Batman Band Aids = LOVE

A few days ago O (my little firecracker) was sitting with me, then ran away at full speed. Nothing new. He came barreling back with his coveted box of Batman Band Aids and then proceeded to "doctor" my boo-boo. After bandaging my paper cut, he then gave me snuggles to make it better. The thought that went into that action, the care and compassion, blew me away. He saw a hurt and he fixed it with all the love a 5 year old boy could offer.

I learned a lot that day from my sweet boy. It was a lesson I needed. As a homeschooling mom I am almost constantly around my kids, and can loose sight of how precious they can be. O can be a challenge. He's my reminder that life is not easy. He will move mountains one day with all of his energy, stamina and determination. I am sure of this. Right now? I am struggling to make sure he stays the course and I am not doing wrong by him. It's my daily fear. Whenever he toes the line or crosses it I fear for him. I fear that I am not a good momma, and that I am slacking on my job to him.

But, the day of the Batman Band Aid changed all of that. Instead of constantly focusing on the challenges my 5 year old boy presents (and I'm sure all 5 year old boys bring challenges), I started focusing on the sweetness he holds in his heart. I chose to focus on the snuggles he willing gives whenever I ask. I chose to focus on how helpful he always is when I need something done. I chose to focus on the fact that God knew O was the boy for me. God had placed this child with me because I would be just the right momma for O.

The day of the Batman Band Aid I chose love.

How am I going to love my children? As it is told in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

•  4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Happy Mother's Day! May all of my mommy friends have a Batman Band Aid kind of day!

Amy

Updates and more

Well the cast list came out, and K did not make it into The King and I. She was a very brave little girl trying to act grown up about it. She finally ended up curled up in my lap talking it out. I love the way she logics through things. Her final piece of logic was that she didn't make it because her hair was not long enough for a bun. Um. OK. I will let that reasoning stand as her final thought. Personally, I think it was because she rushed the walk during the choreography sequence. I have found the time to discuss with her, since the audition, the importance of paying attention in dance class. She had never connected dance as being so important for theater. Now she knows. With each audition we see her improve and we are just happy she's happy!

I can remember the night she had told me this was her passion. Each and every night since I ask her if it's still fun. The moment this becomes not fun for her we will stop. I am all about my children following their passions. I will also advocate, run lines, listen to songs, watch dances and cheer! However, I refuse to become one of those moms who push their child to the limit and burn the child out. Everything she does for this is by her own accord. I do monitor to make sure she can handle it; but I will never push and have actually refused to let her audition for things. I have also dragged my feet very slowly on her request for an agent. I have contacted one that a friend recommended, and she wants to meet with K. I have yet to follow up and see this through. My thought? Ummm. We should have current pictures to send. Right? LOL.

O is quickly discovering his passions as well. He is really looking forward to his first audition for a fall production. He so wants to follow in his sister's footsteps. But, I want his steps to be of his own making. If the stage is his passion too then so be it. But until we know for sure... this boy is going to be exposed to lots of things.

O's new adventure? Karate! He's loving it. He even has gear! LOL. He has these cute little gloves and shoes for some of the classes. He used them for the first time last night and was over the moon excited about it! His favorite thing to do in class? Punch. This is the best activity ever for little boys. Where else can they punch, kick and yell and it's all OK and mandatory? Plus he gets to practice at home. (Our throw pillows are taking a serious beating! Haha!) Wow. I'm not looking forward to the day he progresses into learning how to use the weapons. Umm.... I guess it's kinda like jedi training and that makes it super exciting to O. One of the main reasons hubby and I love karate is, even with all the kicking and punching, it still requires the person to focus and maintain discipline. That is a lesson that will translate into every aspect of his life!

School is winding down. I looked at the state's DOE website and realized my kids had met or exceeded all standards for their respective grades. Woo Hoo! We only have 14 official days left then it's time off until July 9th! All but one book of our new curriculum is here and my planners get here tomorrow. Tomorrow I plan on taking a picture of the kids surrounded by the new curriculum. I am in awe of it all. I'm so happy about what we are doing next year. I even feel at peace with it. Usually I am still tweaking and altering stuff by this point. However, this time as each book or manual came in I felt so happy. This will be a good year.

Well, off to make sure O gets to sleep. Good night everyone. Sleep well.

Family outing!

This week passed relatively calmly. We finished with our homeschool ministry for the year this past week. This is always a conflicting thing for me. I LOVE teaching these kids and getting to know each one. On the other hand... I will not miss getting up at 6:00 am on Tuesdays. My kids are incredibly sad it's over with too. We begin again next August and it's already on my calendar in bold letters!

Today we went to Legoland in Atlanta. I was so excited about our trip to this place. My expectations were probably too high though. We started by getting there early so O could spend his Lego gift card in the shop. Well.... We were told that Legoland is technically not Lego so they couldn't take the gift card. Ummm.... K was totally confused. LOL. She looked at the lady at the register and asked "How are you not Lego? You have Lego in your name here!" So just remember if you are headed to Legoland do not take your gift cards. Also the selection of the store was very limited. There were no sets of the Lego Friends available. The wall of bricks was bare. Most of the sets there are readily available at Walmart and other stores. I was able to get a Hermione key chain though! I love that girl's spunk! :-)

We went in to get our tickets and realized we did not bring socks for O, but we were able to buy a pair for about a dollar. Not bad, no complaints. Then we went into the land itself. The size was really small. Think about the size of a Kohls or smaller. To give you an idea: while I was at the play area with O and K I could see all other attractions. The layout was pretty basic and easy to find your way around (pro).

There was no rhyme or reason to the lines to enter an attractions. There were no cues, or flow, to most of the attractions. Kids kept cutting in front of other kids. At the play area there was chaos. The guy letting kids in was randomly allowing the kids in. One time one child would exit and one would be allowed to enter. The next time one child would exit and he let four kids in. Huh?? At the 4D movie the time to the next show was completely wrong. We got in line when it said 5 minutes to next show and 20 minutes later we were let in. Also the restrooms were a bit on the ick side.

One rule that they have is you are not allowed to bring any food or drink in. I had asked on their facebook page if they had gluten free options. Legoland responded and said yes they did. Ummm.... mandarin oranges are gluten free, but you cannot make a meal off of them. So, when we were there today, we asked if we could go out and come back in. The first person we asked said yes! Yay. We finished up our ride and went to leave. Then the guy at the exit said nope! Once you are out, you are out. Umm...... By this point hubby was getting a bit angry. We told the guy at the exit what we had been told by the first person, and about our allergies. He did talk to a manager and get it cleared for us to re-enter. However, this is a huge gripe of mine. If a place is going to prohibit food and drink then they should accommodate food allergies. If they choose not to? Then they need to allow people to leave and return.

Now all this being said, I am spoiled. We are a Disney family (we go once a year and more if we can). :-) I have gotten used to the level and quality of service Disney provides. After we left Legoland today I told dh that I need to remember to lower my expectations. It's sad that I would have to do that, but I guess I will.

Bottom line? The kids had fun. We did get the discount tickets so our price was lower. Would we go back again? Um. No. Not even with the discount tix (still $50).

School, and field trips and auditions! Oh My!

The last week was a crazy one for all of us. But that's how we roll here.... thriving on the chaos called life. I'm very, very grateful we are able to have the normal and fun chaos that we have. Our situation could be very different in a heartbeat if God chose to change it. So I relish the life He's given us. I thank Him daily for our fun times. For without Him this would not be!

School work last week continued to go so smoothly! I have O concentrating on his reading and math work only at home. He gets science and other work in at the homeschool ministry each Tuesday. When that ends this week we'll add a little more into his week for the "other" subjects. However, he's only 5 so the basics are good. Plus he seeks out science on his own through watching Nat Geo's tornado documentaries. He's declared he wants to take a storm chasing vacation! Yep. He's mine. :-)

K is still loving her math. I'm finding the simple beauty of Teaching Textbooks. If you gloss over it it seems so simple. Yet once you get going with the program it really works to cement the concepts. Yay! We now have a daughter with a 98% average in math (normally I don't keep grades but the program does it for me). She finished Mary Poppins this week and declared the book better than the movie. That's my girl. :-) She's also sailing through the rest of her language arts for the year.

This past week we took a field trip with a new homeschool group. It was much fun! The kiddos took a self defense class. The funniest moment? The moms were supposed to go up to their kids and try to lure them to their cars. The kids were supposed to yell "No! You are not my dad!!" This was all for practice. So I do this to K and she does exactly what she was supposed to do. I turn to O and ask him "Do you want to get a milkshake?" He says "YES!!!!" Poor kid. I don't think he quite got it. Then after class he was still wondering if we were going for ice cream! LOL.

Another exciting event this week was K's audition. She went to the Junior Theater Festival's Intensive Workshop yesterday. There were four sessions (acting, dancing, singing and auditioning). After the session were done she had lunch before the afternoon auditions for The King and I. The show will be performed at the Fox Theater in downtown. It's a big deal and she's still very young and new to the world of drama and especially music theater.

The auditions were held on a stage in the gym of a school. The crew set up about 10 rows of chairs for family, kids waiting for auditions, and whom ever else was present. I'm not kidding. These kids auditioned not only in front of the 4 judges but everyone else in there! The kids ranged in age from 6 - 14. WOW!!!! The composure of each and everyone, as they walked through a choreographed sequence, then went up on the stage and sung the song solo in front of everyone there, was unbelievable!

K was in the third group to go. All of her friends from her drama school had already gone and each one of them got a callback. K's friends from a local community theater had gone and were cut. K walked too fast on the choreography but did a great bow before the king (which was an empty chair). I had no clue what that would mean. Then up on the stage my baby went. She's never been one to project while singing and usually freezes up in auditions. Well...... my baby sung so loudly I could hear her in the back row with no microphone! She sang beautifully. If nothing else she had made a break through and we would have been happy. But.... her name was called for a call back!!!

I was blinking back tears as she ran back to me. The look on her face was just pure joy. There's no way to describe it. I can only pray everyone gets to see their children so happy! I hugged her so close and composed myself so I wouldn't cry. Before she went in she had said her goal was just a call back. However, she not only made her goal, she sang very well and projected. She also maintained her composure through the whole thing. I was so happy she had reached her goal.

Callbacks were nerve wracking for me but she did great. I dare to hope she will make it in. There are several hundred more kids auditioning today so we'll see. It does not matter if she gets in though. She met her goal. Getting in would just be the rest of the dream come true!

I'm so proud of my kids. O was so supportive of his sister. When K was in the morning workshops I got to spend some fun time with O and my hubby. My O was so happy when K told him she got a call back. He hugged her tightly and told her good job. He's looking forward to his time in the spotlight. But, until then he's been happy to be a big support to his sister. When his time comes I can't imagine K being any less supportive. I cannot be more blessed then what I am.