Embracing His Feminine Side

I found my son like this one afternoon (while he was napping). Both me and K hate wearing tights but he seemed to enjoy it :) I don't have a problem with my son experimenting and trying new things, like wearing his sister's tights. He also get's his toe nails painted too when I have the nail polish out for me and K. Why should he not get to do 'fun' things just because he's a boy? He even has his own 'boy' colors of nail polish and it just goes on his toes. I know some men (and women too) have a huge problem with their son's 'crossing the gender-role' line, but really who and how does it hurt to let him dress up and play with the same things that his sister gets to play with? Soon enough he will think it's silly and there's no way he'd be caught in anything of his sister's but he's 4 and he's having fun, I don't think there is anything wrong with it! At this age he doesn't understand why his sister can do things and he can't. Of course I'm not going to the extreme, he doesn't get to go out in public with make-up or girls clothes on - but when they are playing at home, why not have fun!

Are you a mushy brown Banana?

Mushy, brown bananas... what are they for? Yucky, gross, throw them away! No, they are just perfect. How can rotten fruit be perfect, it's not good for anything! They might not look perfect on the outside but mushy brown banana's are perfect for baking banana bread! In so many ways our lives may be like those mushy brown banana's, full of bruises, spotted with mistakes from the past, discolored from hurts and pains of life and yet the Almighty Baker can make something wonderfully beautiful from those mushy brown banana's, all we have to do is let Him peel back the layers!

I know it's not the most perfect metaphor, but it's what crossed my mind today as I was baking with my son. As I thought about it, it made me smile - I sound like my Grandpa! That may sound strange to some of you, but you see my Grandpa has this way of taking things from his ordinary life as a carpenter and seeing it in another light. I remember how at one family reunion he shared about an experience where he was imagining what his carpenter pencil would say if it talked. No, he's not crazy :) I don't remember the whole story but I believe it was something about making marks on other people's lives and how important each mark is to the whole project or structure. Thinking more about it this afternoon, I have to say how glad I am to have such a wonderful Grandpa, he has worked hard to create a wonderful legacy of love, especially love of the Father. He is never afraid to say something, even if it may be hard to hear, or if he has to fight through his emotions, if God has laid something on his heart - he shares. I know that both my Grandma and Grandpa pray for their kids and grandkids everyday - what an excellent example you have set! I will try my very hardest to keep that legacy going!

Where we are at..*updated with pics*

I know it's been a while since I've posted. So you may be wondering where we've been and what we are up to. First of all I am happy to say that my daughter is now potty trained!! I am REALLY happy about that! She has been interested in 'going potty' from 1.5yrs because all the other kids (my son and daycare kids) would go on the potty. She was doing pretty good but was not consistant at all. In the end of November something happened (I still don't know what) but K would just NOT even sit on the potty!! After two weeks of working on it, she would finally sit again, but would not do anything. Another two weeks and she was finally doing what she was supposed to, and two weeks after that potty trained!! It will be nice to have all my kids potty trained when we decide to have another child.

In other news, we finally decided to get the kids a bunkbed! They were SO excited!! I had debated on and off for a while and finally went ahead with it because I really noticed how TJ was almost outgrowing his toddler bed! We only have a 2 bedroom house so the kids share a room and there is not enough room for a twin and toddler bed without being cramped. (they also have a dresser in their room as well) This way, if and when we would move to a bigger house, they would also each have their own bed as it separates into two beds!

Things seem to be going a lot better this winter than last winter for me. Last winter I had a serious case of cabin fever/winter blues. This winter hasn't seemed quite as bad. Although I am hoping that things will continue with this weather - it's been fairly mild here but the best thing is that it's been so sunny outside! Somehow the sunshine just makes everything better! Another thing is that I have been making an extra effort to make sure I take my multivitamins. It seems to help. Anyway, I hope to get some pictures in this post later today or early tomorrow :)

*Of course I didn't get my pictures in as soon as I wanted (dead camera batteries) but here they are, better late than never :)

Chocolate pudding painting with the kids.. it was a hit!! (as you can tell probably most of it went in the mouth)

I really don't like this picture of me, (so please ignore it) it was my only picture of the kids new bed so far, I was tucking my daughter in to bed for their first night in their new bed!
My daughter's early morning attempt at putting on lip gloss :)