Reflection and Excitement

3 years ago tonight, my little man looked like this...

And, today, he was doing this...

"Blessed" does not even begin to describe how great it felt today to see him doing this!  Ian is taking a class at the YMCA called Short Sports and each time, the children learn about a different sport.  Today was obviously baseball ... he learned about Basketball last Monday but missed Soccer while we were at the beach.  I asked him when we got in the car if he enjoyed learning about baseball and his quick reply was "No Thanks"!  Thank goodness for the next session ... kickball :-)  That's a sport that I actually loved to play so I can give him plenty of pointers, don't you worry!

And what topped the day off was getting to meet my new niece, Waverly Page Roberson, tonight.  She joined the world today, February 13, 2012 at 12:36 p.m. weighing 8 lbs 4 oz and measuring 21 inches.  I cannot wait to take the kiddos to the hospital tomorrow morning to meet their new cousin.  These days, I do not believe in irony at all... it's definitely a God thing that she came into this world exactly 3 years after one of the most emotional days of my life!

Much Overdue Update

Wow, I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted.  I guess I have been putting it off because I am so far behind ... but I am going to catch you up!  For the past 6 weeks, we have been busy ...

keeping our friends safe while we sleep!

trying on mommy's shoes

having fun with stickers

and just being princes..ses :-)  Yes, that is Ian in the Sleeping Beauty dress.  Bonner dressed him up one day :-)

outside picking our newly-blooming flowers and "picking berries"

busy learning how to write our name

and, visiting our cousins, Scott & Hannah!

We enjoyed a night at the Children's Museum learning how to be a grocery store cashier

We brought Brown Bear home from school so he could enjoy some adventures with us ... he made it to the Museum with us and Ian treated him with such love (that's Brown Bear on the end of the crane)

"Help Me!"

We started swimming lessons ... and love them!

And, this week we are at the beach ... having even more fun!

I just think this picture is so cute - asleep in the bed with the same up in the same direction :-)

They are finally warming up to the BIG chair at Wild Dunes!

We have found alot of seashells on the beach ...

but one of us had time to "pose" for a picture!  "Cheese, mommy!"

We even "played" checkers today to get out of the cold!

I just love this picture of Bonner outside our condo :-)  She will "pose" when she wants to!

And, of course, not a day goes by without someone saying something super funny ... so enjoy these "words from the mouths of babes"!

Ian-isms

- One night when Ian was restless going to sleep, he said, "Mommy, it's taking the sun too long to wake up!"

- Ian: "When the sun comes up, the fog goes away!  I'm the only one who knows that, mommy.  I'm really smart."  Bonner: "How did you know that, Ian?"  I: "My Shzashi learned me that!" B: "No, she teached you that!"

- "I love to chew toys ... and paper!"

- On our day off of school for Martin Luther King day, we were out to lunch.  I asked them who said, "I have a dream."  Ian quickly replied "That man with the fat tummy."

- Ian used a question mark cutout to cutout his play-doh one day.  When I asked him what he made, he said, "Look, mommy, I made a mystery."

- Ian handed me a stuffed animal frog one day and I happened to sneeze at the same time.  He looked up at me and asked me, "Are you to allergic to frogs, mommy?"

- One day he wouldn't get in his car seat; I asked him, "Ian, what are you doing?  Please get in your seat."  He replied, "Mommy, I'm being a statue!"

- "Some days I love you mommy and some days I don't!"

- "I put some water in my hair (actually spit from his mouth) to make it look good."

- During bath one day, he said, "Mommy, you got soap in my ears and now I cannot hear."  I quickly rinsed his hair and ears, and he said, "Oh, I can hear now mommy."

- "Woody wears underwear but Bullseye does not." (Bullseye is actually the horse on Toy Story)

- Ian: "There's something in my shoe, mommy."  Me: "Do you think it's a rock?"  Ian: "No, I think there's a snake in my boot."

- We were playing outside and the wind kept knocking over his toys.  He was getting frustrated and I saw him talking to himself.  I asked him what he had said and he said, "I told the wind kindly 'no'!"

- "Flowers die and come back to life just like Frosty."

- (This one was before Christmas, but I just found where I had written it down) Ian told my neighbor one day "We are having a birthday party for baby Jesus at school but baby Jesus won't be there."

- We went shopping one day and out of the blue, Ian said, "I just love this shop!  It's a great day for shopping!"

- "I fidn't sneeze, mommy!  I don't have any allergies!"

- Stewart tried to take the children to church last week but there was no more room in the nursery.  On the phone, Ian told me, "It was like baby Jesus, mommy, there was no room in the inn for us!"

Bonner-Lingo

- "Mommy, you're the very best mommy I know!"

- The kids are learning the 3 Little Pigs at school for an upcoming Pancake Breakfast and the other day when I picked them up from school, she ran up to me and said, "We're having a pig show!"

- "I'm making a fancy dinner.  Do you want to come to my fancy dinner?"

- "I'm going to eat my cake all up so you can't take it!"

- After running in a restaurant, I said, "Bonner, you know you aren't supposed to be running inside." She replied, "Mommy, I wasn't running; I was galloping!"

- "I'm going to have a boot party like Aunt Tay-Tay, mommy!"  (It took me a minute but then I realized that she was talking about Justin & Taylor's baby shower that had cake squares with baby booties on them)

- "Ian, you're fired!"

- "My eyes just can't stay closed.  They close and open up - see!"

- After pitching a fit in the bathtub, I looked at Bonner and said, "I am not REAL happy with you and how you are acting?"  She then asked me "Are you PRETEND happy with me?"

- After dressing Ian up in a princess outfit one day, she looked at him and said, "Ian, you look so cute!"

That's My Girl

Well, I just have to brag on Bonner - and capture this story so the next time I get frustrated with her, I can "remember when" :-)  Night before last, Bonner woke up about 4 am and came and got in my bed.  She was talking away while I slept.  About 4:45 am, Ian woke up to go tee-tee.  Well, after that I put them both back in their bed in hopes that my "Chatty Cathy" had worn herself out.  I stayed up about 20 minutes listening for them and sure enough, they were in their room talking and laughing.  With that, I turned over and did what any "Mother of the Year" would do and went back to sleep :-)  Now, for those of you about to call DSS, keep in mind, that my children are pretty good and usually stick to their toys so I was worried more about my beauty sleep than their safety at that point ... ha!  Anyway, at 8:15 am, they both came in my room to tell me "Good Morning, mommy.  The sun is out!"  Super sweet.

The house looked like a toy truck had exploded in the middle of the living room, but that was fine.  They had actually played for 3 hours without hurting each other or even crying!  Perfect!  Well, needless to say, with so little sleep, I knew a nap would be in order.  Bonner melted down first when I asked both of them to help me clean up the living room.  For once, Ian went right to town - he's somewhat compulsive with his toys so he does not like to clean up at all!  I told Bonner that she could either help clean up or go lay down.  She opted for her bed and was asleep in a matter of minutes!  Ian and I worked an hour to sort toys and clean up so we could once again see the carpet!  I let Bonner sleep for about 90 minutes and then woke her up (trying to avoid another night without sleep); Ian finally passed out later in the day for a 25-minute power nap in his chair.  So fast forward to the real story!


Last night, I asked Bonner to do 4 things:
1) To not rip up a piece of paper she had drawn on;
2) To pick up the pieces of paper that she ripped up (nice, eh?);
3) Pick up the lincoln logs since Ian had cleaned up her stuff earlier in the day; and,
4) Come brush her teeth.

Instead of doing any of those things, she started crying and screaming, "Mommy, read me a book! My mommy is being mean because she won't read me a book."  I responded very calmly that I had asked her to do several things that she hadn't done and, for that, I wasn't reading her a book.  I went out to the den and read Ian a book one-on-one while Bonner just cried.  I know it sounds like I was harsh, but I also knew that she was beyond the point of rationalization; I had missed the bedtime window by about 5 minutes.  Anyway, when Ian and I were finished, I went into the bedroom, got Bonner "snuggy bug"; said her prayers where we asked God to help Bonner to honor her mommy by doing what her mommy asked so that she could, in turn, honor God; and, sang her "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".  She was asleep before I finished singing!  Another day in the record books ...

Well, this morning, I went into their room and sang, "Good Morning to you!" as usual and then I went into the kitchen to make breakfast and lunches.  Not too long, Bonner came into the den and said, "Mommy, I'm going to clean up the paper I ripped up last night.  And I need to pick up the lincoln logs before we go to school!"  I must say that a huge smile crossed my face ... it was like validation that my parenting isn't for naught.  Needless to say, with everything else going on in my life, I often wonder whether I am cut out to be a single mom ... so I was so proud of her and even me this morning!  When she finished cleaning up, I called her into the kitchen where I gave her a big hug, told her how proud I was of her and how proud God was of her!  She actually seemed thrilled herself!  Well, that was alot of typing to capture what I think is a great story - forgive me if I bored you :-)

And now for what I have heard throughout the holidays at my house!  Some of these are funny; some are just here for me to capture the vocabulary and logic of my 3-year-olds :-)  I hope you enjoy and remember that these words are "from the mouths of babes"!
Bonner-Lingo
- "Mommy, we need to bake some pumpkin pies for our carnival."  (You know we go to so many carnivals - clearly something on Disney :-)
- "Mommy, you are not being nice.  Santa is not going to come see you."
- "Pretzels give you more energy."
- "If I don't put bubbles in my spit then my spit will go away."
- We were talking about Halloween one day a while back and Bonner asked me, "When do we get to hide the eggs, mommy?"  Uh, that would be in the spring :-)
- I had a fever blister a while back and Bonner noticed it when I was buckling her in her seat before school.  She looked at me in all of her innocence and said, "I will pray for you when I'm at school, mommy, that your lip boo-boo feels better."
- "Jesus doesn't live in mean people's hearts like the Abominable Snowman."
- Bonner got a cleaning "trolley" for Christmas but she refers to it as her Cleaning "Trough".
- With the cleaning stuff came a broom and she told me, "Witches can put their legs through it, mommy!"
- B: "I love our old house."  Me: "Our old house?  Are we getting a new house?"  B: "We are getting a new house that's small so I can find you, mom." (I guess she gets this because I always tell her that I could never live in a castle because I wouldn't be able to find them.)
- They were sitting on their bed one day looking at a book.  I asked them what they were doing and Bonner immediately replied, "I am just reading this book to Ian."  (Note to Bonner, she doesn't know how to read just yet)
- "I love our house.  Our house loves us."
- "Mommy, God loves people that are sad, mad, and glad."

Ian-isms
- My mom was sick a few weeks ago so Bonner decided to make her a Get Well card.  I asked Ian what Bonner was doing and he said, "Bonner is making Gigi a GIFT card".  (I am sure Gigi would have like that more)
- "You are the best mommy ever!"
- After taking a bite of some pumpkin muffins we cooked, Ian looked at me and said very matter-of-factly "It is delicious!"
- Ian got a pair of Buzz Lightyear wings to wear on his back for Christmas and one day to take them off, he slid them down to step out of them.  Well, they got to his bottom and he laughed and said, "My bottom is a Buzz Likeyear!"
- The first time the kids were in their new jeeps from Santa, Ian turned on the radio and said, "I love this song." (Of course, it was a song he had never heard)
- Bonner thanked Ian for the gift he picked out for her for Christmas to which he replied, "Your welcome TO your gifts!"
- We have a house in the neighborhood that decorates like the Griswald's.  The children refer to this as the "Amazing House" and we rode past it many nights during the holidays.  Well, one night we went by and they must have been out of town because the lights weren't on.  Ian was very disappointed but simply said, "I think it ran out of batteries."
- "I have so much fings to play with.  My other toys upstairs are breakable."  (Note to Ian, we have no upstairs :-) when you are playing in the den)
- One night, I was asking them what in the sky had gone to sleep: "The sun, mommy!"  And then I asked them what had woken up: "The moon, mommy!"  A couple of minutes later, Ian said, "I think God is already asleep, mommy!"
- "Mommy, you are the goodest!"
- In the middle of the night the other night when he got up to tee-tee, he told me totally out of the blue "Doggies can hold their breath under water, but my doggie lovie cannot!"
- Last night at dinner, we were at one of our favorite restaurants and they had the candy dispensers for a quarter.  The children were looking at it while I was paying.  I have no idea what the question was but I heard Ian say, "But I don't have any money, Bonner!"
- And this morning, Ian came into the bathroom where I was helping Bonner tee-tee and the first thing he said, "Hug, mommy!"  I picked him up and gave him a bear hug.  While I was hugging him, he said, "I love you, mommy!"  (I'm capturing this to remind him of it when he's a teenager and not into hugging me!)

Christmas Fun

After the excitement of our first ever Gingerbread House decorating party on Saturday (see last post if you missed it), we rallied Sunday night to head back to Hollywild.  You might remember this picture from our visit to Hollywild last year - it's basically a ginormous cow trying to french kiss me :-)

This year wasn't near as x-rated; in fact, it was all about Bonner!  She absolutely loved all of the animals!

The deer were everywhere!

I did get up close and personal with this cow :-) but he kept his tongue to himself!

The zebra loved the crackers!  So cool!

They sell baby bottles for you to feed to the little animals.  Bonner was so upset that she couldn't find any animal to drink her "juice".  She first tried feeding a little calf...

 and then a llama...

and then an unknown type of animal....

and, lastly, a little deer!  No luck!

So she gave up and went on her first pony ride!

And then cheesed it up at a cut-out board!

For those of you that have spent any time with Bonner, you might be surprised with all this.  She is truly coming out of her shell each and every day and I am very proud of her.  However, pray for me because she is definitely coming into her own little attitude :)  I hope I survive this single-parenthood with a little girl as defiant as myself!

The children left on Monday afternoon and were gone until Christmas Eve.  To say I missed them is a total understatement.  But I found plenty of things to keep me busy:

I made another wreath;

I sewed these 2 aprons;

I hung out with the girls one night and painted this silly reindeer;

I drove to Athens, test-drove this Honda Pilot, and bought it for my dad;

and, I helped Santa's elves make this puppet theatre and helped them to...

put these together!  Merry Christmas!

To say that I made the most of the week is an understatement.  Didn't sleep very good at all, so I was super excited when I heard the little knock on the door Saturday night about 9:45 pm.  And when I heard Bonner say, "Oh, mommy, I missed you so much!" my heart simply melted!  I was almost crying... but so relieved to have them home in time for Santa to come that I just took in the moment and held them both for a really long time!

Ian and Bonner wanted to put the nativity set out on the table with the cookies, milk, and celery for Santa & his reindeer.  Of course, Ian wanted to include Woody in the fun - he told me, "Mommy, I put Woody in front of Mary so he could keep the wind off of her!"  So sweet and so funny!

Santa brought the puppet show with several puppets and brought these little bags for each child to organize their markers, crayons, etc.

Santa left each child with a note telling them about the big "surprises" out in the garage - the new Jeeps.

Of course, it didn't take Ian long to dump out the markers and crayons from his bag to make room for his Toy Story friends.

I guess many of you might question my Christmas present-opening techniques, but I decided last year that I didn't want Ian and Bonner to rip through all the gifts in just a few minutes so I paced them and let them open toys throughout the day.  I had the same desire this year so I used a timer and set it for 45 mins to an hour after they opened a gift.  When the timer went off, the children knew it was time to open another present.  This way, they played with everything they opened for a considerable amount of time before moving on to the next present.  The day was so smooth actually and the children were entertained from when they woke up until they went to bed!  I was so proud of them; and because of the timer, they only asked 2 times if they could open another gift.  It truly made for such a terrific day!  I know that my day will come when "ripping through the gifts" is the norm, but until them, I will relish in the enjoyable times of this Christmas Day.

Stewart celebrated Santa with us when the children woke up around 9:15 a.m.  And, in fact, the kiddos played with the puppet stage until breakfast was served around 10:15 a.m.  Because it was so chilly outside, they waited a little while to enjoy the Jeeps on Christmas morning (video to come very soon).  They each opened their first wrapped gift about 10:45 a.m. ... I know, I'm an awful mother for teaching them patience :-)

Bonner got a Cleaning Trolley (which she calls her "Cleaning Trough") - she loves to clean around the house so it was a great gift for her.  However, I guess I should have gotten her an iron instead because she wanted to "clean" her clothes with the play "Dustbuster" that came with her trough :-)

Ian got some Buzz "Likeyear" wings.  I put on the  gift tag "To: Ian ~ From: Buzz" so Ian asked me if Buzz really brought the gift by.  When I told him that I was just teasing with the gift tag, he said, "No, mommy, Buzz really came over." :-)

Both Ian & Bonner love music so I got them some new instruments to enjoy!  They were so cute with their "band"!  Gigi got Ian a guitar with Woody on it so it was a musical kindof day!

Bonner got a "Pet Vet" and they played with it together for along time.  I will have to get a better picture of her with the Vet glasses on; so funny!  It came with a stuffed kitty cat and a stuffed puppy dog.  They enjoyed helping their animals feel better over and over again!

I am not a big proponent of Santa and don't really push the idea that he comes down the chimney to leave gifts, etc.  I know what you are thinking ... "Mother of the Year!"  Well, instead, I like to stress the real meaning so we got Jesus a Birthday cake and sang to him after dinner.

Here are the children ready to sing "Happy Birthday!"  (another video to post)

As you can see out the windows behind Bonner in this picture, by the time they got to their last gift, it was dark outside!  To say we made the most of the day was an understatement!  Bonner said that this was her favorite gift - given by our neighbor, Princess Hannelore.  It's a doll that cries when you take the bottle out and makes a drinking noise when the bottle is in her mouth.  Bonner loves it!  And, Ian loved the cars that Princess Hannelore got him :-)

In addition to these gifts, I want to recap what the children got for posterity!  Bonner's "pile" included a Dora Lego set from Ian (he picked it out for her himself); Play-doh tools; paper dolls from our neighbors; magnetic doll from Aunt Tay-Tay and Uncle Justin; a big puzzle from Aunt Joyce; 2 new dress-up dresses (Snow White & Aurora) and, a microphone.  Ian got a Yo Gabba Gabbo Lego Set from Bonner (she picked it out for him herself); a new ball for him to jump around on (video coming); a trainset; a wooden Noah's ark by Haba with lots of animals; the Cars Memory game from our neighbors; a new Toy Story chair from our neighbors; a big set of dinosaurs; and, a microphone.  We are truly blessed with everything that God has done for us!  I pray that He will continue to protect us and keep us safe and, most importantly, continue to love us in spite of ourselves!

I would be lying if I said that Christmas 2011 wasn't different; it was so vastly different, but we all survived and even thrived at times!  I have no idea what 2012 holds, but I pray it is not filled with the pain that I have endured in 2011!  As the divorce is finalized in the coming weeks, I am sure the emotions will be running high; but I am prayerful that God will continue to overshadow the sadness with much happiness as He did for me on Christmas Day!  I pray that you and yours had a wonderful holiday and that you remembered the true reason for the season!  Happy Birthday, Jesus!