challenges

I have a reminder today of how blessed I am and, although life is not perfect, I am very blessed. We have certainly had some challenges over the last few years and sometimes they have overwhelmed me. However, We are still very very blessed. I listened to an excellent talk on Sunday that has stuck with me about trials. One of the things he said was that, although they have had some challenges over the last few years including job losses, he knows what his trials are and can see him. It's better to know your trials than to not. I'll take the challenges we have over someone else's. I spoke with someone today who is about my age and has had a lot of health issues. She is currently facing some very large challenges. My heart goes out to her. I know we have our trials hand-picked for us. It was another very stark reminder that I am very blessed and that, although life isn't perfect, I'm very lucky with what I have.

Nightmares

Apparently this is the week for nightmares. On Wednesday morning at around 4:00 a.m. Zach came crawling into our bed clutching his teddy bear tightly. He said he had a bad dream and at first he didn't want to talk about it. Later on he did tell me about it and it was a about a big snake chasing him and trying to eat him. I would be scared too! Poor guy.We cuddled in bed for a while and  was eventually able to get him back into his bed as long as I left the door wide open. I could have left him in our bed, but I had to get up around 5:00 a.m. since it was my work day. He's had a few bad dreams in the past and crawls into bed with us at least once every six months.
Thursday morning at around 2:00 a.m. I had a nightmare about horrible storms that hit the earth. These were end of the world kind of storms. At one point we were at a soccer game (because that's all I seem to do right now), and we saw an approaching storm that was north of us. I heard someone with us say that the clouds turned purple and well, "there goes Canada". Anyhow, strange dream.
Now, Friday morning, at around 2:00 a.m. Addi comes running into our room and crawls into bed, clutching me tightly. She said "Mom, I don't want our house to get fired". Poor thing! She had a dream about our house catching on fire and was absolutely terrified. She asked us a couple of times about how houses catch on fire and we had to reassure her it was just a dream. She is still sleeping in our bed. She and Jeff did still all of the covers so at least they are warm.  I had a dream when I was a kid about my house catching on fire that I still remember to this day. Poor kids!!!
Here's hoping that three breaks the streak and we are done with nightmares this week.

This and that

Addie and I were reading a Little Mermaid book last night and we saw a picture of Aerial and Eric riding in a horse drawn carriage. She said that was kind of like what Santa rides in. Never thought about it, but I was amazed at her connection. We talked about how they were a little different, but in the end she said, that yes, that is kind of what Santa rides in. Amazed at her connection at the age of 3.

The Zach, age 6, and Nate, age 8, are taking care of the neighbors cats. I normally go with them but their sister has been sick so I sent them over on their own. Zach said, "Mom, we'll make sure not to disappoint you". I've been impressed with how well they have been doing it without me being with them. Good kids.

Job charts

We've done job charts off and on for a while. we've had our latest job chart since April and the boys are required to do their jobs every day. They are pretty simple and include cleaning their room, making their bed, pj's away, dishes in the sink, teeth brushed, etc. I'm also a mean mom and have included on our job chart things like reading for 20 minutes every day, homework, and exercise. If they don't have homework from school, I make them do something like flashcards or write in their journal. Every year for the last few years they get a composition notebook as one of their gifts for Christmas. That is the years journal. We aren't really good about it, but I try to get them to write five sentences in it when we are doing journals. I need to be better, but its a start.

Anyhow, we were shoveling sidewalks this morning and after they finished doing our sidewalks, Zach (age 6), asked if we can include service as one of their things on their job charts! So, part of it was that Nate helped the neighbors shovel their sidewalk on Christmas eve and they gave him a candy bar for everyone in our family to say thank you, but hey if he wants to do service I'm thrilled!

Cub scouts

After spending hours sewing on Cub Scout badges during the last three weeks I have to remind myself that, yes, I do want my son to succeed in scouts. I hate sewing and have had to do it by hand, but I'm getting much better at it. I originally ironed them on but they started falling off so now I've been sewing. It's a wonderful program and it's worth it with what they learn and get out of it. However, I think I should earn the sewing merit badge! Maybe we'll focus on belt loops for a while...