toddler bed. This week, she got another upgrade, so when we move back into our house next week it will be with Emma's twin size bed.  It's kind of a big deal.

Jax- Jaxie-boy has officially rolled over from belly to back and back to belly as of this week. He's still working on not getting his little arm stuck underneath him, but he usually manages. Good thing he has a big sister than is always ready to pull it out from under him when necessary.

Matt- Every time I get on Facebook I feel like someone has a new status update on how they just ran a marathon or half marathon or 5k or 10k or yada yada ya. I don't have the running bug, and I don't understand it. Matt, on the other hand, has drank the Kool-Aid. He loves running and wants to do it all the time. Since he really enjoys it, last Saturday I agreed to run a 5k with him and another couple. Matt was all chipper when the alarm went off at 6:30 in the morning and did not appreciate my lack of enthusiasm. He ended up running a personal best and we won in our category. Holla.

Me- It's no secret that I've been having trouble with Em lately. There were days this week where I felt like ALL I did was discipline and have an attitude from her thrown in my face. But, one night in particular I was reminded just how blessed I am. It was nothing big, but just a simple reminder of how being a mom is the best thing in the world. Matt's been putting Em to bed while I feed Jax, and then I go see her when I'm done. One particularly difficult day when I went to say goodnight she asked me to lay down. We talked for a while and when I started getting up to leave, she put her arm around my neck and whispered, "Don't leave." Now, this wasn't anything unusual, but at that moment it just melted my heart. No matter how frustrating raising a toddler can be, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm so glad that I'm the one who gets to spend day after day with her and teach her about life. I love my two sweet children so much.

Halloweekend

Em's a bit tall for her age, so when it came time to get her Halloween costume, it was a bit short. I looked everywhere for a size up but to no avail. She really wanted to be Jessie and I really didn't want to try to find everything that I would need to make it myself. That also meant that I had spent $17 on a costume that she wasn't going ever wear again. So, she wore it all weekend. Friday night she wore it to a high school football game, Saturday night she wore it to a party, and Sunday night she finally wore it trick-or-treating. For less than six dollars a day, I think I'm actually quite thrifty. Jax, on the other hand, got a super cute hand-me-down, but without the pressure of having to get my money's worth, he only wore the costume to take some pictures. Poor boy would have been a sweaty mess if he had to wear it any more than that.

Keeping up with the news and pop culture, Matt went to the party Saturday night as a Chilean miner while the I was a Real Housewife of Polk County.

Then for Em's final night wearing her costume, I had her go all out spraying her hair red like Jessie's. I probably should have thought that through more.  A sweaty two year old taking and putting on a hat all night was bound to end up a big red mess. Oh well. She's never really been a hair girl anyways.

We were the trick-or-treaters that everyone loves getting at their doorstep. You know, a pack of almost twenty people, with ravishing children, all sticking their baskets up yelling, "Me too! Me too!" with a chorus of parents yelling from the street, "Don't forget to say thank-you!" It's always fun to listen to conversations while being with so many kids.

A favorite from last night was when one little boy informed his friends that he'd heard that Halloween was the devil's holiday. He asked his buddies why this would be, and one shrugged his shoulders and answered, "Maybe all the candy?" The other boys seemed to think this was a logical conclusion.

Now to figure out what to do with all this candy laying around. Yuck. I had so much sugar this weekend, I'm to the point where it doesn't even taste good anymore. Yet, I continue to eat it for some reason.  I think it's time to detox.