Intentional Parenting

I can't real pen point the exact thing about Sunday but it will go down as one of my favorite days in a really long time. As I said the other day I didn't get home until 6 am so Sunday morning Ryan got the kids up and they headed to early church while I slept in. I woke up around 10 and headed to meet them for an afternoon on the boat. They were so good and were so excited to be going boat riding!

I know, he desperately needs a hair cut. Aunt Lisa trimmed the hair around his ears the other day for me-Thank you!!
What better place to take an afternoon nap!

After tubing, wakeboarding and knee boarding we headed straight to church. Like seriously straight there in our swimsuits and beach cover ups! Sometimes I'm so thankful to attend a contemporary church where it doesn't matter what you wear it just matters that you're there!

That night we played a crazy game of softball with tennis rackets and tennis balls and crazy rules. It was a lot of fun and all the students seemed to really enjoy it.

That night when we got home Ryan and I got to talking about some different things we have noticed in our family/relationship that we want and need to change. We've been talking about it a lot lately but hadn't really nailed down the specifics. I'm going to write them on here for my records so you can just skip over this if it's not interesting.

We want to do better on Intentionally doing things with our kids. Yea, we play with them all the time and go places non stop but are we really connecting with them...or are we just watching them play while we nod along and are watching TV or playing on our phones.

I want to take more time to engage them. Do puzzles, crafts, paint, cook...just enjoy them being young and not just pacify them while I'm basically doing nothing. Lately both of us have realized how quickly their childhood slips away and I don't want to look back in 10 years and wish I would have enjoyed it more.

We are also committing to not talking/playing on our phones from 6-8 every night. Those stupid iPhones suck you in and then before you know it the night is gone. This won't be to hard for us since we already don't answer the phone during dinner and always eat at the table together.

Funny story-one night my phone rang and I got up to answer it during dinner and Ryan just stared at me and I said what? He said "Tiffany, we don't answer the phone during dinner unless God is calling and last time I checked he didn't use AT&T as a form of communication!"

We also want to focus on them not being so materialistic. I know this is completely our fault and I take responsibility for it but it is getting out of hand. If they even had a small idea on how good they have it they would be blown away. We are stopping buying things just to buy them and getting whatever they want wherever we go. We talked about it and not only does it contribute to materialistic kids but I think it also contributes to kids who think the world is just habded to them. I want Ryleigh and Tanner to know that you have to work and save for things and you can't get everything you want just because you want it. (This is also a lesson for Ryan!!) :)

We are going to start having chores for them to do. Nothing hard just easy stuff they should be doing anyway. They will in turn get an allowance that will be half of what their age is. (I think on this we are going to use Ryleigh's age for both of them just to make it easier). They will then have 3 jars to put their money into. 10% will go to their offering in bibleland, 10% will go in their give jar and the rest into their spend jar. That way they can save up to buy something if they want it. Ryleigh already has a pretty good concept of money so she'll enjoy this. Poor Tanner though, it's going to be a rude awakening for him.

We are also adopting a child through Compassion International. We are hoping this will help to show them how lucky they are. Compassion is a wonderful organization where you can write to the kids and they write back and you can send them things. They will be able to do that with

their give money.

We also want to commit to praying more with them and in front of them. We say the blessing every night and pray a lot of times before bed but we want to make it a more regular thing. There is a great blogger Angie Smith and she had a great idea about 7x7. I'm going to try that out and see how it goes.

Ryan and I are also going to start reading a marriage book that came highly recommended from our pastor. It's called Sacred Marriage. We are going to try to read a chapter a night. Ryan hates reading so this will be a battle! We recently read 5 Love Languages and it was really good.

We will see how all of this goes! Wish us luck!

Beth Moore in Atlanta

This past weekend 6 of my best friends and I loaded up and headed to Atlanta to attend the Beth Moore conference that was there on Saturday. We had a great time. I love hanging out with them, they make me laugh so hard!!

All of us before the conference. We were going off of like 5 hours of sleep!
Me and Linda Lou! She was trying to make me fall down!

Tina and Allyson

The lunch they had there was so good! They had chicken salad on croissant, chips, pasta salad and a cookie! I was in heaven!

Me and Katrina. She has a daughter that is Ryleigh's age and they love to play together!

After the conference we went to the Georgia Mall which is the biggest mall in Georgia. It was a really cool mall. We also went and ate dinner at The Border. It is a Mexican place. I'm pretty sure it's a chain restaurant and oh how I wish we had one in Mobile. It was fabulous!!! We ate so much food! Seriously there was no room for anything else on our table!

We weren't suppose to come home until Sunday but Katrina had a family emergency so we ended up leaving at 1 AM on Sunday morning. We got home around 6 and I slept until around 10 while Ryan and the kids went to church. I have pictures of what we did Sunday that I was going to include in this post but I think I'm going to do a separate one since it was such a fun day!

Aunt Whitney

Have I mentioned recently how much I love Whitney??

She ALWAYS makes me laugh and we have the best time together. We had an absolute blast spring break! I was so mad she wouldn't stay the whole week. I did talk her into staying an extra day though. She wouldn't miss anymore though because she said she needed to go to class. Who cares about school when you are having fun at the beach!
Ryleigh and Tanner love her to. Ryan does to we just drive him crazy when we are together because we act so insane. I'm sure we will totally embarrass Ryleigh and Tanner when they get a little older. But right now they think we are hilarious!
She saved the day Spring Break when Ryleigh busted her chin open. I literally almost passed out like 5 times at the doctors office so she pretty much had to carry both of us out of there. I think she was a little nervous!

She is also a great running "pacer!" We always start out for the first .25 of a mile together and then I always get way ahead. (She has very short legs! :) Then I run until I can't run anymore and stop and walk until she catches up with me. Then I start running again until I have to stop and walk until she catches me again. She never has to stop to walk which is so unfair!
She is one of my most favorite people and we love you so much Whitter Whitter Litter Critter!

(Ryleigh is obsessed with coming up with rhyming names for everyone!)

Also, The second picture is my favorite! She is such a great model!

Wednesday nights at Nana and Paw Paw's

Every once in a while on our way home from church we stop by and see nana and paw paw. It's nights like those that I treasure the most. There is no agenda or anything planned to do just a wonderful hour of talking and laughing. Most of the time Velvet and "The Stinkin Boys" as Tanner calls them come over to. Last night Jordan was showing how strong he is!


When we said hold on Ryleigh so you don't fall off, Tanner grabbed her head with his feet and said "Don't worry Ry I have you!"


He could do push ups really well when it was just one of them on there. When we added two it got a little more difficult!


Then when we added Evan it became almost impossible! But he still managed to do it! See Tanner on the side of the picture? He decided to crawl under them and we all started screaming at him not to. We were scared Jordan might fall and they would crush him! Luckily he made it through but immediately started crying because he thought he was in trouble!


I don't think Ryleigh is quite big enough for you guys to make it under!


But Tan Man is! I'm sure by the time we were leaving Paw Paw was saying "Thank goodness!" I'll let you guys in on a little secret-my family is kinda loud! I know it's so hard to believe! :)

God through their eyes

A conversation I had recently with Tanner went something like this...
"Mom, can I have this money?"
"What are you going to do with the money Tanner?"
"I'm going to take it to the offering at Bibleland."
"Yes, you can have it. Do you know why we give money to God?"
"Because God makes us."
"He doesn't make us give the money Tanner. He ask us to and we always listen to what God tells us to do."
"I'm just glad he doesn't make us give it to Jesus! He's a little kid and I bet he would spend the money on a remote control dinosaur. Don't you think so mom?"

The other day Ryan had Ryleigh and Tanner both at the Bass Pro Shop. Tanner's new thing is EVERYTIME he passes a new toy or anything that looks remotely interesting he says, "I don't have one of those, I need one of those, will you buy me one of those?" It's beginning to drive us crazy. On this particular day I think it was driving Ryleigh crazy. Once after he said it she stood up in the buggy and looked him square in the eyes and said, "Tanner Cole stop wanting everything. There are kids in Haiti who don't have anything. No toys, no momma, no daddy or Mi Mi or Gi Gi or La La. So stop your whining!!
Everyone in Bass Pro just turned and stared at Ryan and the kids. Ryan said he had never been so proud of her in his life! Ryan has a soft spot in his heart for the people of Haiti and what they've experienced. Our church is planning a mission trip down there and he is planning on going.

Scissors

I wish my dad were here, he would laugh his head off at the sight of them cutting grass with scissors.


Why would he laugh you may ask...well when I was about 13 I had a serious attitude problem. I was out of the stage of spankings so my dad was a pro at "creative punshiments!"
I was on my way to go somewhere and he wouldn't let me leave until my room was clean. I was furious! There was no way I could have it cleaned in time to go. So I went to my room and under my breath I called him a stupid idiot.
Well unfortunately my mom heard me. She made me go in there and tell him what I said. I thought he was going to yell at me. But he didn't. He calmly told me to go get some scissors. I looked at him like he was crazy but I did it anyway. He then told me he was going to show me a real stupid idiot. He told me to go outside and cut the entire fence line (2 acres) of grass with the scissors.
Because that's what stupid idiots do and every time someone drives by they'll say look at that stupid idiot cutting grass with scissors!

I've told that story a lot throughout the years. Even more since my dad passed away. It was even told from the pulpit at his funeral. My dad was so good at teaching me lessons that would always stick with me. I think I turned out a lot like my dad and that is something I am very proud of. I miss him so much and wish more than anything he could meet Ryleigh and Tanner and see how beautiful they are. How smart and funny they are. How much the two of them look and act like him even though they've never met him.

Them cutting grass with scissors had nothing to do with a punishment. They just wanted to cut grass with scissors for fun! I wonder how my dad would feel about that!?

Spring Break 2010

A few pictures from our week at the beach...

I put this picture on here that way when I put bad pictures of other people (I have a great one of Aunt Cheryl and Mrs. Kim) they can't be mad! Seriously, I look ridiculous!!

We've had a GREAT week! Ryleigh has been excellent and Tanner well, he's been Tanner. He only wants his mama which drives me crazy. I know everyone says just wait until he doesn't want anything to do with you when he's 13. I have to remind myself of that but it still drives me crazy!

The kids are leaving in the morning with Aunt Lisa to go to moms for the weekend. Ryan and I are staying at the beach until Sunday. I'm very excited to spend a weekend with him alone after being down here all week with the kids. We have some fun stuff planned!

Beater Weater Pumpkin Eater

We've been at the beach for almost a week now and have had the best time hanging out with our family. We've had ALOT of laughs and most of the time they were at Aunt Velvet's expense. So to let her know how much we love and appreciate her we are dedicating this blog post to our Wonderful, Fabulous, Beautiful Aunt Velvet!!

She is one of the best cookie makers we know. She can scoop the pre-made cookie dough out onto the pan and bake it like no ones business! Ryleigh and Tanner always know if they want to make cookies (or eat the cookie dough out of the container) Velvets their best bet!

They have loved cooking cookies this week and then heading out to the balcony to wait on them to be finished and Aunt Cheryl would come serve them to them outside.

We've had a lot of laughs waiting on the boys to come home late at night. Here she is talking to to "someone" on the phone. She says I'm to loud when she's on the phone. Me, Loud? No Way!

Doesn't she look just like Aunt Cheryl in this picture. When we were looking at them tonight we both actually thought it was Aunt Cheryl.
She is one of the two best power walkers in the world. Seriously, her and Aunt Cheryl should enter the Olympics. Did you know power walking is an Olympic sport. They have walked like twice a day every day we've been here at the beach.
I know Whit and I make fun of you a lot and you are such a good sport about it! I just wanted to let you know that we love you and appreciate everything you do to help with the kids! We've had a fun week!!

ER

Our first trip to the ER...Well, actually the Urgent Care Center but pretty much the same thing. Ryleigh was walking out of the pool area and slipped and fell, face planting into the concrete floor. We walked up to the room and everyone voted and we decided to take her in. It wasn't really bleeding that badly but you could see some meat hanging out. Whitney went with us to the doctor and we had to switch places half way there so I could ride in the back with her. 

Here we are on the way. 

When we first got there she literally SCREAMED her head off the entire time. Seriously, she would not calm down. I think she thought they were going to cut her open. Finally after a lot of goofing off on Aunt Whitney's part she calmed down. 
The doctor went back and forth deciding between stitches or the glue stuff. He finally decided on the glue. Thankfully that meant no needles or shots!
She has been completely fine today and hasn't even thought about it until you ask her and then she just says "It's much better today!"

We have to have something exciting happen every year at Spring Break! Hopefully that is all the excitement for this year! 

Join us tomorrow as the featured post will be The Life in the Day of Velvet. 

SB2010

It's Spring Break 2010 and we're all at the beach with our toes in the sand and having a great time! Oh wait that's someone elses spring break. We on the other hand just left the hospital because Ryleigh fell and busted her chin open and had to have it glued together. Tiffany almost passed out 5 times so it was up to me to save the day! So I blew up the blue hospital glove and put it on my head like a rooster to make Ryleigh cam down. Threw Tiffany over one shoulder and Ryleigh over the other and back up to the room and tucked them both bed. So that's how the week has started so cross your fingers that it gets better!!!! 

Peace Out!

Whitney

Easter

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Its so low key and not that much preparation has to go into it. I love the meaning of Easter and getting to celebrate it with the kids. We don't make a big deal about the Easter Bunny but we do like dying eggs and getting Easter baskets. 

Easter Sunday everyone went to church with us and then afterwards we all went to moms to eat and have an Easter Egg hunt. 

I know these pictures are a week late and I didn't write much about them but well, I'm tired and at the beach so this is all you get! :)