Finally, Sun!

After a few weeks in a row of rain, hale, snow, wind, lightening and thunder, and 30 degrees...the sun decided to come out! Even though the sun came out, it was still pretty chilly, but that didnt stop us from finally playing outside!

"Ok, where are my friends?"

The gang finally gets to be outside again!

"Chuck, i think youre pretty cool"

He decided it got warm enough to ditch the froggy boots

Happy to get our very white skin out in the sun!

On a roll

Forest and I headed to the fabric store to pick up some new fabric for his floor pillow.
It usually sits under the huge living room window, but he seems to prefer the couch these days.
So the pillow is now recovered with some fabric that he approved, and it now sits in his reading corner of his bedroom.

We finally got some work done in Forest's room. Its pretty cute, but lately its pretty boring to look at. Its been driving me crazy. Partially because ive never fully felt like i have accomplished the look ive always been going for, due to lack of money. And partially because as he gets older, stuff gets moved around, and the placement of things have started to look odd.
No more excuses. I am able to splurge a little financially, so nothing was holding me back from achieving "the look". I ordered an awesome owl on a branch to put on his wall. And a huge rabbit to add to the squirrel and bird he already has. When the rabbit arrived, it was much larger than i had realized. But i still managed to find just the right spot. I created a little reading/art area that he is totally into. The rabbit lays next to the book basket and looks pretty cool if you ask me!
So heres a look at the new improvements. Guess i should have took a pic of the entire room...maybe next time.

morning at gymnastics

Recently, Forest began gymnastics. Every Friday we can go to "open gym", where he can use the entire gymnastics facility without having to take an actual structured class.
He takes this very seriously, and he has even been practicing at home! I have to remind him, multiple times a day, that our house is not padded like the gymnastic room. He's at such a fun age where he really enjoys different things. And im having tons of fun too!
Today, Robert was able to come with us and so i got to stand back and take some pictures of the little man in action! Enjoy.

TADA!

Let go Dad!
Here i come!
Running down the trampoline runway
Diving into the sponge pit!

Mom, are you watching?!

Faster Dad!

Little twirp

No more pictures mom

Ive been lacking in topics to blog about. I know this is mostly for my relatives and friends who dont live near us, to look at pictures of Forest...but ive gotta throw other things into the mix every once in a while.

We've been busy. Busy in a great way, not in the annoying way.

Im not interested in pointless"busy". Boring "busy". Pretend "busy". Or what i like to call "goodie goodie busy". Definition: Churchy activities. Running around like a nut and justifying it because its for the benefit of others, or because it has to do with church. Not even necessarily God, but mostly just church.

Ya, that one really bugs me. Sorry, im a hater, i guess.

Im mostly interested in the "important busy". Spending my time on things that matter to me.
Somtimes this cant always happen. But mostly, if i prioritize, it can and it does happen.

In my humble opinion, we would probably learn more about God by opting out of the multiple bible studies during the week. Probably share in life with others more, if we opt out of the organized "do good" functions. Probably learn more about our children by opting out of the numerous varieties of parenting functions, in which your children are dropped off at the nursery the entire time while you are supposed to be "learning" about them....etc....you get my point.

I really have no conclusion to that. My point was just supposed to be that ive been busy, but in a good way.

And so here are some pictures of what the boy has been up to lately. I just organized my pictures from my camera recently, and i have no idea how to find them now...so i dont have many to share this time!

First snow at an old enough age to enjoy it!

Loving it!

Hates walking in it! And there was still so much more
falling throughout the day!

Inside the old truck at the exploritorium!
(his new pose for the camera)

Saying hi to the fish

Observing the fish

The huge deck at the explortorium
on his way to visit with the animals
(he wishes it were ours)

Spent many days very sick. (as you can see, i was going crazy)

And recovered!

He's also been preparing himself for his future baby brother.
We have a drawer in his bedroom dresser that is filled with his old baby clothes, shoes, blankets, etc. He likes to open it up and take a look, and we talk about how its being saved for when his baby brother arrives. He takes it pretty seriously so far. haha.

This weekend i had the opportunity to get away over night from Robert and Forest.
This was exactly what i needed! Even though, it was just to visit my family (rather than some awesome spa retreat). The 3 hour drive was actually wonderful...never though i would say that. But it was the perfect amount of alone time for me. And did i mention i was able to sleep 10 hours that night? O yes.
During my drive i thought about tons of things, made some phone calls, listened to a lot of music.
But i kept going over in my mind a quote that ive put on this blog before.

"Limiting the freedom of our children in order to teach them external controls, smallness, contraints, and fear of punishment is not a strategy that works in the long run. Instead, we must teach our kids what freedom looks like, feels like, and how to prosper in it."

The more i think about it, the more i believe it, agree with it, and act on it.
I will occasionally look at other people's blogs, and i remember reading something that another mom had written. It was in reference to how she disciplines her kids (she has 6).
It has always stood out to me, especially as i think about this quote that i love.
She said that when the family is at home, she will spend the day setting up "traps" for her kids.
She sets them up. She waits for them to fail the "test". When they do, she promptly deals out her form of discipline (which is besides the point, so i wont mention it). Anyways, this really bothers me. When training dogs, we are told not to set them up for failure just so we can punish them to teach them a lesson. I cant help but think, that we probably should take this tip to heart when it comes to raising kids as well. (duh).
This woman should really be embarrassed...i mean, some things just shouldnt be put on the internet for all to read.

My son might throw rocks, nibble his crayons, sit on the coffee table, enjoy extended amounts of time naked, cry when he's been in sunday school too long, express himself with loud noises (yes, even indoors *gasp*), and have the need to RUN most of the day(*gasp* no! a boy? really??)
But at the end of the day, what do any of those things matter when it comes to his future?
Children will face enough disappointment, discouragement, and failure, throughout their life.
They dont need us (their parents) to purposely set them up for it.

"When we keep our children from experiencing what its like to think for themselves, make their own decisions, and experience the consequences of those decisions, we either end up with compliant children who will be completely at sea when they leave home, or rebellious children who will wrestle freedom right out of our hands as soon as they find out we've been with holding it."

Spending the week doing "mom stuff " with the Little Man.