Playing Church

The boys have made this their regular Monday morning activity! They love to line up the chairs in the front room and "play" church! It is so cute. Sometimes they put their teddy's in the chairs and other times, they drag me in and we all have fun "singing to Jesus"!

It is important for us to include our children in the singing portion of Sunday's service, especially since caregroups are no longer integrated. There is something powerful about them having the opportunity to see the body of Christ worship our Savior, irrespective of age, gender, ethnic background, etc. And it warms my heart to watch them emulating what they are seeing on Sunday!

Singing to Jesus

(sounds like they are singing in the Spirit!)

And now for the sermon...

Speaking

Mom and I had a blast this last weekend speaking at the homeschool convention. We both LOVE to talk, especially about something that we feel passionate about - enjoyable, age-appropriate learning! We had started our Playful Childhood blog about a year ago, but just hadn't kept up with it. Well, with our impending talk about the importance of play in early learning, we decided to move to our own website and get it back up and rolling. While we are still a little ways from having it where we want it to be, it is launched. Bethy did an amazing job with designing our banner and we are brimming with ideas of what we want to include over there.

We're excited to see where this will go and of course look forward to future speaking engagements! There isn't much at the convention geared for the under 7 crowd, so we are excited to help fill this niche and encourage parents in bucking cultural pressure to teach academics too young and instead equip them with ideas and inspiration to lay a strong foundation of a love for learning.

Mima!

She came, we played hard and now she's gone home again. We had a wonderful week with Mima! It is always such a treat to have her out. I am so thankful that I have TWO wonderful mom's in my life. She is such an example to me in how she loves her kids. I'm even more honored because she treats me like one them. She excels at being a wonderful mother-in-law. Why? Two reasons that stand out are that she graciously relinquished her #1 woman status in her son's life to me (which I can't imagine doing, but know it will come someday-x3) and is so full of wisdom (but she isn't pushy about it). I still remember watching her give Xander a bath when he was 3 weeks old. I had been pretty mechanical about it and it was amazing to watch her interact with my newborn son by making bath times both functional and fun. I know I probably would have figured it out eventually. But her example enabled me to figure things out sooner and transition into motherhood easier.

So thanks, Vicki, for the wonderful visit and for all you've done for our family! We all LOVED spending time with you!

Trying

Xander has been enthralled with birthdays for a long time, but the interest is heightened because of his quickly approaching birthday.

He now tells anyone that will listen:

"I'm TRYING to turn 4!"

I know I will miss these days when their grasp of the English language is not quite there...

Amazing Creating

So, Bethy and I have nicknamed this the 'summer of creating'! We've had so much fun getting together and "creating" while our kids are napping! There is something about 4 sleeping children and one working man upstairs that enhances the creative processes! Of course having 4 sleeping at once is nothing short of a minor miracle, so we try to take advantage of that time.

Here is the latest project. We are transforming the front room into an enchanted forest! (As long as we can call one beautiful and enchanting tree a forest!)

Our once barren and naked wall is now a welcome oasis!

ahhhhhhh. I can feel myself relaxing every time I look at it! I feel refreshed in much the same way as when I look at freshly washed, sparkly clean windows (and w/ three little kids, that is a luxury I don't get to enjoy much these days).

And what does Alexander think of his new tree?!? Check it out!

Moving On, Moving Out!

Moving On: Well, it is time to move on. Sleek Mama is shutting down - in the official sense. After a lot of thinking and talking with my family, we've made the decision to not renew my website after it expires next month.

I started my little biz over 3 years ago and have loved the challenge of learning so many new things. Seeing so many mama's connecting with their little ones while still managing to get things done has been so rewarding! :) Sadly, I just don't have the time or desire to deal with the unpredicability of an internet business anymore. Of course, I will continue to make pouch slings for friends and family when needed (I still have a ton of fabric), but won't be advertising out on the world wide web and shipping orders all over the country anymore!

Moving Out: So with only one more month to go, I've decided to have a big pouch sale. Most of my prints are 20-30% off, so if you know anyone who wants/needs one, let them know about these incredible savings.

the BIG SALE

Movie Knight

Xander is obsessed with movies. I find this sort of somewhat surprising since he has so little exposure to movies, TV, etc. We reserve a movie for special times like airplane trips or when he is sick. But he is obsessed nonetheless and asks to watch movies, especially after he has been sick.
So we decided to make him "work" for his movie and make one of his own. He had so much fun telling me a story and than getting to watch HIS movie! I love the fact that we have captured some of his quirky and adorable expressions on film!
St. George and the Dragon

Fireman

Speaking His Language...

So, in the short time that I've been a mom, I've learned that it's all about speaking their language. In preparation for Independance Day, we've been reading some books and trying an art project or two in an attempt to teach him a little about the 4th and to help my sometimes timid guy anticipate and enjoy the fireworks.

Independence and freedom can be come pretty abstract concepts. But there is no doubt about it, he understands BIRTHDAYS!

So we turned out long-time family tradition of American Flag Cheesecake into a birthdayy cake! YUM!

Oma with the boys as they prepared to blow out the birthday candles!

The boys playing with their popsicle stick flags that we made with some friends earlier that week!

Although a bit nervous at the beginning, Alexander LOVED watching fireworks. Keegan was tired and having the sprinklers go on unexpectedly where we were sitting didn't help his mood. Surprisingly, Treyton did the best with the fireworks and just watched them with wide, adorable eyes!

Zapped

Last week Rich and I had a wonderful night out! We love to surprise each other. Usually Rich enjoys the surprise mostly because he knows how happy it makes me to either be the surpriser or surprised. This time, though, he REALLY enjoyed the destination! We hit the recently renovated McCullough-Price House in Chandler for the ZAP exhibit. Playing vintage video games was a huge hit! Although I’m not a big fan of video games, I enjoyed the exhibit too. Although I must admit it felt weird to think that stuff I grew up with is now considered “vintage”…

Sadly, I forgot my camera. It would have been so cool to include a picture of us sitting on a natty brown sofa looking at a wood-encased old school TV while playing pacman. Next time!