Archives for 2010

They Don’t Make Barbies Like They Used To

November 23, 2010 by Amy 13 Comments

With their birthday money, the girls have gotten several toys the past few weeks. One of which we need to discuss. This Barbie. Not an actual Barbie per se but, really, a Barbie. Actually, a pregnant Barbie.

Cool. Pregnant Barbie. We have had several pregnant ladies around us lately. No wonder Emma was interested in getting this. Actually Lexi too. Yes, we have two of these. Because I know you’re interested, this is what she looks like under her shirt.

I feel a little awkward pulling a lady’s shirt up and showing her pregnant belly. I mean, some women are ok with that and then others aren’t.

But then again, this Barbie’s huge belly magically disappears so out of sheer jealousy, I will not feel bad for showing you her belly.

See? Flat belly, happy baby.

Oh, but I’m hiding a little from you. It’s NOT JUST A PRETEND PREGNANT BELLY.

The flat belly spins around and creates a magical hole for the baby to fit in. And look, head down. Barbie must be ready to deliver!

Barbie, you better get your bags, time to go to the hospital! And deliver. AGAIN.

Look, I can’t help it, it’s just weird. Then again, I’m just happy the baby comes out c-section style (ish).

Have you ever seen such??

Weekend Recap

November 21, 2010 by Amy 1 Comment

Whew, so Emma turned eight and we all survived. I have to admit, there IS something different. She really seems older and I think there was a little shift in my perception of her. All in a good way but yeah, 8 is different. So we had a busy weekend, here’s the rundown:

Friday evening we attended a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese’s. I don’t abhor that place and actually, now that the girls are old enough to run around without me following their every move it was kind of enjoyable to see them have a blast with their friends and I got to play Words with Friends and eat pizza and root beer for a few hours. Score!
The girls spent the night with Scott’s mom Friday night but no sleeping in for me because I was up and in the kitchen by 9. Emma really wanted chicken pot pie for dinner but she also wanted to go to Dad’s race and the Concord Christmas parade which did NOT leave enough time before dinner to actually make dinner for the family coming over. So I stayed in the kitchen making dinner and then lunch.
About lunch we headed towards Concord for the race. Most of that time was spent waiting on the race where I strengthened my opinion that sugar completely turns my kids into uncontrollable, incoherent banshees. Or something like that. It’s not good.
Dad PR’d in the 5K (woot!) and we were able to catch about 45 minutes of the parade before we had to leave. Apparently the floats are judged and the parade televised. You could tell everyone had brought out their best. We had to skedaddle though because…
We had the family over for Emma’s birthday. The pot pie did something weird but it was edible.
Today after church and lunch I took Emma to get her nails done. She has begged ALL YEAR to get hers done and I always tell her she’ll have to wait for something special like her birthday to go. So there was no more putting it off.

Does this not look like an 8 year old? She’s wearing hair bands as bracelets just like her friends at school and has lime green polish. I love it! But look…her baby hands are all gone. Can I go back to crying? Wahhhh…

And you know I just didn’t have the heart to leave little sissy out. I love her baby hands with that blue glitter polish!

This evening we took the girls to the mall and Toys R Us to use up some gift cards and birthday money as well as do some Christmas shopping. And now, as with many weekends, I need a weekend from my weekend!!

Eight Eve

November 19, 2010 by Amy 6 Comments

Tomorrow Emma turns 8. I don’t know what it is about 8 but 8 in my mind is the quintessential little girl age. All birthdays up until 8 are simply a build-up to 8. All birthdays after 8 are an upward (downward?) spiral to 13. Things start changing at 8 I think. You understand more about the world you’re in. You start having drama with your friends. You start paying attention to boys around you. You learn cursive. I don’t know, it seems like a big year.

Maybe because that’s the year we moved, I met my best friend Melissa and had my first boyfriend. For me, it was a big year. So 8 is just looming. I really don’t want Emma to turn 8. This is the part where I want time to slow down. Actually, just stop. The past 6 months or so as Emma and Lexi finish out 5 and 7 and make the turn towards 6 and 8 have been fantastic. I feel like we’ve left behind a lot of the mayhem of toddler and preschool-ville and we’re really settling in. This year I’ve hit my stride in the home and I know this is normal for a mom with elementary school kids. It’s the most freeing time of motherhood, if the Internets and books are to be believed. The next few years after this get yucky and tricky with training bras and boyfriends and “talks” that it’s just making me dig my heels into the ground and try to stop this little girl train we’re on. Pull the cord. Punch the brakes. Sound the alarm. Make it stop NOW.

I’m celebrating 8 because I’m so proud of her and I love this season she’s in but it’s just I think I remember way too much about 8 and how could I possibly have an 8 year old? How could Emma be 8? Wasn’t she just taking her first step in an apartment in Columbia?

Unfortunately there are no brakes and no alarms except the ones in my head. So I’m just hanging on for dear life and trying to enjoy each day as it comes. I suppose that’s all any of us can do.

Radical Chapter 9

November 16, 2010 by Amy 10 Comments

This chapter is the practical finish to the book. So you’ve read all these and ready to be radical? These are David’s how-to’s called the Radical Experiment. For one year:

1. Pray for the entire world – I need to get better at this. I pray throughout the day but I really need to have a dedicated time of prayer and dedicate a portion of it to this.

2. Read through the entire word – I read the Bible in 90 Days nearly 2 years ago and still it is one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. I want to do this again in the next year. I think after I’m done judging for the INSPYs in the first of December that I’ll tackle this head-on.

3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose – Starting the envelope system was a big part of this one so I feel like we’re off to an excellent start. I’m still stuck on which specific purpose to go at and so far have been spreading ourselves thin. Really need to pray with Scott on what this is going to look like. And I have to be honest, right now, Christmas is our specific purpose and that is certainly the opposite of what he meant.

4. Spend your time in another context – I have some thoughts on this that I’m still working through. I’ve rewritten this point several times and I just don’t feel peaceful about publishing it yet. Just suffice it to say I’m definitely going to do this in some aspect.

5. Commit your life to multiplying community – Obviously we love our church and I love bringing new people to it.

Before I say what I’m going to say next, I want to say that this book truly did open my eyes to the American Dream mindset. To really think about the world and not just “my corner” as TD Jakes would say. I think long and hard before I spend money. I can rarely buy anything without thinking about how many Africans would have water instead. I haven’t quit thinking about going overseas in some capacity. This book IS challenging.

BUT

I have to say when I got to this chapter, I was like, oh, that’s all I need to do? I mean, after all the dramatics through the book it just seemed so…Sunday School answer. I don’t mean to demean what he has to say but isn’t this basically saying go to church, pray, read your Bible and give your money and time? I mean, that doesn’t sound that radical to me. It sounds like every single Sunday School answer I’ve ever heard the last 30 years of my life.

HOWEVER

The difference he’s asking us to actually DO IT.

We all (well, all us “churched folk”) have the Sunday School answer but so many of us never follow through. How many of us have actually read the entire Bible? When’s the last time you went on a missions trip or even the local homeless shelter? Do you give above your tithes or even your tithe? Do any of us actually pray every day? I’m not just asking you, I’m asking me too. And a lot of the answers aren’t pretty.

So as I finish out this book, I’m committing to these things.

For reals.

See more over at MarlaTaviano.com

Chore Chart – Again

November 15, 2010 by Amy 4 Comments

Yes, about two years ago we tried out the chore chart. Lexi was NOT interested in earning stickers and eventually, Emma wasn’t either. And I got tired of pestering. But Emma has been begging for me to put one together lately. Both girls really are understanding money and with their birthdays and Christmas hanging around, they are all about earning some extra money. I’m interested in them actually earning the money instead of forking over money for a toy out of guilt so I think this is win-win so far. We started last Thursday and I did a shortened list until Saturday when I paid them.

I don’t know if there’s really a wrong way to do a chore chart. I’ve seen them done so many different ways with different rules and I’ve just come to the conclusion I just need to do what works for us. So I put stuff on there they actually wanted to do. Emma loves getting the mail. Lexi loves to wash the floor. Emma has been feeding Mattie for months unofficially. I don’t think this needs to be a form of punishment. Why not enjoy our work? So here were the chores for last week:

Lexi (6)

Unload dishwasher
Clean floors (she takes a wet washcloth and cleans the hardwoods)
Make bed
Spray house (oust)
Put out napkins and drinks for dinner
Put clothes in dryer
Clean the fridge (we clean out old stuff and wash down the shelves)

Emma (8 this week)

Feed Mattie twice a day
Get mail
Make bed
Put out silverware and plates for dinner
Clean bathroom counter and mirror
Take out trash
Vacuum
Dust

So yes, I don’t know why but Lexi loves to clean the fridge and Emma loves to take out the trash. It doesn’t need done every day but I can’t tell you how much I’m loving it!

I didn’t reinvent the wheel and make anything crafty. We just printed a free chore chart per week from here. I pay .25 per check mark EVERY DAY. It’s really hard for Lexi to wait a whole week for her payment so when I say come do this, you’ll get another .25 on Saturday, she’s like, I don’t care. Paying daily seems to make it more rewarding somehow.

And I know if they do every single thing every single day, that’s a lot of money. But I’m not making them do every single thing and we haven’t had one day where they’ve done everything. If they want the money, they are welcome to do it. There are certain things like feeding Mattie or helping at dinner that are not up for grabs but I’m not going to pester about vacuuming every single day.

We are only five days in but so far so good!

Sunday Highlights: FOR Authenticity

November 14, 2010 by Amy Leave a Comment

This series is about things Jesus is FOR. Today’s sermon was that Jesus is FOR authenticity.

Matthew 23

Don’t let hypocrites be your excuse not to experience a relationship with Christ. You may not like how someone else is acting but doesn’t mean you shouldn’t live an authentic life.

There are indicators that you are hypocritical and care too much about exterior such as what you wear, where you go and who sees you, what you are called (title).

Jesus corrected religious more than he corrected the sinful. The condemned are already condemned but redeemed should act like it.

There are consequences to our hypocrisy:

v. 13 – We keep people out of heaven. Your faith is not real and not showing others how to have real faith.

v. 15 – You reproduce who you are not what you know

v.16-22 – If you say you’re going to do it, do it. No need to make promises and not keep them.

Work on the internal reality not the external show.

If you change your heart, your actions will follow. When we live out our faith, we open up the gates of Heaven and show people who God is.

Full podcast is available here.

In the Giving

November 13, 2010 by Amy Leave a Comment

Christmas music played in the next room. I bent to pick up another bag. This one had baby socks. I carried them past the radio now playing one of the Beach Boys’ Christmas albums. I plopped the bag of socks into one of many cardboard boxes lined with the other baby items. Back in the other room I bent to grab the next thing to distribute. Maybe some shoes or a toy. A man appeared in the sunlight of the propped open door. I was the closest to him so I stopped midway to my target and met him halfway into the room instead. He thrust a white box at me. “It’s a full Wii set. The remotes, a guitar, the drums, everything.” I gave a Wow big enough to appreciate his grand gesture. And grand it was. It was a sacrifice no doubt, but one he seemed happy to take. He turned to get the rest of the promised items and I spun to thrust the box in another volunteer’s face. “I FULL Wii set.” The whites of her eyes registered the same surprise and glee. The man left along with many thanks. I picked up where I had left, finding a Thomas Kinkade puzzle. Off to the puzzle cardboard box I went. I bent, shuffling the overflowing box around so this one would fit. The small particles of cardboard from the boxes of puzzles began to fill the air but the dust wasn’t to blame for the tears in my eyes. It was the deep soul-satisfying feeling that in our giving of prized possessions and borrowed time, a child would know that he was loved. And that not only he would be pleased, but He would be pleased.

Acts 4:32-34 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.

Heart Desires

November 12, 2010 by Amy 9 Comments

When did they…

…become them…

I almost don’t recognize them. And I don’t mean the missing bad perm and braces. That couple is a happy couple in their 30’s with 2 kids, a dog and a picket fence. And most days I feel a lot more like that 15 year old a lot less like that 32 year old.

But somehow that’s us and every single dream that 15 year old had 17 years ago got wrapped up in a few pictures yesterday.

I’m so blessed.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.