Through the eyes of a child...

So, I am sure many of you have heard of the crazy weather that blew through the metro-St Louis area on Friday night. Below is footage that Lambert International released from my beloved C-concourse. C concourse is where American Airlines flys in and out of...I know awhile back I broke up with them, but we have reconciled and I have been pretty faithful. (What??? they have the best security line and concourse in STL). Anyway, my trip last week was a no go, so I was not walking through my favorite landmark in all of my metro-area (yeah, that is sad that I love the airport best, but whatev). I would have been there at the time the storms hit, but instead I was home with Doodles....




Pretty scary stuff huh??? Things at home were not so bad...the other storm system weakened as it got closer and this one headed to the airport, I guess it had a flight to catch (bad humor). So, where I should have gotten hit by 2 I just had really strong winds and a bad thunderstorm.

Saturday morning Doodles gets up in a hurry to go to the Easter Egg hunt at church. I couldn't help but ask if he really wanted to go since it was raining (again) and he was so scared the night before. His answer, "Mommy, that was yesterday! Today is brand new." What a wonderful way to make me really see what the Bible is talking about...Matthew 18:2-4 says "And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Bad things happen, we all sin against each other and against God, but if we remember that was yesterday and today is brand new maybe it would be easier to see the beauty in the world around us. It kinda makes that whole forgiveness thing come into focus...it was yesterday. I wonder how I can work on seeing the world through those child eyes again.

So, because there is no fear of yesterday we got up, went to help get things ready for the Easter Egg hunt and Doodles collected eggs. Then we helped clean up and color the eggs for Easter Breakfast. Sunday....well we didn't make it to Easter breakfast at church :) We found the eggs that EB hid, got cleaned up, went to Sunday School and 10:30 Service. Then mommy took a nap.......

Now we are headed into the last 26 days of school! Vacation this way -->

The Weekend Review

There is still no Blankie....but there is a new resident named Moose. (Yeah, the names are original....the stuffed dog is well, puppy...the stuffed cat is ummm kitty, the bigger stuffed dog is fuzzy and now the moose is moose. My kid is awesome with the namin, it saves on MY confusion!!!!) :)

The weekend was pretty awesome. Let me give you a cast of characters so you can follow along:

Doodles (we all know him by now since he stars in my stories often)
lil brother - my friends son
sister - my friends daughter
Friend - my friend
me/I - well that would be me, seriously this is not hard LOL

Saturday after cleaning, Doodles and I sat down and watched a Tinkerbell (I don't remember which one) for like the 3 millionth time. And then we watched some other random show on TV...because MOMMY, I didn't watch any TV allllllllll week long, can't we please....pretty please with mashed potatoes on top??????? I believe whatever was on NickJr was on my TV...I read a book. Once bedtime came we discover the missing blankie -- I do plan on tearing the house apart to find this blankie....now possibly I should let it stay gone but.....well we will get to it.

Sunday we went to church....the Pre-K/K Sunday School class sang to us before service. TOO CUTE!!!! Doodles actually behaved pretty well so it was off to Friend's house to hang out for the day. We had lunch and then Lil Brother, Doodles, me and Friend went to the Science Center to check out the Grossology exhibit while Sister stayed home to study. Uhhhhh, yeah very apropos name. Doodles is so adorable it kills me, and Lil Brother is...well one of the best kids on the planet!!! The interacted so well. We walked through part of the Science Center when we were done and the two of them held hands. It was so darn cute. We spent an inexplicable amount of time at the mummified baby and Doodles was way into the interactive look at it....maybe he will be an archaeologist or something. After that we went to Our Lady of Snows Shrine for dinner with Friend and Sister (Lil Brother stayed at home for this part of the adventure). There were animals to pet, that licked me EWWWW, Sister and Doodles feed them (there was these really cute alpacas or whatever that were so not photogenic -- pretty funny), singing (that in Doodles words was annoying, but was actually very pretty), some amazing Kettle Corn, Dinner and then the Way of Lights which is sooooo pretty!!! Then on the way out Friend did a donation which is where Moose came from. Such a good day and Doodles loves Friend and her entire family so much!!! It is so adorable how they interact...my shy, don't touch me kid is anything but with them.

This morning I allowed him to sleep until he woke up on his own. Maybe a mistake....I told him to get dressed so I could take him to daycare (I really do have to work, after my meeting at the college) and we had a global meltdown. I don't know what that was all about, but possibly he needed his blankie to calm him. So yes I will be tearing this house apart to see if I can find it. If not we will just learn to live without and hope that somehow the memory that boy has forgets about blankie (of course he remembers the silliest things from years ago......) HELP!!!! :)

Now, I am off to prepare for my writing comp "test". Wish me luck.

Oh, BTW -- no new boy meeting. I know M has been wondering. We had a plan, he made other plans, no big deal. I am pretty content with the way things are running right now.

Exhibit A

I try to be a nice girl. I try to stay to myself. What? Why? C'MON!!!!!!! WHAT IN THE HECK DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE THIS????????????

Exhibit 1....Screaming child less than 10 feet behind me. Now I have dealt with a screaming child before and I am good at it.......BUT, I am at an airport. In my gate. Getting ready for a 4 and a half hour flight. Need I go on???

Exhibit 2...I am sitting on the floor away from everyone! Endless empty chairs to choose from. Stinky guy comes with his lunch. Eats. Chomps LOUDLY. Pulls out phone. Talks with mouth full. Uber Gross!!!! (and I have a boy child)

Exhibit 3....There has got to be 10 flights from Seattle to St Louis. My gate has got to have 15 children from the ages of 7 weeks to 4 years old. Have I mentioned 4 and a half hour flight???? I am going to be enclosed in an airplane with no where to go with 15 children....3 of who are now screaming at the top of their lungs. (would it be bad form to scream with them????)

Exhibit 4....see exhibit 2, that guy just passed the most disgusting gas ever. And when I say that it's pretty bad considering I have 2 older brothers and a father who taught those brothers a thing or 2.

The Issue/What I Did....I forgot to ask for Noise Cancelling Headphones for Christmas and I failed to buy them for myself :-)

The Choking Game

So, I saw this new story this morning that completely bothered me. It is not just the story that is disturbing, but the comments. Apparently there is a "fun game" that kids/teens/young adults are playing these days...the game is to choke themselves to get a buzz. I vaguely recall in my younger days hearing about "stoners" doing this to elongate their high or something; but today apparently these kids are doing it without being under the influence.

HELLO, I have had someone choke me until I passed out. I have had someone choke me until I was close to passing out and laugh in my face as I gasped for air. Children, this is not a high!!!! When you forcible cut off air to your brain you are KILLING YOUR BRAIN CELLS! This is so dangerous -- oh yeah, the reason its news is because a teenage girl was found dead due to this. Not suicide, trying to get a high.

In short, apparently as parents we must talk to our children about sex, drugs, smoking, abuse, the hazards of household chemicals, and now choking themselves!!!! I understand having to talk to my child about having a positive self-image and how important it is to understand the consequences of sex, drugs and smoking. I even know how very important it is to talk to him about treating others with respect and making sure he is treated as such. But to have to sit down and have a serious conversation with him about hey don't choke yourself because it's kinda dumb......I mean how do ya approach it???? OY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Children...

So, I have a friend who is in the public eye and she does a daily blog as part of her job. This week one of her posts was about marriage and some of the things you can do to help rekindle the spark when life gets in the way. It was very couples therapy weeks 1 thru 3, the only thing missing was write down 5 negatives and 10 positives and share the positives and throw the negatives away. It was all in all a really great post......but I have foot in mouth disease and I being who I am stated my views on marriage as it is in today's society. I took exception to one of the phrases about throwing kids in the mixture and how they have a tendency to take over a marriage. My viewpoint on that is that kids never, ever take over a marriage that was meant to be - children add joy to an already joyful marriage.

Last night I could not sleep because I kept checking on Doodles. {I got a call yes afternoon telling me he had a really high temp. Took him to the doc, he's fine...it's just strep}. So, I wrote the following to my friend because I knew that she would enjoy it and I think it is worth repeating to anyone who thinks that children are ever in the way, are ever a burden on their marriage, are ever a reason to get married, stay married or to get divorced. Our kids are nothing but an added joy to us and we should be doing whatever we need to do to protect them!!! They do not need to think they are ever a reason for anything but the smiles -- and sometimes frustration that are truly due to them.

5 Reasons Children Add/Fulfill…

1. Laughter. There is nothing like the sound of an infants gurgle, a toddlers screech of joy, a teenagers laugh (yea I hear they do on occasion laugh with the family and not at them) that makes a parent stop a realize what an absolute joy they are.
2. Tears. There is nothing in a parents life that makes them feel more helpless than watching their child cry! Whether it is from a boo boo, from that first heartbreak or as they get older and life catches them unaware a parent just wants to make it all better. And when that child comes into a parents arms, at 2 or 20, it reminds them how fragile children really are.
3. Fear. Parents slay the dragons of fear throughout the young lives of a child and as they grow their fears become bigger. From thunderstorms or bugs to how do I get a loan or am I doing the right thing, children tend to always run back to their safety net. It reminds a parent that they are superman for their child.
4. Love. From that first bonding moment that squeezes a parents heart making a person wonder how in the world one human being could feel so much for another. That feeling that you know you will do anything for another human being without question. Unconditional. And through everything as they grow, even as they are screaming ‘I hate you’ with everything in them, a parent knows it’s not true and someday they will return to normalcy (ya know grow out of those teenage years). Love will never go away. It reminds a parent how great their parents are.
5. Leaving. There comes a day in a child’s life when they leave the safety of their childhood home. Go to college, join the military, get married, become an adult…all a parent can do is close their eyes and know they did the best they could do (and then go have a good cry of course). It reminds a parent just how special their child is.