A mom knows stuff & can sense what is going on in the next room but what is good is when your kids figure that out & wonder...how?  This morning at 6:30 I hear something that sounds slightly suspicious so I peak in my boys bedroom to see they have taken the cushions from a small section of couch & are jumping from couch to cushion to cushion (they were just warned the other day about doing this).  This time they were VERY quiet so as not to give themselves away...only mom knew anyway.  When I crept around the corner & quietly said "put the cushions back" I got a shocked look from Eli's face & he said in the sweetest voice "How did you know?"  He seemed pleased with the response "God makes mommies able to hear EVERYTHING they need to."  The cushions went back, the light went off, & they left the room without another word.  That was the easiest something has been solved in quite a while!

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My youngest, now 4, has a spread on our bedroom floor each night so that he will sleep on that instead of edging us out of our king size bed.  I didn't realize how much I had missed cuddling with him until last night (I have always gotten the cuddly end...my husband gets the kicking end :)   ).  When I had a nightmare I couldn't shake early this morning I heard Ty rustling on the floor & thought "if he would come up here I know we would both sleep better"...then guess who comes over to say can I get in your bed for a little while??  Soon as he snuggled up against me we were out!  Maybe I'm just thinking about how fast they are growing up since they each just had their birthdays but I hope my boys still like to sit & cuddle with thier mommy as they get older :)  There is nothing like it! 

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Community Bible Study is off and running...we just finished our 3rd week and I am having a ball!  I am the Children's Director for CBS and am so excited about the growth of our ministry.  Last year we had 8 regular children and this year 23!!!!   If your child is in CBS I no doubt play & speak with and/or hug on them each Tuesday.  This time is the hightlight of my week!  When I first took on this position I doubted that I could volunteer to take care of other peoples children each week when at the time I wanted mine to be with someone else :)  Oh how I underestimated what the Lord would do to equip me!
  Each Monday morning I do my own Bible study with CBS and then on Tuesday mornings I perform my Children's Director duties which include quite a bit of paperwork and administrative duties but also a lot of helping out my 2 teachers.  One of the things I enjoy most is taking care of dishing out and receiving hugs :)   Getting hugs from these children boosts my energy enough to last the day and makes me look forward to the next week.  I LOVE MY JOB!

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I have just done what feels like the impossible!!!  We have moved!  After what feels like months of listing our house, having it shown, going under contract, packing, moving, unpacking, fixing problems found on inspection, closing...and FINALLY being done, only a few weeks has really gone by!  I don't know how military families do this so regularly...it has been tough to say the least. 

One house less and an apartment later...my boys have settled in nicely, all it took was saying we would be close to Granny's Donuts and they said when can we move??  We have had a few behavior issues pop up and I don't know if that is just the wonderful aging process or a result of the move.  My 4 year old (Eli) has this wonderfully beatiful habit of disrespect "No, I'm not going to do it! You're going to do it!" or "I don't care...I'm mad at you!"  To which my response is..."I'm not worried about you being mad at me...do it anyway!!"  It has helped greatly that there is a dumpster right around the corner from our apartment because they know the look that says "I'm dead serious" when I say "Don't test me, the dumpster would love your [fill in the toy],  I mean what I'm saying."  A great many issues have been solved by the occassional toss of a favorite cheap toy to get the point across.  Haven't had to do that at the new place yet but with the behaviors I am encountering I may have to again. 

This brings up a funny story...we were visiting my grandparents this past weekend and my 3 year old (Ty) asked Granny for a piece of candy.  She told him she didn't have any because she had thrown it away after his Papa didn't listen to her last time when she told him not to give any to him (Ty) anymore.  Those that know Ty can picture him when he said..."I'm not happy, you shouldn't throw away Papa's stuff!  He didn't throw away your stuff!  I'm gonna throw away all your stuff cause you threw out Papa's candy!"  Said complete with wrinkled brow and pouty lip.

Haven't yet eaten myself silly on Granny's Donuts yet but there is still time!!  I'll save that for when school starts that way I can enjoy them myself and not have to deal with 2 kids on a sugar high :)  And as all my friends know about my addiction...THEY HAVE COFFEE!!!!

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Incase you are wondering what to do if you are at a park and the bathrooms are locked and your 4yo says "I gotta poop!", just ask mine and he will be more than glad to share :)  While at the park one day this situation arose, knowing I would never make it to a store (nowhere close bytheway) before my 4yo went in his pants, I decided to show him how you "go" when you're hiking. 

We quickly scouted out the surrounding woods and found a small tree with a low hanging branch, told him to pull down his pants, hang on the branch and poop in the small hole I dug with a stick.  Boom...he's done, he's proud, he's cool, poop buried!  20 minutes later a maintenance person shows up...guess what we have to share!!!  You got it "Hey, I just pooped over there in the woods!"  Red faces on Mommy and Grandma (who was with us during this adventure) and laughs like "boy you are too cute, where do you come up with this stuff".  Mr. Maintenance Person seems none the wiser and we go about our business.

Today, while eating lunch at Panera (before you think it...no we didn't bury poop there), again with Grandma, we had another incident.  The boys are doing great, we are all finished with lunch (which we enjoyed on the patio) and they are happily running from one end of the patio to the other while me and Grandma talk.  Everything gets quiet and you know something is missing in the picture.  Look around and spot 4yo at one end of patio and turn to other end (where the door enters the patio...surrounded by lots of inside seating mind you) and instead of seeing what I thought I would I see butt cheeks!!  Pause, sinking in, and oooooohhhhhhh...don't do that 3yo, you can't do that (running as fast as my terribly embarassed body can move).  To late, he's proud, I am yet again red, Grandma is red, all inside are laughing.  Mommy and Grandma hide identity as much as possible, one brother congratulates another and 3yo is very proud!

 Lesson here: I have no idea, the goal is clean and dry underwear right!  I guess that was accomplished!

Both of my boys are blanket lovers.  We have tons around the house not just one or two each like most kids.  My 3yo likes fuzzy blankets on one side and satin on the other.  My 4yo loves his old crib quilts and then quilts my grandma made me and my brother when we were his age.  My 4yo says he loves them because he can suck on them.  I'm not sure what he is talking about because I only see him sucking his thumb and holding his blanket close to his mouth but hey who am I to question it.

Anyway, it was time to wash my 4yo's most favorite 2 blankets today (1 at a time of course because we can't be without them for that long) so he gave me one and I got it all washed, dryed and returned.  He gave me the other one and said he was glad to have the other one back so he could suck on it.  When I asked "How do you do that?  I thought you sucked your thumb."  He replied "No mom, I suck the blanket...I can do that because I'm a kid!  One day I'll be grown up and then I can't suck my blanket but now it is ok to do that because I'm a kid...OK!"

There you go!! That's why kids suck their blankets...they're kids not grown ups :)

I thought I would give blogging a try since I love to run my mouth...I'll let my fingers work a while.  I grew up here in the Sandhills and so did my husband...true southerners I suppose.  I have 2 boys, they are 11 months apart and are now 3 & 4.  Needless to say my house is crazy!!  They definitely keep me busy and have me laughing my head off when it isn't spinning :)

As any of you with more than one kid know they are vastly different when they are alone but put them together and anything goes.  For the most part they get along really good they just play off of each other a lot.  My 3yo has a horrible temper, I have all the books like The Difficult Child, The Spirited Child, The Explosive Child, all great by the way if you have a child that falls into that category.  Yesterday he was diagnosed with Asthma and I just pray that some of that temper came from not being able to breathe well...wouldn't that be a nice fix, expensive but fixed.

I am trying to teach my 4yo that whatever he does to his brother will visit him in about a year if not sooner and he is slowly figuring that out.  All of the pushing, plowing over, slapping, snatching, etc. comes back three-fold.  Right now we are dealing with "I'm not gonna share with you.  I'm not gonna be your friend anymore."  Hopefully I can nip that in the bud as quick as I did "stupid" and "I'm gonna shoot you. I'm gonna kill you."  Boy I just love the things they bring home from preschool, the park, etc.