Jarod's early birthday

Jarod will be 7 in about two weeks. We celebrated with his grandparents in Indianapolis this weekend by going to the Indiana Transportation Museum. That translates to lots and lots of trains! They had several old trains in the yard that you could walk through and get a feel for what it was like to ride in a train back in the "old days". It was so neat to see Jarod climbing in the engineer's seat and grinning from ear to ear. He was in heaven!
Jarod climbed in a caboose to see out of the top like a brakeman would have done. There was a desk in the caboose for the conductor to sit in and keep a log. Jarod felt right at home!


Jarod also sat at a table and chairs in the dining car.



Andrew enjoyed it as well. I was suprised that Jarod shared the engineer's seat with him! It was a special day for Jarod.

Kid Nation

Yes, I actually watched the much talked about Kid Nation tonight. I even let Jarod watch it too. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It focused a lot on team work and the importance of working together. The show also had challenges and awards. It was interesting.

Jarod and I actually had a good conversation about what it would be like if was there and didn't have any grown ups around. He said he might like it for a while, but then would get home sick and want to come home. I thought that was pretty honest for an almost 7 year old.

In this episode the kids had to kill a chicken. Jarod said that killing the chicken to eat it was okay because they were hungry, but that they shouldn't kill it because it was fun.

I really like this age of almost 7, but I'm not sure I'm ready for him to grow up!

Kids say the funniest things

• Last week in church my friend pulled me aside and said she needed to tell me something. She said that during Sunday School, Miss Susie was asking the children if they had ever done anything wrong. "I have," she said. Well, my 1st grader, Jarod spoke up and said, "Not so much this month." My friend said all the teachers were trying to hold in their laughter! Such a funny guy.
• Jarod was involved in a program last year in school called Super Games. It was a chance for K-2 kids to learn some games and get some energy out after school. It took some convincing for Jarod to even go. When I picked him up later after the first day, he walked out of the gym with a very annoyed look on his face and said, "There wasn't anything super about those games!" He eventually warmed up to the teacher and enjoyed it.
• I was playing with Andrew outside last Friday and he was up in the "fort" of our playset. He was steering the wheel and I asked him where he was going. I asked him if was driving to Gramma's house. Well, once we got inside he stood by the back door and said repeatedly, "Gramma's house, Gramma's house." He was ready to go! So, we headed down to Gramma's house for the afternoon. I guess I need to be careful with what I say or me may be going on several field trips to Gramma's!

I have always wanted to write down the funny things my kids say. I want to remember them, but somehow my attempts at journaling have gone by the wayside. Hopefully, this blog will help me to write them down more often. I guess it's just easier to type than to get out a pencil and paper.

MOPS

We had our first MOPS meeting of the year on Monday night. It turned out to be a really great night. We had some new faces to our group which made it fun. The theme for our year is The Home Factor. We will be going through different rooms of the house and hopefully encouraging moms along the way. I am excited to see where the Lord leads us!

This is my last year as coordinator for our MOPS group. I just feel that God is leading me to something else. I don't know what that is exactly, but I'm looking forward to finding out. So, until then, I hope to encourage my steering team in leadership and to work with them to make this year the best one yet. It's a little bitter-sweet for me to think about stepping down. I know my c0-coordinator will do a fantastic job, but it will be hard for me to let go. I've loved this position and I know God has changed me through it!

Picture Night

We had our family pictures taken last night at church for our church directory. I wasn't sure how they were going to go.

The last time we had a family picture taken for a church directory was about 5 years ago and Jarod cried the whole time. We couldn't get a good picture. So, they sent us to another location on another day to try again. Once again, Jarod cried. Our picture was okay, but Jarod's eyes were wet and red and Eric and I looked like we just wanted to go home.

Our last family picture was taken last year around the holidays. It wasn't supposed to be a family picture, however. It was supposed to be a picture of Andrew and Jarod because I had not had a picture of the two of them together since Andrew was a baby. Well, the whole experience was a disaster! Andrew cried and screamed and would not sit with Jarod at all. I went to two locations and I ended up crying as well. So, I convinced Eric to come with us and that way he could hold Andrew in is lap. That picture turned out well. (see below)

So, last night...We actually got a decent picture for the directory. I was pretty happy. (Although, I wasn't completely happy with my look, but whatever...) The fun part of the evening was getting the boys pics together. They were anything but typical! Andrew either had his back to the photographer, his shirt up showing his belly, or my favorite...his fingers in his ears because Jarod was saying "cheese" too loud. We purchased that one! I'll post it when we get it.

Picture night wasn't so bad, but I don't want to do it again for a while!