Importance to play

My favorite book when I was 10 was Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.  I loved Leslie and how she created this place out of thin air (and books for inspiration) that she and Jesse could be whom ever they wanted.  This place that they could escape into.  I loved that in this book they were not "too old" to pretend.  I have watched my oldest struggle this year with that "in between" age.  At school the girls are not really into "playing" the way she is.  I don't know if it is me as her mother, me because of my job or her. Or, if it is a combination of all of these things.  She has an amazing imagination. She would read or watch something over the years and I would provide her with whatever she needed to "be" that character.  I spent way too much money on a toy a few years back.  And the funny thing about this particular purchase is that I wish I had done it so many years earlier.  I bought a set of play silks.  My husband thought I was crazy spending that much money on 7 piece of fabric.  I told him I know but we have watched the kids play expand over the last five years.  And let me tell you...AMAZING!

C is using her silks as butterfly wings.

C is using her silks as hair for Madeline Hatter from the books Ever After High.  She LOVES Madi best.  I love that her imagination is just as silly.

C and B love to play this game called "Little Lost Kids".  It is their version of Boxcar children.  They use their silks as capes.


B is using his silk as a "cloak".  He is a knight that must complete quests before he can rescue the princess.

This was how they used their silks to begin with when they were little.  As they have gotten older (they are now 10 and 7), their creativity has increased.  And so has their use of the silks.    They have begun to use them in their habitat play.  The silks are the water.  The silks are the sand, mud, grass, or even snow.  I love the way that they mix their toys to create such an elaborate play space.  

Or sometimes they use them as the play source.  Here C is showing off her choices from her ice cream shop.    You can choose cake, chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream or caramel ice cream. 

The best thing for me was that she used a simple plastic cup, a ball of yarn and a silk scarf to create a root beer float.  Such creativity and imagination!  

Raspberry Bush

Blueberry bush

Strawberry vine

Cherry tree

Banana Tree 

Apple Tree

Orange Tree

And my favorite way that they have used the silks and a boa...They made a cow names Bessy.  I love the creativity that silks have brought to my kids play.  I know that these last few pictures of their "farm" show more than silks.  We did not have the "colors" that they were looking for so they improvised.  They used socks, cloth napkins, boas, scarves, ribbon, skirts, table cloths and lace.  When they were done ...four days later... they returned each item back to it's proper place.  I am ever so thankful for spending so much money all those years ago.  

What "simple play" item have you purchased that has increased your child's imaginative play? 

$4 Fun

What do you do when you find  a package of adhesive mustaches for $3.99?  You buy them of course!

I "mustache" you a question!

 I "mustache" you a question!

 I "mustache" you a question!

Don't I just have the most adorable silliest kids EVER?
They ran around the house for two days with mustaches telling me.
I "mustache" you a question!  Do you love me?
YES!!! Yes I love these two crazy kids!  It was well worth $4.
I "mustache" you a question.
How do you spend $4?

10 Reasons

I was reminded this evening that without the stories my children have given me I would probably lead a VERY boring life.  I do think that is true, so in honor of my spunky kids...
10 Reasons I love Charlie
1.  She loves to be girly.  (Drives me crazy but I love to give her special little gifts that I know she will love.)
2.   She sees magic and wonder in EVERY LITTLE detail of the world, like Florida having straight tall trees.
3. She LOVES God and isn't afraid to let everyone know who he is and what he has done for them.
4.  She more than not points me to Christ reminding me that I am missing something but does it in a manner that really isn't rude and disrespectful but honest. 
5.  She has the BEST laugh.
6.  She loves to do special things for others to let them know that she loves them.
7.  She listens.  I mean really listens to what you are saying.
8.  She loves stories.  Not the ones found in books but the other ones, the oral ones about life. 
9.  She really takes to heart correction. She has such a repentant heart.
10.  She is mine!  All mine. She is creative, fisty, friendly, and I just LOVE her to pieces.

10 Reasons I love Brantley
1.  He LOVES life. 
2.  He loves to help (pick up toys, do dishes, sweep, mop, laundry.  He is going to make a great husband someday.)
3.  He says "Hey mom, I love you."  As he dashes out the door.  I am praying that I get random "Hey mom I love you" calls when he is an adult.
4.  He LOVES his sister.
5.  He loves to laugh.
6.  He sings EVERYTHING!  He knows the words to every song no matter if he has heard it   a 100 times or 1 time and ALL styles of music.
7. He says " I am going to put this in my music bucket mom." about anything that makes a sound.  He loves to bang things together or move them just so to get a sound out of them.
8. He just likes to be with the ones he loves.  To the point of suffocation at times, but, I love that he loves me!
9.  He likes to play the "I don't love you game." Which when he first began playing it I had no idea.  He says "I don't love you."  I say "That's okay, I love you enough for both of us."  He giggles, then he says "Now you say it."  I tell him "I am not going to tell you that I do not love you.  I don't every want you to think that it might be true."  He laughs and says "Yep you love me nuf for boff of us."
10.  He is mine!  And as I am writing this I got to thinking yes, he is all fast and loud and doesn't seem to know how to slow down.  I should have gotten some kind of warning from that while I was pregnant. Any time something with a beat (music) came on he would begin to turn summer saults.  His delivery was 3 hours start to stop.  He came before the bed was prepped.  He came before the doctor was in the hospital.  He came in just enough time for the nurse to catch him as she came in the door.  Why would I not think that he would live his life hard and fast. 

The Hair Cut

 All kids cut their hair.  I know this.  Charlie is now on cut number 4.  This time she cut B's hair.  She got it good.  We are going to have to buzz it again before the end of summer to get it back to where it needs to be.  B does not look like himself with a buzz cut. 

All kids cut their hair.

My Short Comings

Frustrated with Brantley and the fact that I have been putting him back in bed since 8 o'clock this evening, I over stepped my "good" mommy.  I started yelling.  I really do hate it when this happens.  I really do want to not be that screaming crazy lady that seems to come out after an hour plus of disobedience. I really am so thankful that Charlie continues to pray that God will help me to not yell.  And, tonight I think I went over board.  I told B that I was going to walk out of his room before I hurt him.  I know that I don't want to hurt him.  I know that my intentions are never to hurt my child but when I am tired and have been dealing with 3 year old defiance all evening I am just at the end of me.  As I walked out of the room I told him (yes, this was not one of my better moments) that he really needed to sit and talk to God about all the things that he had done wrong today and see what God would want him to do to make amends for them.  Again, I am going to say that this is NOT one of my better parenting moments. I really do pray that all of my shortcomings do not scar my children.  He says, "God doesn't talk." 
I stopped in the doorway.
Softly as if telling myself to, "Buddy God does talk to us.  It may not be the way that mommy is talking right now but he does talk.  It can be in a friends words, in a song, in a story, or in a quiet voice we hear in our heart or in our head."  While I am telling him this I am hearing God telling me that he is enough, that he will answer my prayers, and that a soft answer is the best way.  (Why can't I hear this before I blow up instead of just after?)
"God is talking to me right now."
I wasn't expecting this. "What is He saying?"
"He is telling me that I have to make better choices."
"What kind of choices?"
"I don't know."
"Ask God."
"He is telling me to not hit my sister.  He says not to hit you."
"What else is He saying?"
You can see a look in B's eyes that show that he is really listening.
"He said I need to go to sleep.  But I can't."
"Remember that God will help you if you ask."
"God is talking to me again."
"What is He saying?"
"He is telling me that He is already helping me to lay quiet." B lays down.  He asks for his blanket and pillow (Which he left in his sisters room on one of his out of bed escapades.)
My prayer (after I apologized, admitted that I was wrong for yelling, and asked forgiveness from my son and God) is that God will call B to him.  That B will see the "bad stuff" in his heart and ask Jesus to save him.  I want him to see the Gospel for what it is. 

Lord,  thank you so much for the gift of grace that we (especially me) do not deserve.  I pray that B accepts this gift and you. 
Amen
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Signs of Brantley

 I posted something like this after Dusty and I saw a play a few years back. It was one where it was dealing with a death of a child.  I just kept staring at this dinosaur that was in a corner of the dinning room.  Something that was just left there.  Some sense of presence that the child had left behind.  For Charlie is posted a shoe.  Just one single solitary shoe.  She was big into Cinderella at the time and we would randomly find her "glass slipper" scattered around the house.  Here is what I snapped of B this week.  All of which show his personality and all of which are so completely B.

A dragon has captured the princess out of C's room and left her on the laundry basket in the laundry room.
The second picture I can not get to upload.  It was of a loaf of bread that had been eaten and left randomly in crumbs around the house.

This last picture is just an obsession of B's at the current moment.  He LOVES Angry Birds.  He asked for them for Christmas.  He has gotten pretty good at shooting the birds across the house with his sling shot.  I was folding laundry one night and found that these two guys had just been through the washing machine.

I just too little!

Brantley drew on the walls this week with a sharpie.  Not in one spot. No  he colored on the floor.  My wood floors.  He wrote on my door, three door frames,  the shoe rack,  his bedroom door, a chair and himself.  Did I tell you he used a sharpie?  Not just any sharpie but a black sharpie?
Three days later he still has sharpie on him.  I think it is just going to have to wear off.  The other places took him 3 hours to clean up.  He cried "I just not big enough to clean my mess."  or "I is too little to make all these marks to white."  or "You is bigger you can do it."  or " I is just too little.  I is not bigger.  I is not so bigger now that I is big like my daddy because I just too little to clean this mess."
Oh,  I love this boy!

Money in my pockets

Me:  B, What are you doing?
B: I putting money in my pockets.
Me:  Why are you putting in your pockets?
B:  I gonna pay.
Me:  What are you gonna pay for?
B:  I gonna pay for drinks.
Me:  Where?
B: At 7-11.  I need lots of money in my pockets.
Me:  Why?
B:  I gonna pay for food and drinks at 7-11.
Me:  Didn't we just have dinner?
B:  Yeah.
Me:  Why are we going to 7-11?
B: Because I want to go there and get a drink for me.
I guess we stop and get icee's a little too much.

Home made costumes

 2005-Charlie was a cow.

 2006-Charlie was a Purple People Eater.  She LOVED that song.  Everyone thought she was a tella tubbie.

 2007-Charlie was Strawberry Shortcake.  Her very first store bought costume.

 2008-Charlie wanted to be Randy from A Christmas Story.  We thought it was a super creative costume.  She went around telling everyone, "I can't put my arms down."  Very few people understood.

 2008- Brantley was a knight.  This was the year that someone donated a dragon costume to my class. Charlie found it and had to be a dragon to go with B's knight costume.  We usually do several nights of Halloween stuff so it was easy to accommodate her.  

 2009-B was a Purple People Eater.  I loved that costume so much and it fit him this year.  Charlie was a princess.  Her grandmother made the dress.

2010- Brantley wanted to be a monkey.  Charlie wanted to be Lucy Little from The Littles.

2011- Charlie wanted to be Velma (a gift from Santa aka Grandma) last year for Christmas.  Brantley said for two months leading up to Halloween that he wanted to be a lion.  Then one day in the story we walked through the Halloween section the first part of October.  He pointed to the shelf and said "Mommy I gonna be that for Halloween."  He was pointing to a can of silly string.  I asked him.  "You want to be what?"  "I gonna be a can a silly string. I gonna shoot all the people with my silly string."  I knew that Dusty would LOVE that.  I kept asking for about a week and he never returned to lion.  So, he was a can of silly string.  I love that my kids costumes are very "non-traditional."

Fighting the dragon

 Two years ago when Charlie turned four she wanted a princess,  knight, and dragon party.  So, to decorate I bought two white sheets.  On one, I painted a castle.  On the other a dragon.  This dragon has hung in our hallway for two years now.  C has slowly played with him less and less.  B on the other hand now LOVES to fight the dragon.  Yesterday, he placed a doll at the dragon's feet and said, "Momma, I gonna saved the princess from the dragon."

 He put on his knight costume.  He grabbed his sword and his horse.  I had to laugh when he told me that he needed his fireman hat to protect him from the dragon's fire.  And set off on a quest to save the princess from the scary dragon.

 He had a great time.  About 10 minutes into fighting the dragon he noticed for the first time the fire extinguisher hanging  on the wall.  (I am a bit of a safety girl.  I have one in the hall and one in the kitchen.)

 "Momma.  What is that red fing?"
"That is a fire extinguisher."
"Why that for?"
"That is to put out a fire."
"You have it by the dragon in case his fire not pretend?"
What a great mind he has!  I never even put two and two together.  I just laughed.  When Charlie got home he had to show her how the fire extinguisher is "to make the dragon not have fire.  But it is not for play with."

After the party when Charlie wanted to play with the dragon I would use push pins to hang it in the hall way.  They kept coming out when she would hit the dragon.  My incredible husband thought of this.  They are hung up on clamps and coffee cup hooks.  When it is not in use we just take down one side of the dragon.  I take the dragon to school when we are doing our fairy tale unit and for St. George and the dragon's feast day.

To Follow the intent of the law or follow the Law

I don't tend to let my kids "play" much unsupervised.  I don't know if it is the control freak in me or the worrier but I am always afraid they are going to get hurt or get into something.  But, Grandma lets them roam unsupervised in the yard.  Most days this is not a problem.  They stay within grandma's acre and don't do too much damage.   The last time my two wonderful children were at grandma's they experienced roaming in the field behind grandma's.  They thought that was so great to have that freedom.  With this freedom come the lesson of barb wire hurts and cows will spook.  The last time they were at grandma's they also got some unsupervised play in the yard.  They decided to get down to their panties and diaper and have a dirt fight.  Really I don't know what it is about these two, but they love throwing dirt and mud.  So, Sunday when we went to grandma's and knowing my two I told them:
"C and B, you can play in grandma's yard but NO DIRT fight.  We are going to see oh' grandpa's.  And leave your clothes on."

 We let them play outside for 30 minutes. It was time to go see Oh' grandpa.  I went out to get them.  They are NO where to be found.  Grandma and Grandpa come out.
Grandpa: "Don't worry they are just in the pasture.  They are fine."
Me-"This is why I don't let my kids play outside.  They get into too much."
Grandma:  "They can't hurt anything.  They are just in the field.  They never go near the pond."
And where, oh where were my kids.  Not near the pond.  Oh no, they were IN the pond.  THANK God for no rain lately.  The pond was only waist high to my two year old.  Who was having a BALL in the Mud.  Not water but MUD.

 Dusty tops the hill to the pond seeing them in the middle covered from head to toe in mud.  They are laughing and throwing mud at each other.  Dusty proceeds to tell them that their mother (ME) is going to kill them.
Charlie says, "But why Daddy?  We are not throwing dirt and we kept our clothes on."
Sure enough both kids had taken off their shoes and left them on the bank.  They had every stitch of clothing on.   My kids chose to follow the law.  I am going to really have to get better about explaining the why of the  "Law."

We got to see Oh' Grandpa it was just a little later than we had originally wanted.