Grazing

I need some feedback.
Jesse has gotten into the habit of grazing (a fancy word for he eats alot of snacks throughout the day and not enough at meals) lately. I know part of this is probably the preschool age- I have read that 4 year olds can't sit still for very long and it is expecting too much for them to sit and eat a whole meal. I have also heard that for preschoolers, it is better to let them graze on healthy food throughout the day to get all their nutrients. I have always tried very hard to limit snacks during the day and to train Jesse to eat meals with the family. But, it is just not working. He is asking to eat lunch earlier and earlier, after several snacks after breakfast (which he hasn't been eating entirely) and dinner time is usually a battle, unless it is something he really likes. SO, I am at the point where I have realized that he probably won't get all of his good nutrients at a meal. I have tried to make snacks a little more meal-like but I am at a loss for how to approach this. Should I stick to my guns and say no when he asks for one snack after another (literally, he finishes one and begs for another) during the day or should I make his snacks packed with protein and other good stuff (like little bites of chicken or turkey dogs)? Should I expect that he sit with us during our meal and eat the majority of what we put on his plate (we never make him eat all of it but if he wants dessert he needs to eat a determined amount- this is usually a good motivator).
This is what I have tried as snacks so far:
- pretzels
- whole wheat goldfish or dry cereal
- bananas, apples, carrots, frozen blueberries
- I tried hearty granola bars for a while but I think he has caught on- Odwalla has these carrot raisin and berries go mega that are pretty much a meal but he doesn't eat them anymore, Karis will!
-I tried soy beans, roasted and salted- he spits them out
- Raisins or Craisins
-Pirate Booty w/ spinach and kale (he loves this)
- We don't do juice, just milk with meals and water in between.

Any thoughts?

What I will miss

I know, two posts in one day....I must have alot of time on my hands! HA!
Anyway, since my last post earlier today, I have been continuing a line of thought that I have been carrying on in my head lately. It has occurred to me that our move to Lower Macungie is definitely a more comfortable one. I will have a two car garage to park my car in instead of street-parking, which could mean a hike and a flight of stairs to my front door. I will have a bathroom and laundry room on the first floor. A nice big yard for kids and a desperate dog to run around. The list goes on and on. There is a part of me (a large part) that is excited for these "upgrades" but a part of me has been realizing how much I will miss Bethlehem. Matt was on call tonight so I packed the kids in the jogger and we walked over to our favorite pizza place, Rosanna's. It is run by a single mom who has a little boy Jesse's age. They took swimming lessons together and so every time we go there for pizza he has a little buddy to play with. I love the familiarity and the sense of community. I will miss that. I will miss our old house with lots of charm. I will miss being able to walk everywhere: the park, the market for some milk, downtown shopping and dining, Rosanna's. I will even miss the crazy neighbors we have come to love.
But there is another angle here: although I will miss alot of things about Bethlehem and the life we have established here, we are making this move primarily for kingdom purposes. It has been Matt's conviction to work, live and worship in the same community. And with the church plant happening this fall it seemed like that conviction might come to fruition. I must admit I am hesitant to call this move a mission move- I have so ingrained in my head that to be a missionary you need to be destitute, live among the poor of the poorest, NOT BE COMFORTABLE. But, I am catching on to the vision that our pastor is setting before us: that there are broken, poor people in the nicest of neighborhoods. That maybe I will be in a good position to minister to these people because I too am a pro at masking my brokenness and running from the one who binds the broken. So, the challenge for me (and Matt!) is to not be so comfortable that we miss the mission. That we not cozy up in our nice, new home and forget why we are there in the first place. To put ourselves in uncomfortable positions for kingdom purposes. To bring a sense of community where there is none because it is such a new community. It is my prayer that God continues to lay on our hearts his purpose for us and that we not get caught up in our comfort- that God will change, or broaden, my perspective of his mission field to all people. And I pray that our new home is one that brings glory to God because it is a place of His comfort. You can pray for us in this as we process the move and all that it entails and please keep us accountable to God's call for us. Thanks!

A new house and birthday celebrations

Well, the offer on our new home was accepted last week! We have a settlement date of June 23rd. Now the fun part...picking out flooring, kitchen cabinets, etc. I don't have a picture of our actual house yet, but here is one from the builders website of the same model and floor plan- except for the colors, our garage faces the front and we have an extra bedroom downstairs.

We are still hoping to sell our current home but will look into renting it out if we don't have a buyer in a few weeks.

We had a fun (and tiring!) week celebrating Jesse's birthday. Here are some pics from Jesse's friend party over the weekend, 10 four year old boys at Jungle Fun, no wonder I am tired!

Birthday Boy!

Today my little boy turns four. Hard to believe, but I guess every parent says that about their child on their birthday. But, it is a good day to think back over the past year and rejoice over the things that have happened (we are very glad to be done with THREE!!).

The other day after preschool, some of us moms let our kids run around on the grass while we "chatted", it was finally nice enough to do so! Mr. Social that he is, Jesse quickly organized a duck-duck-goose game with most of the kids, even the older ones! Karis was standing a few feet away from the circle, not sure how to get in on the action and if she wanted to. Jesse noticed her standing there and brought her over to the circle and held her on his lap! I was so touched I almost cried! That would not have happened a few months ago but I can see a four year old kindness creeping in now and then and it gives me hope! Don't get me wrong, he can still be plenty rude and selfish with his sister but it is nice to see him maturing a bit.

Another thing to rejoice in is that he conquered potty training, finally. After a long battle, he finally decided he was ready to commit, all of it, to the potty and not his pants. Hallelujah!! He is even waking up dry in the morning (I really thought that would NEVER happen!) and wakes up in the middle of the night and goes all by himself, amazing what a few months does!

So, we are in the midst of a week-long celebration of Jesse: cupcakes at school on Tuesday, gifts from mom and dad today, complete with birthday dinner and ice cream, a friend party on Saturday and family on Sunday, phew!

We love our guy and are so thankful to have him in our family! He is a blessing!

Jesse's prayer, tonight

This was Jesse's prayer tonight at dinner:

"Thank you God for Mommy and Daddy,
please help them be good to other people.
Thank you for Nonny and Poppy.
Thank you for Mommom and Poppop.
Thank you for Grandma and Grandpa.
Amen."

After he was done, naming ALL of his grandparents, Matt said, "It's nice that he prayed for us. It must be because he lives with us and knows how much me need it."

And I said, "Amen."

Spring is here...

...at least for today!

Jesse's prayer

Tonight Jesse prayed for the first time before dinner. It went like this:

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for this holy food,
Thank you for the Holy Spirit,
Thank you for the Bible.

Amen"

A lesson learned

Matt works late Monday nights. I try my darnedest to make it through the day, make the kids a wholesome meal and get them to bed in one piece. And then most Mondays, we go to McDonald's for dinner. I know it's bad but I don't have to cook a meal that only I end up eating and the kids can run around on the indoor playground instead of my house. Everyone is happy.
Anyway, it was a McDonald's Monday and I needed milk so when we were done we went over the the neighboring WalMart to get some. While we were there I thought I would get a few things for dinner tomorrow (Taco Tuesday!) so I wouldn't have to go to the store tomorrow. I was checking out the tomatoes, which are in the section with some peppers, garlic, etc. Side note: I don't know why I bother with produce at WalMart, it isn't ever that great, which was the case tonight, so I guess I'm going to Wegman's tomorrow anyway...so we are heading over to the check out and all of a sudden Jesse starts flipping out. I look at him and I see huge tears coming down his face and his mouth is open and he is yelling. I am trying to figure out what happened to him b/c obviously he was hurt somehow. It's then I see something green in his mouth. I have him spit it out into my hand and I recognize probably a quarter of a jalapeno pepper. There are several things going through my mind at this point- why is my four year old just biting off produce in the store, shouldn't he know better? what do I do with this chewed up jalapeno pepper in my hand? and most obviously, how do I quench the fire in my little boy's mouth? He is yelling for water, tears still pouring down his face (and I don't think they were tear tears, these were jalapeno pepper tears!) and I didn't have any. But I did have a small bottle of OJ in the cart so I quickly gave that to him, which he downed in two seconds. It didn't help much and I could see his pain so I refrained from any lecture. We finally made it to the check out and he was still complaining, asking for a new tongue and mouth, so I explained to the women behind me what the commotion was about. She was a Hispanic woman and got a kick out of the whole situation and gave me some tips- let him drool it out and rub my hair over his tongue....hmmmm. Anyway, on the way out of the store he had calmed down but was still complaining. I used the opportunity to explain why we don't just bite into something if we we don't know what it is, or if we do know what it is and it is in the produce section of the store we still don't take a bite. He says, "I thought it was a pickled pepper" (Between the Lions reference- Peter ate a pint of pickled peppers...). Then he asked if he was going to get discipline when we got home. I laughed and said, "No, I don't think you'll be doing that again!"

And then there was one

My mom and dad took Karis over night Friday and the whole day Saturday. They have taken just Jesse before but this was the first time solo for Karis, without brobro. We weren't sure how she would handle it, when she is home with me while Jesse is at school she doesn't know what to do with herself. She follows me around bored out of her mind. Apparently, Nonny and Poppy's house is more exciting, she had a ball, all by herself.
That left me with one child Friday night while Matt worked. We went out to dinner, just the two of us- he did great, soaking up all the attention. Then this morning after Matt got home we took him over to Bounce U. He had a great time, especially when mom and dad "boxed" each other (big moon bounce with HUGE boxing gloves, it's a hoot!). Then a little shopping with mommy and a baseball game in the backyard. I forgot how EASY one child is- getting in and out of the car, managing dinner in a resturant, and enough energy for baseball! I did miss my little girl though and was very happy to see her, and to my delight, she was happy to come home!

What to do?

Jesse turns 4 in April and for the past year has not taken a nap. He still has "rest time" in his room for a least an hour. I usually set a digital clock in his room to 1:00 every day at rest time and tell him he can come out at 2:00. He usually comes out a few times and I need to coax him back in but it works for the most part! Well, today he came out once and I told him to go back to his room until 2:00. It was quiet for awhile but I assumed he had found something to do in his room. Meanwhile, Karis is still settling down in her crib for her nap (I have no idea what she was doing in there but it sounded like she was having fun!). She starts calling for her "kiki" (blankie) and I went up to give it her. I noticed that Jesse's door was open and it was VERY quiet. I peeked in, didn't see him playing, peeked in the tent on his bed and low and behold- HE IS SLEEPING!! I can't remember the last time he actually took a nap....whatever will I do with all this time?? Take a nap myself?- scandalous!

I'm Back

So it's been awhile....I have been meaning to start up blogging again but it has been a slow return. We have alot going on but I thought it would be good to keep people updated and at least post pics of the kiddos. Why a new blog page? I can't remember my username and password for my old blog- that's how much I used it!! I can't even remember it to cancel my blog! I should probably email someone my new username and password in case I forget!

Here's a family update:
1- Matt graduates in June from residency. He is in the process of comparing and negotiating job contracts to start in July.
2- We put our house on the market- 2 showing in 2 weeks....we are nervous with the housing market being what it is but believe has God has more control than home buyers!!
3- We are moving across town to Lower Macungie- Matt's job opportunities are over there, most of our friends are over there and our church is planting a daughter church over there in the fall. To learn more about the area our church will be serving and the vision, see our pastor's blog- we are very excited and inspired!
4- Moving requires buying a new house, which we have already picked out. We need to sign a job contract before we can put in an offer so we are waiting for that. We stumbled upon a new construction home that had been started months ago. The owners couldn't sell their house in NY so they had to stop construction. The outside is done, the walls and floors are in so we get to pick what we want on the inside and get a great deal!

So, that's life in a nutshell!! I hope to be more diligent about postings this time around...

Here's our latest Karis video....our future American Idol (oh, I hope not!)...singing "O the Blood of Jesus"...at least you can make out the most important part...