No church for he and I tomorrow. We missed a chance to visit the zoo today but that was mostly due to weather. Instead we stayed inside and played with the camera.

Always a silver lining!

Turns out that was last Wednesday. The pirate isn’t the only happy one in this photo!

Of course, we immediately sped off to Target to use the card. Here’s the happiest rookie tennis player ever:

First day of games went ok, except it turns out you need more than just a serious expression on your face to hit the ball. You also need to make sure your older brother isn’t too close and you need to make sure you know where other people are before you put all your energy into a swing.

That, and a few dry days where the temps are at least above 50F. Somehow tennis isn’t so interesting when it’s chilly out.

To come: birthday party this Saturday. A “movie” watching party only the movie is really 1/2 hour long because otherwise we won’t have time for anything else, would we?

Sad? Yes. Very hurt tummy. But it was very much helped by a BIG breakfast with second seconds. I’m hoping that’s all it is because it won’t be fun to travel with a sick little boy. Been there, done that!

***

This past weekend:

~ Happy Friday because Abba came home and we immediately headed to Kerbey Lane Cafe for dinner. YUM!

~ Fun Saturday NOT taking care of tires but instead playing soccer in the back. Having Abba home means mom gets a real nap and that goes a looong way towards getting over this bug!

~ Sunshine!

~ A clean car (happened while mom napped!)

~ Brotherly love (happened while mom napped!)

~ Sunday doing the regular Costco type thing and in the afternoon we had some fun, too.

~ Amazon.com Christmas shopping means never having to complain about retail shopping madness and holiday driving

~ Making it through weeks one and two of our Advent studies and making it to the beginning of week three: the Good News.

~ Nothing burned even though I forgot to extinguish the candles before we left for church

~ That last one is a really good one

So we did. They asked the kids to try dropping different amounts of fluids, drop by drop, onto pennies and see how things came out.

First was water:

The fine motor skills required to handle the awkward pipette are a bit much so we mostly ended up with little puddles of water.

But we keep trying! After all, we have seven pennies to work with. Practice, practice, practice!

Sometimes, he wondered about that pipette.

Besides water, we also tried soy sauce, apple juice, worchestershire sauce and oil.

Quite frankly, they all ended up as puddles because it was so much fun to watch that moment when the surface tension weakened and it all went gushing off the penny.

So while “surface tension” was mentioned, what we came away with is try, try, try and try again. That, and he doesn’t like the smell of Worchestershire sauce at all.

Note to self: need to pray about ways to incorporate scripture into these experiments. You think a five year old would get the concept of gluons? Hmmm.

Yesterday, I prepped some pie dough and put it in the fridge and got ready to roll it out today. My ever-faithful kitchen companion, J, got out his stool to help.

It wasn’t easy. Let’s be honest, this was only my third try and the other times the crust wasn’t up to par but my family is kind and they ate their pie anyway. This crust was rock-hard after I got it out of the fridge and—wouldn’t you know it—I didn’t shape them into disks first, just round balls. Yikes!

Seeing my struggle, trying hard to get a flat spot that my rolling pin could work with, J put his arm around me and says

“I see it’s really hard for you, but I can tell you’re gonna do it. You’re doing great!”

It was all I could do not to melt right then and there. He kept going, pushing the rolling pin with me and doing all he could to help out and cheering us both on when we got something to happen.

No matter how this crust ends up tasting, considering the amount of love that went in to it, it will taste awesome! By the way, it smells amazing. I better get back to it!

He know’s he’s five which is one more than four.

He didn’t listen when mom said “stop getting so big!”

He says “I’m almost six!”

He loves the cupcakes we made especially because he got to lick all the bowls.

He’s looking forward to his birthday party.

He’s going to be in FIFA when he grows up—just like his older brother.

He knows his name and Jesus’ name both start with “J”!

To our little boy who brings us so much joy, “happy birthday!”

Thank you, J for your dimpled smiles and cuddles in bed with me in the morning. Thank you that you have a heart to share just like Jesus. Thank you for being such a good listener and for loving our reading time on the couch. I love you, baby!

You know, I have to write this down so that we can remember those wonderful things you do that remind me that you do love Jesus so much.

Once again, you showed the generosity that God’s given you. God loves a cheerful giver and you are one! Miss J was so proud of you last night and told me how you shared the cookies we sent to church with you. This time, she pointed out, that you shared to the point that you had almost left yourself with no cookies. Last time, you split yours—a chocolate chip cookie—in half so that R could have one, too. It’s not just sharing that you do, but sharing without hesitation.

On Tuesday, you gladly went with me to Wholefoods so we could grab a few things. You were so well-behaved! So quick to listen when I asked you to stay close and not run off. You were so helpful when we loaded the basket. It was a no-brainer when you asked me if you could have something from the bakery case. We grabbed a canoli for you and sat down to eat it after it was paid for. And then what? You shared with me. I didn’t even have to ask. “Here mom, you want another bite?” “You want more?”

You are a great blessing! I pray you will never “grow weary of doing good” and keep hold of your generous spirit.

Love,
Mom

Today, after we finished with school, we headed out to Target to get J’s first pair of shin guards, cleats and socks. He was so excited! He helped pick out the shin guards (he had to chose between two) and then he tried on the cleats. He’s size 12 now, by the way, and NM is at size 2. How’d that happen?

When we got home, the boys quickly got their gear on and then scrimmaged outside. Yeah, they were excited.

Later on, we get to the field and we managed to find the group, though a little late. J was really game at the beginning, but when he didn’t make a goal, he got all self-conscious and decided he wanted to go home and sleep. “I’m tired! I’m too tired!” Well, it was true.

The coach was really nice and kept asking him if he wanted to scrimmage, if he wanted to kick off, if he wanted to play freeze tag with the ball, etc. He even had the whole team come ask him if he’d play. That was cute. I brought him back to the field at the end (not according to his will) so that they could do their cheer: “Goooooo Dragons!” Their coach was really nice, really sensitive to this age group. Of course, I’m sure that has something to do with having his own son in the team But he did let me know that he was ok with how it went and he didn’t want to push J at all. He said we always have one like that every year and it will take time but he’ll warm up to it all.

Yes, the little boys look stinkin’ cute in their cleats.

When we got home, J was so excited he asked me, so hopefully, if I would let him wear his uniform. Of course! We even took more photos. We’ll see if he gets a little more into the action come Saturday at their first game.

“UGH” said J.

Hubby said something again.

“UNGH!” said J.

Hubby told him something else.

“Dad! Try again, Dad!”

By the way, if you haven’t been told before, make sure you refer to him as cool and never cute.