The Little Things - Enter Selective Hearing

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Robert Brault

I love to watch how our kids' personalities develop week to week. Here are this week's "Little Things":

Haylie -

• So I always wondered at what point children develop selective hearing and now I know. This week Haylie decided that she could only hear the things she wants to hear! Example: M: "Please don't touch that." H: "What?" M: "I said please don't touch that." H: "What?" (all the while still doing what she wasn't supposed to be doing.)


• Over the last week or two Haylie has decided it is funny to run towards the camera as I am trying to take a picture of her. This has made it quite difficult to take a picture of her but it makes me laugh every time, as she runs laughing all the way and lands in my lap. Below are some shots of her new found fun.

James -

• James started baby food this week. We have begun with squash and he was not too thrilled. He loves to eat but, believe it or not, I think he has grown quite an affection for his rice cereal and he didn't much like it when I tried to change things up.

Raider -

• Raider actually bought his own clothes this week, with his own money!!! (well his own allowance) He is really liking Vans and Quicksilver lately so one day when we went to the outlets he headed off his own direction (that part is not new) and returned with 4 shirts (whoa). I find it funny that he is developing a sudden interest in his own sense of style!! :)

Cityhood

Yesterday we were so proud to attend The City of Rancho Cordova's 5 year anniversary as a City. Micah is really enjoying his job there and we were very proud to visit Daddy's work and see the display on his department, with many of the materials that he worked so hard on. Micah was working the festivites at the event so we wandered around to enjoy all of the activities and of course catch some cute photos.

Earlier in the day we went on a tour of a Rancho Cordova Fire Station, along with the First Cov mom's group. We had a great time and Haylie absolutely LOVED the fire truck. She could not stop talking about it and making a fire truck siren noise. At the Cityhood celebration we saw the same fire truck and firemen from the station so Haylie was quite happy to see her friends again and climb on the fire truck some more!

Music in the Park

This weekend we attended Music in the Park with Grandma and Grandpa Runner. It was such a fun time having a picnic with yummy ribs and really great cupcakes (Sharon brought all sorts of amazing cupcakes from Cupcake Craving - sooo delicious!). The music was pretty good ( I have no idea who was playing) and the company was even better. I had an especially fun time remembering back to highschool days when my friends and I used to go to Music in the Park at the same park - it was funny to be there now with 3 kids!!

Micah took this cute photo of Haylie - he wanted to make sure I gave him credit! :)
James was practicing sitting up and he was actually doing fairly well - he could sit there for a good while before finally tipping over.

The Little Things

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Robert Brault

I had written this quote in a scrapbook album I made several years ago for Micah's parents and it has always stood out to me. Raider and I were reminiscing today about Haylie's first words and the things she did when she was one, when I started thinking that I really want to get better at writing down all the "little things" that the kids say and do so I can remember them later on. I have little journals and baby books I had intended to use for that purpose but I never get around to writing them down. So, since I have this blog and I always seem to find time to write things on here...from now on I want to do a weekly recap of all those priceless memories I hope to treasure forever!

Haylie:
-Some of Haylie's newest sayings include:

• Uh-huh
• U-uh
• How about...? (H: "I want to watch Veggie Tales." M: No we're not going to watch a movie right now." H: "How about... Dora?" M: "No, no movies right now" H: "How about... Ariel?")
• A couple more minutes (she thinks she can say this over and over to get what ever she wants like they are magic words!! M: "It's time to go to bed" H: "A couple more minutes")
• No Thank You (M: "Haylie you need to eat your chicken" - H: "No Thank you Mommy!

-All of the sudden I have a glimpse of Haylie as a teenager - lately she has been quite the little smarty. She is constantly correcting me i.e. H: "Where's Raider?" M: "He's at school." H: No Mommy, he's at church." M: "No Haylie, he's at school." I have been telling Micah about this for a week and finally the other day Micah said something to Haylie about a Baseball sitting on the floor and Haylie said "No Daddy it's a basketball." D: "No Haylie, it's a baseball." The funny thing though is on more than one occasion Haylie and I have started into this back and forth conversation and Haylie actually ended up being right!!!

-Lately when Haylie gets nervous or uncomfortable or just plain feels like being silly she starts making faces. I'm pretty sure Raider taught her these! (One day I'm sure she will be quite mad at me for posting these!)

James:

-James has gotten soooo ticklish lately. When I tickle him he screams at the top of his lungs like a little girl - it is sooo hilarious!

-James has just started grumbling whenever he gets irritated. It is the funniest sound - I will have to try and get a video of it. For now we'll just go with the tickling video we caught a week or two ago (Note: this doesn't even capture the sound James makes when he gets going - he really cracks up and screams!)

Raider:
-Raider and I watched the Country Music video countdown today. We both love music so it's fun sharing songs on iTunes and talking about the newest Country Songs and CD's with him. I like that we have that in common!

Baseball Baby

Whether he likes it or not I believe James is destined for playing baseball. As soon as he can swing a bat I'm sure he will be in tee-ball lessons and I know Micah is counting down until the days of little league! You know - we're the kind of parents who are all about making our children live out our unfulfilled dreams! :) j/k

I decided to try and take some quick shots of James as I was inspired by this adorable outfit (wardrobe courtesy of Eli Tyler). I was really trying to get some with a baseball too but he wasn't cooperating! I'll have to try agan later.

Eyes on the King

Over the last several weeks I have had the pleasure of participating in a book club blog (or as my friend Mindy calls it - a "book clog"). It's like a traditional book club but instead of getting together, since we are all spread apart, we have been blogging our thoughts on the book we are reading. It has been a great experience but I wanted to share a post I recently did because it is something I have been so passionate about in my own life lately.

The book is Cure for the Common Life by Max Lucado and here is the jist of the message:

"Cure any flareup of commonness by setting our eyes on the King." (p.75) or straight out of the Bible: "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Col 3:2)

In the book Lucado shares the following story: "During our summer vacation I took my daughters on a snorkeling trip. I took advantage of the occasion to solicit a sailing lesson. After awhile the captain offered, 'Would you like to sail us home?' ...he pointed to a rocky outcrop on the shore. 'Target that cliff,' he instructed. 'Set your eyes and the boat on it.' I found the instruction hard to follow. Other sights invited my attention: the rich mahogany of the deck, my giggling daughters beneath the sail, rich foam cresting on the waves. I wanted to look at it all. But look too long and risk losing the course. The boat stayed on target as long as I set my eyes beyond the vessel. Worship helps us do this in life. It lifts our eyes off the boat with its toys and passengers and sets them "on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand." (Col 3:1)

Every time I seem to lose my way, doubt my self, have a bad attitude, or just plain disobey Him (the list could go on forever), it's a matter of focus. I took my eyes off God, I focused on something other than Him and it made me lose my course!! Every time I focus squarely on Him, I feel more content, more joyful and the results are always better than I could imagine.

Borders Buddies

One of my most favorite ways to spend my free time is going to Borders and reading books - I have loved to do this since college. I was a pretty cheap date then; Micah would take me out for dates and I always loved just sitting in Borders for hours looking at books together - I could do it all day if I had the time. Most recently I have found a new Borders buddy. Haylie loves to read books too so we like to venture up to Borders and sit for an hour or so looking at books. I am always checking out the photography section, "religion" section, or the parenting section, while Haylie reads every Dora book she can find. We get a little pile of books and sit in a corner and read - it is one of the most enjoyable things for me. I recently found out our local Borders has free storytimes every Tuesday. Haylie had a fun time this morning listening to the story and singing songs with all the other little kids (there must have been at least 20). Also just to note - I have decided to add a little column on the side of my blog with the latest books I am reading - in case anyone wants some book reviews!