Jodilightful!

Just wanted to post a last minute reminder that Chipotle Mexican Grill (follow the link to find one near you!) is once again giving away a free burrito to anyone dressed as a burrito (ie wearing tin foil) or anything else Chipotle-ish after 6 PM on October 31st (that’s tomorrow!)  They are super yummy and huge. Last year (click to see our get-up) our catch of five burritos fed our little family for *two* meals!  Warning, though: if you’re planning on coming to the one in our neck of the woods, it may be standing room only, because we’ve talked at least three other families into joining us!

Secondly, another money-saving tip:  We are not hard-core sports fans by any stretch, but it’s hard not to be a little enthusiastic when your local baseball team makes it into the World Series for the second year in a row!

So, if you happen to be a fair-weather fan like me, you might be wondering whether it would be a little extravagant to own team-specific garb for your kiddos.  I certainly wouldn’t have  bought the girls all Phillies shirts just to wear for the one week of the year that we’re all excited about the Phillies, but we happened to have two outfits for the little ones that came to us as gifts.

What to do with the big girls?

Normally, I’m all about making my own printable iron-on transfer T-shirts, but I didn’t have two shirts I wanted to permanently turn into Phillies shirts.   Then I thought about ironing Phillies logos onto the *inside* of the shirts and putting them on inside out, but it wasn’t without its problems…

Then it hit me: Phillies logo *stickers* on T-shirts!  And that’s just what I did.  I printed off two half page Phillies logos on a full-sheet address label page, cut them out, stuck them on, and voila!  My girls are baseball fans now.

You’d never know they aren’t ironed on, and when the baseball craziness is over, we’ll just peel them off!  So if the Eagles make it into the Super Bowl, and you see our girls in gray Eagles shirts, you’ll know where those came from, too (though I’m not at all sure their Daddy would allow that!)

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Happy New Week!  Today I want to think a bit on how I love my life and find joy in mothering by:

…letting go of my pride and letting God do great things in my life by humbling me.

Before I had kids, if I’m honest, I thought I was pretty great.  I was pretty sure, though I wouldn’t have admitted it, that I would make a great mom.   Sure, I had my areas of weakness, things I should probably be working on, but I was going to get the *important* things right.

I am so thankful that God gives us children in the form of babies.  For those early weeks, months and years of life, they are definitely taking a lot in, but God in His grace has given us moms a good year or two to shape up before our kids really start noticing (and picking up!) our character flaws.  If only that were long enough!

From about when Pippa hit the toddler/pre-school age, with Romilly hot on her heels, I have felt an acute sense of being under the microscope of their developing character. Through their ever-studying eyes, God has allowed me to see my heart  for what it really is, and it’s not  as pretty a picture as I once thought.

While I had once thought the challenge of parenting would be to get my kids to turn out as good as I was (ha!), I began to realize that the last thing I wanted was to have my girls end up like me!

How could I teach my messy Pippa to tidy up her playroom, when I am too lazy to keep the rest of the house presentable?

How could I instruct my sweet over-reactor Romilly (should I admit that we have nicknamed her “Drama-ly”?  Probably not.) to keep a happy heart when things don’t go her way instead of bursting into tears, when I have been known to do *exactly* the same thing?

Everyone wants to set a good example for their kids, but how can we do that when we *aren’t* good?

Here are three truths about this that God has used to comfort me and fill me with hope for my children, and with all that comes joy!

• God’s grace is sufficient to cover our areas of weakness.  By opening our eyes to them He  increases our  dependence on Him.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul writes this:

But he [the Lord] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

When we know that any good fruit from our parenting is in spite of us and because of God’s grace, our parenting glorifies Him.

• God uses our failings to humble us and point back to the cross.  We cannot be reminded enough that we do not deserve or do anything to earn our salvation.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.

Having kids reminds us daily of our own sin, and our need for a savior, and God knows we *need* this reminding to preach the gospel to ourselves daily!

• God uses our kids as instruments in our sanctification!

Romans 8:28 says

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Whether by making the hard mistakes and learning from them or by allowing God to show us and change the areas in our lives that need changing, God can and *will* use our children to shape us into the people He wants us to be.  It can be a painful process, but there is great joy in trusting that it is for our good and His glory!

* * * * *

When I fail, and when God’s love shows me that I have failed, I have found that asking my children to forgive me is the quickest way to turn a situation around.  The last thing I want to be in my children’s eyes is a hypocrite, and yet, that’s just what I am.  When they see me making the same mistakes I am trying to train them not to make, I owe it to them to acknowledge this sin before them.  They are so quick to forgive, and their sweet smiles go a long way to heal my heart of my disappointment with myself.

Rocket Science.

Decorating the rocket.

Countdown.

Rocket Launch 10/19/09

Thanks so much to Mr. and Mrs. Weaver for giving us such a special day!

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Yesterday we were building and launching rockets, so there was plenty of MoJo, but no time to blog about it.  In lieu of my Monday post, I felt inspired today to participate in Oh Amanda’s Top Ten {Tuesday} carnival, because, you know what?  I *never* have!

So, today, in a MoJo-y sort of way, I’m thinking about why I love having all girls.

1. No awkward decisions to be made about the kids bathing together/sharing bedrooms, eating breakfast naked.   What?

2. Having all one gender is definitely the super-frugal way to have kids.  I *never* have to buy clothes.  Ever.

3.  Having all *girls* is the *really* super-frugal way to have kids: people like buying girl clothes. It’s a fact.   Even though they know we are totally overrun with adorable pinkness,  they cannot resist giving us more.  And I’m totally okay with that!

4. I think pigtails are about the cutest thing in the whole word.  If you’ve ever seen my kids, you already knew that.

5.  I don’t know what I would put a boy in on everyone-is-wearing-flowers days like today.

6.  People don’t think we’re crazy for having four kids, they just assume we were “trying for the boy.”

7.  I don’t know the first thing about how boys think.  Girls, I sort of get.  Even Romilly.  Most of the time.

8.  I have a heart for the issues that surround growing up as a Christian woman in this world.  Maybe that’s because I have girls, or maybe God gave me girls because of that.  Either way, it works out well.

9. It makes Daddy extra special.  To the girls, because he is the only boy in our house (besides the dog), and for me because I get to hear him say over and over and over to people that he wouldn’t have it any other way.

And finally…

10.  Well, just look at them!

For more Top Ten {Tuesday}, visit Oh Amanda here!

Alternate Title: You Never Know What You Might Find on the Camera When Trevor Gets Bored While Taking eBay Photos

So, who’s who?  Who looks like who? Thoughts or comments? Suggestions for more useful things to do with our spare time?

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Apparently everyone knew about apple head dolls but me.  Pippa saw them being made on Toot & Puddle a few weeks ago at my mom’s house and begged me to make one with her.  I, having no idea what a process I was signing up to, agreed and hopped on the internet to find out what on earth she was talking about.  We used the instructions here, but if you google “apple head dolls” or similar you will find dozens of different instruction pages of varying levels of kid-friendliness.  Later on I mentioned to my mom that we were making them only to discover that “we used to make them all the time”.  Where was I???

Here’s what you do:

Step 1: Go apple picking with friends.  (Just seeing this photo caused Beatrix to erupt with “Mommy, fractor too bumpy-bumpy, Mommy!”  The rest of the story usually goes: “Too bumpy-bumpy on the bench, Mommy.  Bea sit on the lap, Mommy.”  Apparently she was a little traumatized by the whole hayride experience. But anyway…)

Step 2: Peel apples and carve faces in them with peeler, knife, or in Pippa’s and Romilly’s case, the back end of a plastic fork.   I think they did quite well, don’t you? (Ro’s is on top, Pippa’s is the bottom right and I did the bottom left for Bea.)

Step 3: Let them sit for a *really* long time, or cheat like we did according to the directions linked below.

Step 4: Use whatever bits and pieces you have lying around to turn them into weird, spooky-looking little old ladies.  The girls have welcomed them happily into their circle of guysies, though they haven’t named them… yet.

And voila! Three little maids from school!

Happy Fall!

Last week I asked you to share about how your kids make you laugh, and, boy, did you come through for me!

This week’s MoJo is therefore devoted to you, my readers, and your hilarious munchkins.  Not only is laughter a wonderful gift from God, but so are friends.  Having a community (both online and “IRL” – that’s “in real life” for you non-internet-junkies) of other moms going through similar experiences to mine has blessed me immeasurably.  God has used the wisdom and experiences of other moms to sharpen me and comfort me through the difficult times.  Thank you all so much!

Shanna from Chalk Dust Makes Me Sneeze (with whom I clearly have some serious catching up to do?!), has two sweet boys, 3 1/2 and 2.  She shared this about Aiden, 2:

Just this morning Aiden was looking particularly cute and I told him that he was irresistable, and he looked at me a little confused and said, “No Mommy, I not aye-thuh-bul, I Aiden”. Duh, what was I thinking?

Ha ha!

Jessi from Reconciled to God shared this about her sweet one-year-old, who will be becoming a big sister soon,

I think Hannah’s a little under the weather, and she’s not sleeping right, and anything not going her way is making her cry–but she’s still adorable.Recently I discovered that if I say “Mommy’s gonna get you!” and hold my hand over her stomach, but don’t actually tickle her, she will pull my hand to her stomach.

Cute!

Carol is a dear friend of ours from Scotland who is just nearing the end of her time as a missionary in Mexico City with her family.  She blogs about her family here and their work here.  Her sweet little ones, Tabitha, 3 1/2, and Oscar, 1 1/2, crack us up with their wee Irish accents… well, actually, Oscar wasn’t talking much when we saw him last, but I’m sure he is now!

She writes:

Here’s a couple that immediately came to mind.  You’re right though.  They’re so much funnier when you know the personality behind them!

Yeah, with an Irish accent.  You can only imagine the cuteness!

J, a good friend from church who blogs at Strands of Grey writes about her 2 1/2-year-old daughter:

Last night S (the husband/daddy) was a tad late in arriving home from work for dinner.  When he sat down to the table, A was still finishing up.  She smiled and said, “Ohhhh, Papa!” (long pause) “I think I’ll send you a thank you card!”

So super cute!

Lindsay at Notes from the Name Nazi has a 5-year-old daughter, Chickie, and a 3 1/2-year-old son, Bubba.  She shares:

Yesterday, Bubba and Jack were walking up the stairs at Jack’s house while Jack’s is lamenting that he doesn’t want to go to school that day, why does he have to go to school, school is too long and he just wants to play, etc, etc.

Bubba (my old, sensitive soul) says, “Jack, sometimes life is just like that.”

It sure is, Bubba!

**And here I have to add in another from the comments because it’s too hilarious not to make sure as many people as possible read it!:

I’m giving Chickie a bath and she’s constantly trying to dodge the water because she doesn’t want water in her eyes. Which, if she’d hold still I could wash her hair without getting water in her eyes, but that’s another story.

Chickie is quiet – thoughtful for a second and then replies, “A moving target? I want to be a moving Walmart!”

Oh my goodness!

And finally, coming in just at the eleventh (or maybe even thirteenth or so) hour, my dear friend Emily in Scotland who inspired this whole MoJo series, shares this about her little ones. She is mommy to Anna, 4, Elijah, 2, and Rosie, 6 months, and blogs at Em’s Musings.

I am noticing a sweet relationship developing between Elijah and Rosie. We laugh along with him at the ways he tries to amuse her. One way is by putting his head right up next to hers. He lets her grab at his hair or ears with her little hands and then they both giggle. Then yesterday at dinner he played peek-a-boo with Rosie. The way he did it was by putting his bib over his face and then pulling it down. Each time Rosie let out gleeful giggles. This was one of those moments I decided to say “yes,” but may regret it in the future when he’s spilled soup on his bib and decides to play peek-a-boo again!

Just precious!

Of course, as soon as I posted last week’s boastful claim that my kids are hysterical from morning till night every day and I would surely be back by dinnertime to share something knee-slappingly funny, the well ran totally dry for the rest of that day.  But I have to share a funny one from my firstborn that happened the next day:

After a science lesson on the worlds oceans, I was desperately trying to elicit the names a any three of the five oceans from Pippa.  We had already, painfully slowly, come up with Atlantic and Indian, and so I began…

Me: What about this one over here?  The Pa…

Her: (Silence)

Me: The Pa…

Her: (Still nothing.)

Me: Okay.  The Pa…sss…

Her: (Excited and confident) …Stachio?!

Me: Yes, Pippa, that’s right.  The Pistachio Ocean.  You got it.  Let’s do our math now.

Have a wonderful, joy-filled week, and hug those adorable little blessings for me, Mommys!

Word to the wise: if you’re going to graffiti your pants with ball point pen, don’t write your name or any part of it.  Makes it harder to blame your sisters.

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Happy Monday!  Today I’m considering the obvious: kids are funny, and life with kids is full of laughter.   But I need your help!

While I laugh outloud with my kids dozens of times a day,  I seem to sit down to blog about it and go completely blank.  Every time.

So I’m setting an assignment for all of us.

My assignment: By dinnertime today, I am going to come back and update this post with a hilarious anecdote or quote.  You are going to laugh so hard that you won’t be able to stop smiling for days!  (No pressure, Jodi.)

Your assignment: You have until Saturday, because I’m that nice (And yes, for you really observant types who actually check back on my blog after you’ve read it once: that did used to say Wednesday.  I’m even nicer than I thought!).  In the comments or in an e-mail to me, tell me something hilarious (or even just slightly amusing) that your kids say or do in the next couple days.  Something you wouldn’t mind me sharing.  If you don’t have kids, hilarious anecdotes about pets, co-workers or life in general are also welcome, but let’s just make sure none of them are too embarrassing for anyone, okay?

My hope is that the very exercise of trying to notice and remember these happy moments will help us all to appreciate them more.  And if nothing else it will get me some comment love.  (Oops, did I just type that outloud?) More to follow!

*   *   *   *   *

So, I discovered today that most of the things that make me laugh about my kids are unbloggable.  Their crazy expressions and funny mannerisms and general silliness just don’t translate all that well to the written word.  But I did get one or two quotables today.

On hearing about wild animals in one of Pippa’s read-alouds, Romilly asked: Mommy what does wild mean?

Me: Wild means, um… not tame.  A tame animal is like a pet or a farm animal that you can pet and it’s safe and it won’t bite you and…

Ro:  Mom, I asked you what wild means.

Right.  So she did.

Then after dinner tonight I was getting ready to get ice cream for the deserving members of the family who had actually eaten more than one mouthful of dinner, when Beatrix piped up:

Mommy, Jupa ipes keam? (that is, Mommy, are you getting ice cream for Juniper?)

Followed swiftly by, “Nooo!!!” and a silly cheeky giggle.

That girl.

So, who’s next?