Nathaniel Reads!

Sometimes I need something official to come along and push me to do something that I have been considering for a while. This week is Screen Free Week sponsored by Campaign For A Commercial Free Childhood. I have decided to use it as my excuse to unplug for a week. I have been considering unplugging for a while, but kept finding myself drawn back to the flickering screen of my computer. This week we are going cold turkey. No screens. At all. Not because I think it will make us better people, or because I think that we get some kind of points in the game of comparison parenting, but because we need as a family to reconnect. So we are going to try it. Note: I will be checking my email once a day. 

Now, on to more exciting things.

Last week Nathaniel started to read!  We have been sporadically doing lessons from the book Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons and he was really eager to start reading on his own. I was kind of half-heartedly working with him and thinking in my head that we would really buckle down and make learning to read the focus of next year. Last week I unearthed some old Bob Books that someone had given me. Nathaniel found them and was really interested. So I gave him the first one and asked him if he wanted to try and read it. It had the sounds that we had already worked on in our lessons. And he did it!

There are no words to describe that feeling of watching your child grasp something new and accomplish something they have been working really hard on. He was so excited!

Below is the video of his 2nd attempt at the book. Enjoy!

Boys being boys

Some glimpses of everyday life in our house lately:

 

Sometimes God gives us special surprises, just because He loves us. A friend called on Thursday night and said he had a castle to drop off for the boys. This gigantic, amazing castle was gifted to us! The boys love it! They play for hours. It is the scene of pirate battles, and Star Wars adventures, and super hero escapades. 

Aaron taught the boys how to use the sun and a magnifying glass to set leaves on fire. Jeremiah calls it, "Harnessing the power of the sun." So far they haven't quite managed to start a fire on their own but they do spend lots of time trying. 

Boys love super heroes. Something in their nature is drawn to the pull between good and evil. Someone sent the boys super hero stickers and they spent a whole morning drawing these battle scenes. They each have an elaborate story to go with their picture. One night at dinner when they were discussing what super hero they would like to be Nathaniel randomly announced that Mama should get some super hero pj's and that my super hero name should be "Fire Star." 

Monday Morning

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me with His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With power upon my heart

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who walks beside 
Who floods my weaknesses with strength
And causes fears to fly
Whose every promise is enough
For every step I take
Sustaining me with arms of love
And crowning me with grace

My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who reigns above
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace
Whose every thought is love
For every day I have on earth 
Is given by the King
So I will give my life my all
To love and follow Him

Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright 2003 Thankyou Music

This song yesterday in worship ministered to my soul in such a profound way. Every word of it applies to lessons I have been learning in life lately. And every word of it encourages areas of faith that have been stretched lately.  The music played and my heart just hung on, begging for the knowledge of this truth to be evident in my every action. 

We had a fun weekend. Jeremiah's baseball team won their game on Saturday! They played so well and were such good sportsman. I was super proud of them. Jeremiah went on to spend the night with Grandmom and Grandad. Aaron and I had fun spending focused time with Nathaniel. He enjoyed being the center of our attention, however, he really really missed his brother. He doesn't really know what to do with himself when he is on his own. 

Last night we were up late at an amazing Gungor concert (more on that later) so today we are spending a quiet day in our sweats bringing order to the house and enjoying this gorgeous spring day. 

Philly Trip Pictures

Finally - some pictures from our Spring Break trip to Philadelphia. 

Sometimes vacations are stressful, especially when they are quick. But this one ended up being so relaxing. We felt like we really had time to just rest, relax, and reconnect with our family. So here are some of the highlights:

 Nothing better than watching the boys hang out with their uncles! 

I love watching my brothers, friends for life and best friends as adults, 

and hope that my boys will have the same bond. 

 The boys loved making "Peeps nests" so much last year when my parents were down with us for Easter that we decided to make them again. 

 One morning we took a walk through mom and dad's neighborhood. 

We played at the park, had a cheese steak, and enjoyed the scenery.

 The church mom and dad are attending. Just a few short blocks from their house. 

 Nathaniel and uncle Ben are kindred spirits! 

They both love to play hard, wrestle, laugh and love intensely. 

 Nathaniel and Uncle Ben compare bumps from broken collar bones (which they both have).

 Two cheeky monkeys! 

 It was nice to be at my parents place in Philadelphia and have various family members come a visit us. 

Nathaniel getting his opa spankings. :-) 

 One of Nathaniel's favorite things to do was to help opa build fires in the fire place. 

It was their daily ritual. 

Ninja moves. 

We spent our last day in Philly at the Philadelphia Zoo. It was a perfect spring day and all the flowering trees and bushes were in full bloom. It was a great day!

 Oma and Jeremiah both love maps, so naturally a route had to mapped out. 

 Nathaniel sad that I told him not to touch the peacock. 

He loves peacocks.

 Who is watching who here?

 We love giraffe's!

 Look close! Aunt Ramona and her nephews.

 One of the cool things about this zoo was that they had sculptures of animals everywhere that were not only beautiful pieces art but obviously perfect for climbing. 

 Oma and the boys took a fun ride in the swan paddle boat.

 The lions were sleeping so Nathaniel decided to roar and wake them up. 

They were pretty intent on their naps though. 

 GI Joe moves in front of the huge cobra. 

Nathaniel ran up to me, "Look mama! It's the sign for Cobra Commander!"

 The one thing Jeremiah wanted to see was a kangaroo with a joey in it's pouch. And look what was one of the last things we saw. Beautiful and amazing!

 That rhinoceros was crazy huge!

 An awesome climbing tree by the zoo exit. 

The boys could have happily climbed there all day.

One of the fun things about our trip was the boys that lived next door to my parents. The younger ones were the same age as Jeremiah and Nathaniel and the older boy was kind and patient. They spent hours each day playing outside together! It was so great for the boys to have built in playmates. It was a real gift for all of us. 

Opening Day

Let's just say that baseball is a big deal in our area. Big. Deal. I knew that, but I honestly had no idea. Apparently the spring baseball and softball season starts off with a parade. And opening ceremonies. With pretty much the whole town there. This is how we spent Thursday night, our introduction to the world of baseball.

 Jeremiah's team float. He and Aaron are on there somewhere. 

 This parade had lots of good candy. And since all the kids were on the floats Nathaniel got quite the stash. Seriously, he filled up my purse and there was still candy laying all over the ground.  

 All the teams from our town lined up for the opening ceremonies. 

 National anthem. Jeremiah is #5. 

 "Go Outlaws!" 

Each team had their name called and ran out to the pitchers mound. 

Running back, ready to play and full of energy.  

 Warm ups before the 1st game. 

 Jeremiah with one of his coaches. 

This coach is very thoughtful and spends a lot of time really teaching Jeremiah what to do. 

All of his coaches are good men, but this guy is exceptionally generous and kind. 

 The ball fields on a spring evening. A pretty sight really.

 On the field for his first game ever.

Nathaniel plays with a friend. There are all kinds of kids running around for him to play with.  

 Jeremiah's first at bat.

(I was so freaking nervous!)

 A hit!

 Running the bases!

 He made it to 3rd base on his first hit in his first game! 

I, who am pretty non-competitive, was actually jumping up and down yelling "Run, Jeremiah, run!"

The next batter hit him in to home. It was so exciting! However, he had to be told by his coach to go back and actually tag home plate. Oops. 

 In the dug out. 

His coach put him in as catcher after the regular catcher had to leave sick. I was so nervous! He did a great job but it was obvious he still wasn't sure about the mechanics of the game. 

The Outlaws lost their first game on Thursday night. But they played well against a team who had already played in a tournament and had some games under their belt. Last night they had another game and it was so much fun to watch! It was a really close game against a really good team and The Outlaws held their own. Even though they lost, it was only by a few points, and they obviously played much better. I could tell that Jeremiah understood more the way the game worked. 

I am still torn about how competitive this sport is. Especially at this young age. I really just want Jeremiah to have a good time. But it is obvious that there are teams, coaches, and parents who are super competitive. The majority of these kids have been playing since they were 3 years old! I am hoping that we will get to enjoy the season, that Jeremiah will learn a lot and have lots of fun. So far he really enjoys it so I think we are off to a good start.