11-18-15 Parents' Day!

Today was parents' day at C's school. I've been looking forward to this day for weeks! As a working mom, I am used to dropping my kids off with people that I trust and then picking them up in the evening, knowing little about the details of their day, but confident in the fact they have been well cared for and loved.

School is an entirely different matter. Putting C on the school bus each morning and sending her off into the unknown always makes me a little uneasy. I don't personally know anyone well at C's school and I just have to trust that she's making friends and fitting in.

Walking into her classroom was a real treat. She had no idea that we were coming so it was heartwarming to see her face light up when she spotted us! We got to watch her interact with her classmates. I met a couple of her friends and made mental notes of the kids she often mentions when she is at home. It is nice to have faces to put to names!

We were pretty disappointed that C's teacher wasn't there, and instead the class was being run by a substitute. I kind of felt cheated, because, while this woman was nice, she didn't know the kids, was reading from lesson plans, and didn't really have a lot of energy.

We could hear the other classes laughing and singing, while our class was sedate, and well... boring. The parents in other classes were sitting with their kids, doing activities, and we sat at the back of the room staring at the back of our kid's head for an hour and a half.

I made a mental note to finish the volunteer paperwork so that I can come in one day and really see what it is like.

C was telling me just last night about the turkey she made
in school. It was hanging on the wall outside of her classroom. 

The first 10-15 minutes of class time was them sitting at their tables reading...
quietly... So we sat in our chairs... quietly. It would have been nice
if they had offered to let us sit with the kids and read with them. 

The kids are collectively writing a few sentences.
 Apparently they do this each morning.
C kept glancing back to make sure we were still there.

Seriously, I loved seeing my girl this morning and being in her classroom, I just wish it had been more interactive. 

Things we noticed about C in class...

1- She is one of the shortest kids. 

2- She never raises her hand to answer questions, but you can see her mouthing the answers.

3- Because she sits in the front of the class, she doesn't get distracted by the other kids fidgeting around her. (The teacher told us last week that she usually puts C in between two of the rowdier boys because she is so calm and it calms them down.) 

4. She follows directions very well. 

5. She gets very nervous when she stands up in front of the class to give answers. She was asked questions that I know she knows the answers to, but in front of everyone she clammed up. (She gets that honestly from her mama! I was always one of the shyest kids in class! If the teacher called on me, I would cry!) 

6- She is surprisingly good at the song Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes! 

11-17-15 Another day, another party

Two family birthday parties in less than a week?!? Yes, that's how we roll. If you were in Edgewater or surrounding environs this evening, you would have heard the tell tale signs of a Pearson birthday party... Lots of screeching, laughing, and over all merriment! The kids' cousin turned two. I didn't tell the kids about the party until we pulled into the parking lot at Chik-fil-a, at which point they started squealing with excitement!

Happy birthday, Ollie! We hope your day was great and you enjoyed your party!! We love you, little guy!






I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow!

11-16-15 Birthday Party Post

Saturday night was Baby E's birthday party.

If you have never been invited to one of our birthday parties, I beg you won't be offended. And if you have been, but aren't regularly asked, again, it's not you... it's us!

When we celebrate with Tim's side of the family, it is automatically 26 people. TWENTY-SIX people!!! And 13 of them are seven and under. Gah! That's a lot of people, and depending upon our location, we often don't have room for much more!

I've mentioned before that I come from a pretty quiet and sedate family, so it's always an adventure to have all of us together. The evening usually starts out relatively quiet, but once you add in all the little kids, cake, ice cream, and toys- you have a recipe for chaos, that at times spirals into madness! Ha! The kids love seeing all their cousins and it is fun to hear all the squealing and playing as they chase each other around the house. I love moments like that. I know one day they won't all be running around. They will be sitting on their phones, or rolling their eyes at us 'older' people as we recount the glory days (i.e.- before they were born!)

My mother in law made this wonderful cake for my little guy! What a cute idea!

Baby E hasn't really had much sugar in his short little life. He doesn't get much fruit, as we stick mostly to vegetables for him. The sweetest treat he has had in our house is Nilla Wafers. I was curious to see how he would react to his first experience with frosting. When we put the cake in front of him he just poked at it for a few minutes. I put a little on my finger and touched it to his lips. At that point he understood that it was food and he stuck his own fingers in his mouth. He immediately glanced over to Tim and gave him a huge smile... Then he looked at me and grinned. The cake didn't stand a chance after that. 

He spent the next half hour eating cake and smearing frosting everywhere. He was one happy kid. 

Ten minutes after that he went into a sugar coma. He got a glazed over look in his eyes and started staring into space. The rest of the evening he was in a sugar-induced netherworld. When we finally put him in his carseat at the end of the evening, he promptly fell asleep. 

Welcome to the world of sugar, kid. 

He was pretty mesmerized by the candle and seemed pretty disappointed when we blew it out! 

Have you tried this stuff, Daddy?

He is looking so grown up. He is wearing his first pair of shoes...
I know, it only took a year, and third baby finally has shoes! 

Those cheeks!

These girls... best friends... 

11-15-15 Dedication

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to dedicate Baby E at our church. This is something we have done with each of our children. It is the chance for us to stand with our friends and family and affirm our faith and our commitment to raise our children in a way that will point them towards Christ's redeeming work on the cross.

Thank you to all who were there and to Pastor D for loving and praying for our family!

11-14-15 A short post for a long day

I'm pretty tired tonight. We had Baby E's birthday party this evening and we are all pretty exhausted. So tonight's post is short and sweet. I will write more tomorrow!

11-13-15 Birthday Party 1

Tim had to work late, but my sister and mom came for a visit to celebrate our little guy turning one! Our friend Jeremy came too!

We had dinner, and then put a small cake with a candle in front of Baby E. Since Tim wasn't there, I didn't let the baby eat any frosting, just cake! After that was present time. The big kids were more than happy to help him open and play with his new presents. As for Baby E, he really seemed to enjoy his new toys!

Thanks Mom, Aunt Julie, and Mr. Jeremy for a lovely evening!

11-12-15 My future grandkids

C informed me this evening that she is planning on having five children when she grows up. Three boys and two girls, and then she began naming them. From what I could tell they were all names of kids in her class.

Out of curiosity, I asked Big E if he was going to have any kids. He said he would have boys and he would name them George The Monkey, The Guy With The Yellow Hay, and A Dragon.

So far it looks like eight grandkids for me... And just so we are clear, our family is claiming those names now. We don't need more than one The Guy With The Yellow Hat in school at once.





Oh look, I found a picture of me taken a few months after I graduated college!

11-11-15 Milestones

Is there an 's' on the end of that word? Why yes, there is!

Today was a big day for milestones in our home. Baby E took his first steps!!! He was holding on to the edge of the bed, turned to me and started walking! He made it about three steps before diving into my arms!

He did the same sort of thing for Tim ten minutes later. He stood up from his little chair and headed towards daddy!!

I'm so excited for my little man! Great job, Baby E!!

Our other milestone was having out very first parent teacher conference at C's school. We discussed her report card, which was really good. We learned that she is very shy and soft spoken in class but over the past few weeks she has been opening up! She can count to 59, surpassing the goal of 31. Good for her!! The worst thing on her report card is that she needs to learn how to draw a hexagon. I'm a pretty proud mama. Considering she's the youngest in her class, she is holding her own! Good job, C!!!

11-11-15 The Red Cups

As I stood in line to order my drink, I saw a stack of unimposing cups sitting by the register. The first thought that went through my mind was, "I'm supposed to be offended but those cups, right?" After all, I'm a Christian, and for the past thirty years I have watched my beloved Christmas holiday get systematically whitewashed and conformed into the politically correct holiday season our culture knows today. But as I stared at them, all I could see were cups. Red cups. No social statement... no religious persecution... no emotional tug of self-righteousness. Just red cups.

If anything, I felt sorry for the poor designers at Starbucks headquarters, (the creative types locked away in a design studio, probably still paying off student loans from their prestigious design schools) who were tasked with creating one of the most boring disposable cups ever made. I'm sure hours went into deciding the exact shade of red, and the placement and size of the logo, but beyond that no creativity was needed. The end product- a red cup with a logo.

But ever since the red cups hit the stores, there has been no shortage of indignation from Christians. Believers falling on their swords because a large corporation decided to rebrand the appearance of their beverages. Boycotts have commenced. Social media campaigns have been launched. Hashtags have been activated. And quite frankly, I'm embarrassed.

Did you know that according to the International Labor Organization, in 2009 the average monthly wage in Pakistan was $255? That comes out to $8.50 a day.

Of the 2.2 billion children in the world, 1 billion of them are in poverty.

In North Korea, an estimated 50,000-70,000 Christians are imprisoned in labor camps. 

Since 1980, over 1.3 billion abortions have occurred worldwide. 

In 2013 more than 3.2 million children were living with HIV. 

There are about 20-30 million slaves worldwide. 

Approximately 100,000 Christians are killed each year for their faith. 

Should I keep going?

If our biggest "Christian" problem is that our five dollar drink is in a plain red cup at the end of the calendar year, then I think perhaps we have missed the point entirely.

I'm pretty sure that God doesn't care what color Starbucks prints their cups. Or perhaps he chose the nondescript red just to show us the shallow depth of our own faith and the utter extent of our failure. To show us that we routinely justify ourselves by our legalism, that we find our self worth in our self proclaimed holiness.

But let's be honest with ourselves. If we used even half the energy and money that we spend on trivial  problems like red cups, and "Let's keep Christ in Christmas" arguments, and we focused that passion and those resources on issues like the above problems, His Church would be a force to be reckoned with!!

Let's step out in faith, take verses like 1 John 3:17-18 seriously, and carry out the true message of this upcoming season. That Christ came to earth and lived life in a way we could never accomplish, and died a death we each deserved, so that through faith even the least of us might be saved. And with that assurance and with compassion, let us reach out into the world around us and impact peoples' lives in a tangible way. Let's feed the hungry. Let's clothe the naked. Let's love the orphan. So that through us, Christ may be seen.

So let the lukewarm have their red cups, let's set our eyes on something bigger! Let's set our eyes on Him!

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. ~1 John 3:17-18 (NIV)

11-10-15 Off The Charts

"Off the charts!'

That was the nurses description of Baby E's head at his one year check up this morning. After measuring in the 10th percentile for height and 25th for weight, Baby E came in at over 49 cm for head circumference. On the chart that they track him on, the dot was a good half inch above the top line.

The doctor again reassured me that he is perfectly healthy and has no concerns. He noted Baby E's orange coloring and attributed it to his diet (the same was true for C at that age.) Baby E certainly likes his veggies... And any other food he can get his hands on.

The doctor laughed because the nurse had warned him that Baby E was very orange and when he asked her if his eyes looked normal she said she couldn't tell because he was smiling so much and his eyes were too scrunched up. Ha!

He wasn't concerned about the recent rash that he had. He says it is likely a food intolerance but not an allergy. So I should try to narrow it down, but I don't need to worry about it.

He got some shots, which Baby E did not approve of, but he handled it pretty well.

It was a good visit, and he goes back in three more months.

Good job, Baby E! Keep up the growing!!

I've noted before that I like to take a picture of them with their stats when we are at the doctor's office. This gets so much harder to do as they get older! Just stay still!