Playseum

The Children's Museum of Phoenix, otherwise known as the "Playseum" in our home is truly a magical place! Thanks to Trey's lack of a social security card (lovely government bureaucracy functioning at it's best), we made two trips to the Playseum while trying to procure the card.

The new musical station in the '3 and under' room was a huge hit this time.

And of course, playing store is always fun. Seeing their little minds hard at work while they play never ceases to amaze me.

For some reason, the boys just do not like the art and craft area. But they LOVE every other aspect of the museum.

His Plan...

Xander loves people, especially babies and other kids.

A couple of months ago we had this strange conversation.

Xander: "Mom, we need to have lots of kids."

Me: "Why?"

Xander: "So we can play Duck, Duck, Goose."

Me: "Oh, (long pause) how many kids do we need to have?"

Xander: "I don't know, 10 or 12."

Me: "Friends?"

Xander: "No, all ours!"

Me: "Well, you are going to need to talk to God about that one. I don't know if Mommy has faith for that."

Lately, he's taken to praying for sisters. Last night he asked God to send 3 sisters, so there would be a little sister for each of them.

Gotta love his faith and love for little people, right?

Happy Hunting!

This last week we had the opportunity to explore God's glorious creation thru a photo scavenger hunt that my friend put together!

Middle-bit (aka: Keegan) was feeling the need to stay close to mommy. With Little-bit on my back, sleeping, Keegan had to settle with the stroller. It's strange to see the little seasons my children go through. Keegan, my adventurous, no-fear child is in a mommy/daddy phase.

We enjoyed inspecting old Burrowing Owl homes, long since abandoned as more people have frequented the preserve.

Ever curious and exploring...
We had so much fun running around, looking for clues and enjoying our wonderful 'winter' weather. Towards the end, our friends caught up and walked with us a bit.

He still loves me...

I was telling my sister the other day that I had to be the worst. girlfriend. ever. Ten years ago, today, was our first Valentine's Day together and well, let's just say it is amazing that I didn't scare him off!!!

I don't know what possessed me, but my Valentine's Day gift to Rich was the (wonderful) book, Knowing Scripture, by R.C. Sproul. I think he brought me a dozen beautiful red roses and I gave him -- a book. Exciting and romantic, isn't it????? In my defense, I do throw up that the book was my dad's idea. But I still made the final decision to purchase and present it to him wrapped in beautiful red paper. :groan:

Now we don't bother with gifts on this day. (We both dislike the commercialization - and we're cheap.) But we do still have two traditions. We also enjoy this method of sharing cards! And then we do go out for a special date! Valentine's Day (or some day that week) and our Anniversary are the two special date nights we have every year. We take turns planning the evening and enjoy surprising the other with the itinerary!

Loyalty

Lately, I've been reading a lot on Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education (both academic and spiritual). It has been inspiring.

Recently this stood out to me:

"The Essense of Christianity is Loyalty to a Person -Christ, our King. Here is a thought to unseal the fountains of love and loyalty, the treasures of faith and imagination, bound up in the child. The very essense of Christianity is personal loyalty, passionate loyalty to our adorable Chief. We have laid other foundations - regeneration, sacraments, justification, works, faith, the Bible - any of which, however necessary to salvation in its due place and proportion, may become a religion about Christ and without Christ. And now a time of sifting has come upon us, and thoughtful people decline to know anything about our religious systems, they write down all our orthodox beliefs as things not knowable. Perhaps this may be because, in thinking much of our salvation, we have put out of sight our King... Let us save Christianity for our children by bringing them into allegiance to Christ the King."
She goes on to say,

"The indwelling of Christ is a thought particularly fit for the children, because their large faith does not stumble at the mystery, their imagination leaps readily to the marvel, that the King Himself should inherit a little child's heart."

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to have faith like a child. I am in awe at the love and trust that my boys have for us as their parents. They know we love them more than anything and the simplicity of their faith in us blows me away. My prayer is that my faith in God would be like their faith in us - simple and complete. I'm thankful that I can just enjoy His presence and know that He will never let me go!

I am also humbled to have the oppportunity to introduce my boys to Christ -our King. May my life communicate that loyalty and love for Him is like nothing else we can ever imagine! May they see my loyalty being first and formost to my Redeemer, my Friend, my King.

11 months

My little guy is growing up. Today he is 11 months old. This last month has seen a lot of changes. While he has always been a little man on the move, he transitioned this last month to walking. Now he is working on running. This kid is everywhere! He is actively trying to play with his brothers, specifically Keegan. Keegan is working on having patience to play (gently) with his brother and relinquish toys from time to time.

Given the time of year, football is still at the forefront of boys thoughts in these parts. Treyton is no exception. He has been walking around the house lately, football in hand. Many times, he carries it like this:

But more often, he prefers to hold it at the base of his neck, as if getting ready to throw it!

We love this stage and are cherishing every little moment of these first weeks of toddling around!

Time with #2!

My in-laws were in town last week. As always, we enjoyed having time to spend together. On Friday they took Rich and Xander down to the Phoenix/FBR Open. Xander loved the opportunity to see some of his sports heroes in real life and my inlaws got to relish our beautiful weather (a nice break from 10 inches of snow back home).

This meant special time with my Keegs!
Keegan is my observer. He is my little man of very few words - until his brother is gone. You see, Xander is a talker. He talks for everyone. He tells me what his daddy, brother, auntie or anyone else is thinking. I ALWAYS know what is going thru his mind because he tells me!

So it was a wonderful treat to get a peak into the real Keegan. We talked a lot. He was excited to get to play a game with mommy. Just him and mommy! We love our Busy Bugs game. We were both enthralled with sorting bugs by color and type for almost an hour during Treyton's nap. I was amazed at how well he did with it! Towards the end, we pulled out one of our favorite new toys and he had fun matching the bugs with the coordinating colored bowl. ETA: I would love to hear any ideas of how you find special one-on-one time with each child or what your parents did to create special one-on-one memories when there was more than one of you.