Future Singer/Songwriter

I thought I would just give you a little taste of what we get around here from Addi...constantly! She is truly hilarious, and definitely gets away with a little more because of it. Basically, if she is not talking to one of us, she is either talking to herself or singing to herself. Her mouth never stops moving unless she is asleep (or unless we are asking her to say something to someone that she doesn't want to say...then you might think that she was incapable of speech). The funny thing about her songs though is that she never sings songs that are actual songs. She really only sings songs that she makes up as she goes. So, here she is doing her chores and singing what is sure to be a future hit!

He is Risen, Indeed!

Yes, I am aware of the fact that we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus a week and a half ago, and that this is not a very timely post. I am obviously behind in posting anything new to the blog though, just as I am behind in most other things in my life. I was going to try to just give a brief overview of some of the things that we did to prepare for and celebrate Easter using mostly pictures, but, unfortunately, I did not take pictures of a lot of the things we did. So, I will do my best to just kind of sum everything up.

Each day of the Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday, we did something a little different to try to prepare for Easter. Actually, we started our first project a couple of weeks before that because it needed time to grow. Here is our "Hill of Calvary" that we created. The idea came from here, and then we just added a couple little touches of our own.

On Good Friday, we pinned Jesus up on the cross. We also created a list of some of our own sins that we could think of and pinned those up with Jesus on the cross, representing, of course, that our sins are what put Him there.

On Friday night, we took Jesus (and our sins) down off of the cross and placed them in the tomb. The soldiers were Jake's idea. He put them there to guard the tomb. (As you can see, our grass started to die and look a little sad!)

On Easter morning, the "stone" was rolled away, and Jesus was no longer there. He had risen!

The Thursday before Easter we did our own version of a Passover dinner. We read about Jesus' last supper and talked to them about communion and what it represents. Jake and Addi took their first communion with us and then we washed each other's feet and talked about why Jesus did that and about ways that we can be servants to others. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of any of those things. I think that the munchkins were most excited about getting to drink grape juice. They seem to think they had never had it before, but I'm not so sure. Regardless, you can see where their priorities are!

Then, in an effort to put into practice the fact that we are to be servants, as well as to incorporate the idea that Jesus is "the bread of life," "the bread that was broken for us," etc., we baked some homemade bread for our neighbors. The kids really loved doing all the kneading, watching it rise, etc. I'm thinking that we definitely need to do that more often. If only I could just relax a little more when we take on those projects. I'm constantly on them about being more careful, trying not to make a mess, etc. I know that I take a lot of the fun out of it. Fortunately, they still seemed to love doing it, so I guess I didn't totally ruin the experience.

We did a few other things throughout the week and on Easter morning (like these "He is Risen Rolls") that I did not get any pictures of, but here are a couple of Easter morning pictures. (I really did take some other ones of the morning, as well as of the afternoon with family, but I can't seem to figure out where they ended up.)

We did a couple of "Spring" activities as well, but chose to keep those separate from Easter. I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that the Easter Bunny does not visit the Herron home because we don't want to confuse the kids about what Resurrection Sunday is really all about. So, we still did egg coloring and an egg hunt, but did them prior to our Holy Week activities. We explained to the kids that those types of things are fun Spring activities but that they do not play any part in our celebration of Easter and the amazing sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us.

I will leave you with a couple of pictures of those oh-so-Holy activities...because nothing says "He is Risen" like a bunch of kids fighting each other for a million little eggs filled with a million little pieces of junk!

Little Slugger

Baseball (as in Jay throwing the ball and Jake hitting it and then running around pretend bases) has been something that Jay and Jake have done together literally since Jake could walk. Jake has been dying to actually be on a baseball team, but Jay's afraid that starting him too young won't really give him a good feel for it and will turn him off to it altogether because it might seem boring to him. And, if you know Jay at all, you know that he lives and breathes baseball. He thinks that the people who find baseball boring are the ones who don't truly understand the game. He loves to say that baseball is like church...many attend, but few understand. Anyway, he really doesn't care if Jake plays it or not, but I think that he at least wants him to get a real feel for what it's like. Now that Jake's six-week intro to basketball is over though, he has been begging to try baseball. Our community offers the same sort of six-week intro to baseball, so we decided to let him give it a try. It's the same setup - a half hour practice followed by about a half hour game each week. There are no outs, and each kid gets to bat until he actually hits the ball. It is coach-pitch, but they bring out the tee if a kid can't hit it after several tries.

Well, let me just say, I think that Jake has found his sport. I realize, of course, that after only one half-hour practice and one half-hour game, that that is a very premature statement. But, for the first time, Jake was the "stand-out" on the team. He clobbered the ball every time it was thrown to him during practice and during the game. (To give you a little insight into Jake though, he didn't notice in the least that he was better than anybody else. For him, it's just all about having fun. I love that quality about him.) Unlike in soccer and basketball, he doesn't have to be aggressive (which he is SO not) to get his shot at the ball. He gets his turn, and gets up there and just whacks it. I don't think there was another kid on either team that could do that every time. He's really good at throwing as well, and is now obsessed with working really hard to learn how to catch. After the first game, he said that baseball is definitely his favorite sport so far, followed by soccer and then basketball. I honestly think that Jake would like absolutely any activity we put him in that involved being on a team or in some sort of a group with other kids, but it's nice to have one that he can shine at a little.

And, of course, our always loyal little cheerleader was there cheering on her big brother.

16 Weeks and Counting

I had my 16 week checkup on Monday, and things are still going well. The only thing we cared about going into the appointment was hearing the heartbeat again, and we heard it loud and clear! We are now debating whether or not we should find out if it's a boy or girl at the next appointment. We didn't find out with Jake or Addi, and if Jay had his way, we wouldn't find out this time either. We have loved the anticipation of waiting until the baby is actually born, but I think I want to find out this time. One of my main reasons for wanting to know is so that the kids can have a few months to prepare for it - especially Addi. She is absolutely convinced that it's a girl and is going to be extremely disappointed if it's not. I'd rather her have a few months to get used to the idea of a baby brother, if it's a boy.

She has been so cute about the whole thing though. We told her a couple of weeks ago that the baby could hear now, and so she talks to my belly constantly. She gets really close and loudly says things like, "Hi Baby, whatcha doin' in there?" and "Are you hungry, Baby? Mommy's having tacos. Does that sound good?" She makes sure she says good morning to the baby when she gets up everyday, and good night every night. She told me yesterday that she thinks that the baby is going to know her very well when she comes out since she talks to her all the time. It's all very cute. I love how excited they continue to be and am hoping that the excitement doesn't fade once the baby is actually here!

Visitor

We were excited to get to spend a couple of days with Aubrey this week. She spent the night with us while her caretaker was in San Diego for a job interview, and we had a great time with her. Of course, the kids continue to wish that she was still living with us. It is absolutely amazing to see the little girl that she has become...not the same child she was when we first met her almost a year ago. She is sweet and loving and fun, with no more fits of anger or self-destructive tendencies. We were able to witness some of that gradual change during the few months that she was with us, and the transformation has just continued over these past six or seven months that she's been with this other Safe Family. It is truly amazing and definitely a testament to the effect that Safe Families can have in the lives of children. She is going to be transitioning back to living with her mom in a couple of weeks though, and I won't go into how I feel about that or how I feel about her mother. I would certainly say things that I should not be saying here. I will again be praying for a covering of safety over Aubrey though, as well as peace and comfort for her that can only come from God.

Jake Herron - Neighborhood Detective

My 6 year old son informed me this afternoon that he has now decided to be a detective. I assumed that he was adding it to the list of 100 other things that he wants to be when he grows up, but I was wrong. He has decided to be a detective right now. He likes to read a lot and one of the series of books that he likes is Jigsaw Jones (who is a kid detective). Apparently, the latest Jigsaw Jones mystery that he just finished inspired him to this latest endeavor. He immediately began rearranging some furniture in our bonus room because he needed a detective desk. He also found himself a detective journal in which to take down notes about his cases. He then set about making flyers to pass around the neighborhood. The flyers said, "Have a case that needs solved? Call (our number). Your neighborhood detective, Jake."

Now, Jake comes up with some doozies sometimes and they almost always involve passing out flyers to people in the neighborhood about something (like joining some sort of club), or making something and then wanting to sell it door to door for $5 each, or wanting to ask neighbors to employ him in some way so that he can earn money, etc. I never quite know how to handle it because I don't want to discourage him or squash his little entrepreneurial spirit by telling him that he can't do it or that it's not a good idea. But, I also don't want his spirit to get squashed by neighborhood kids laughing at him, or by him feeling badly that nobody buys his $5 book of pictures that he has colored and stapled together. Jake is such an amazing kid who is truly unique (in a great way), but if you don't know him, sometimes you just don't get him. So, my solution is ALWAYS to send him across to our wonderful neighbors and friends across the street, who know him and love him well, and let him "start" with them. I usually then find subtle ways to divert his attention to some other scheme.

So, when he said that he was going to go pass out his flyers around the neighborhood, I suggested that he first just leave a flyer at our neighbor's house so that he could "practice" solving his first case with them...before trying to solve other people's cases. So he did. And, because they never let our kids down, when they got home tonight, Jake got a call from them asking him to solve their "Case of the Missing Soccer Ball." Like I said, they know Jake well, and I'm sure that when they saw the flyer, they knew full well that he was serious about it. They gave him a couple of clues and Jake told them that he would get right on it first thing in the morning.

I wish that I could somehow convey to you how seriously he is taking this, or that I could imitate him for you on this blog post. It is beyond hilarious. He truly believes that he is a detective now. He immediately got out his journal and wrote down the information they had given him. The journal says...

First Case

Riccardi's

Lost soccer ball

Black, white stripes

Sydney juggling outside

He is absolutely thrilled to have his first case to solve. He has come out of his room about three times tonight to talk to me about it and, most recently, just informed me not to be worried if he's not here when I wake up because he might already be out front working on the case.

Saturday Morning Pajama Dance Party

As you watch this, please ignore my annoying laugh in the background. I wasn't going to post this because of the laugh, but the dancing was pretty cute, so I couldn't resist. Feel free to try to yell at me to "Shut Up!" as you watch. I tried that though and it didn't work. You can also ignore the fact that Addi's pajamas are about two sizes too small.