Tag: The Fox

Posted on

Perfect Moment Monday: Instant Friends

Life has been good and life has been busy lately. We’ve had all kinds of fall fun, and have Fall-Breaked our hearts out. This week’s perfect moment, though, didn’t involve anything seasonal or sensational, it was a simple impromptu play date.

When my friend Liz put the call out that her church was having a sale on Friday afternoon, I brought the kids over to peruse their wares. Liz was cashiering, and her children were off in a room playing quietly. After trying on a few pairs of shoes, my kids wandered off down the hall, found people their size, and started playing.

After a few minutes, I told the kids it was time to leave, and they protested. They were having fun with their new friends and didn’t want to leave. I really didn’t have anywhere to go, so I pulled up a chair and continued to visit, while Liz’s kids (who match my kids in gender and age) and my kids played like they were long lost friends. After playing for over an hour, we had to go home, under their protests.

Watching the children, meet up so easily and become fast friends was my perfect moment this week. Too often we move from one event to the next, going through the motions. Taking the time to slow down and hang out was exactly what we needed to do.

Check out more Perfect Moments on Lori’s blog, WriteMindOpenHeart!

Posted on

And Now He is Four

It’s been a whirlwind week at the Kahuna house- last weekend we made it as far north as Milwaukee. This morning I’m writing this from Atlanta.

In between all of the travel, the Fox turned FOUR. FOUR I say!

One of his favorite things at the Children’s Museum, the Rube Goldberg machine.

He’s all about good guys and bad guys, fast cars and high flying planes. He climbs. He jumps in to the pool. Anything MaM can do? He attempts to do.

He’s our family early bird, and every day, when he realizes he’s the first one awake, he wakes me up and says, “I’m the early bird, Mom!” to let me know.

He’s been planning his birthday for a long time, and at some point, I told him we’d spend this birthday in Atlanta, at a hotel, with a pool, and we’d get a cake for him (I mean, you have to have birthday cake, right?).

As the June calendar filled up, it turns out, we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa last Saturday, with cake.

Then the babysitter had a party for him on Wednesday, with cake.

Then at home, on Wednesday, we celebrated with cupcakes and presents.

Thursday, as we were driving south he asked, “Is my cake at the hotel?”

Really kid, you feel like you need more cake? (We went to a birthday party last Friday and had cake, had cake for him Saturday, and had cupcakes Sunday at my niece’s baptism)

Thursday we checked in, met up with friends and the kids got in the pool. We ordered in pizza, and by 8pm, he’d falled fast asleep on the couch, with no mention of cake. I thought we were officially done with his birthday. 

Heh.

Friday morning, right after exclaiming he was the early bird, he asked, “Am I getting my cake today?”

Huh. Um, buddy, I don’t know.

Driving in the car to The King Center, he asked, “Is my cake in Downtown Atlanta?”

Driving to dinner last night, “Is my cake at this restaurant?”

Thankfully, Gigi’s cupcakes was three doors down from the restaurant. I verified that a cupcake would count, and that this, indeed, would be his LAST birthday cake until he was five.

He concurred.

And really enjoyed that long-awaited birthday cake in Atlanta.

Happy, Happy Birthday, my sweet, sweet boy. May you always be so relentless in getting what you have your mindset to!

Posted on

Sky Vacation Bible School: A Recap

This past week the kids and I spent our mornings at vacation bible school. Every day, from 9:00am- 11:30am, we participated with about 100 of our closet friends. There were flying pigs, a talking chipmunk, some cool science experiments and fun games.

And there were songs.

Oh my were there ever songs. As a volunteer, I received a CD with the music for the week. Every day, twice a day, the whole group sang a few songs, all with actions. Every day, on our way to and from VBS (and everywhere we went) we listened to the CD. Well, MaM wanted to listen. The Fox wanted to sing. After a few screaming matches we compromised.

The ride to VBS is for listening.

The ride home from VBS is for singing.

It really is the little things that can make or break a day.

This year the service component of the program was raising money and awareness for Operation Kid-to-Kid’s efforts in suppling mosquito nets to African children in need. Each day, in addition to learning to TRUST GOD, learning Bible stories and having fun, the kids learned a little more about the importance of helping others and the dangers of malaria.

MaM and the Fox didn’t talk much about VBS at home, except for singing the songs non-stop.

Then tonight I noticed the mosquitoes must have gotten the Fox last night. One of his thighs was a maze of welts, and he was scratching them as he got ready for bed.

“Mom, why did the mosquitos get me?”

“Well, they get everybody. They use your blood as food.”

“They use your blood too, right?”

“Right.”

“And the kids in Africa!”

“Right.”

From there, he explained to me that the mosquitos in Africa have bad germs, and kids can die. And that mosquito nets can help keep the bugs out. And then he used his sheet as a mosquito net, and showed me how the bugs couldn’t get through. He talked and talked, and quite clearly had a grasp on what the whole project was about.

He never ceases to amaze me.

Are your kids experiencing Sky this summer? It’s seems to be the go-to theme for Catholic and Protestant churches alike. Want to get them excited about it?  Check out this video: