Laundry Help

They wanted to help ... so I let them handle it. Team work!

Its all going so quickly!!!

My kids are growing up. Sigh. I am so proud of their achievements. Avery is reading quite well, he just lost his first tooth, and is about to graduate from K4. Mary Hannah also loves school, loves to sing and dance, and holds her crayons with perfect grip! She can also form some letters shockingly well. In fact the other day I saw that she wrote on her chalkboard a few random letters ... usually her favorites right now are M, H, W, O, T, and sometimes A.

This is another milestone week for the Hughes fam. We are going to register Avery for Kindergarten! He is really fond of school this year. He usually asks me when I pick him up "Why is school over?" If it was up to him, he'd stay at school forever! I am praying that it will be the same way next year. Though his day will be 2 hours longer than it currently is, it will be 5 days a week instead of just 4, and I am pretty sure there is no napping there. I know he will do well. But I am sure it will be an adjustment for everyone!

The only problem with all of this is that there are no more babies in this house. And, yes, that IS a problem. I am praying about it. Either the Lord will bless us with a child who needs a loving home or he will have me use that need-to-nurture in another way. I am sure there are a lot of babies at the hospital who need some tender lovin! Either way, I'm good. I just can't believe that we have passed the baby stage!

So many seasoned moms have said to me, whether at my baby showers or even just in passing at the grocery store, "Enjoy it. It goes quickly!" Wow, they are right. It is flying by ...

No More Diapers ... and other signs they're growing up

We are now a diaper free home. Sigh. Rejoice. Reflect. Rejoice ... lots of mixed emotions. Mostly celebratory emotions, but undoubtedly mixed with the reality that are children are growing up quickly.... AND ... We don't have any babies here. Boy, would I love to cuddle a baby!

Along with ditching the diapers, Mary Hannah has added to her grown up status gum-chewing and role playing. She likes to believe that she has achieved motherly status when she is chewing a piece of Extra and is carrying her baby doll. "Look, now there are two moms!" she exclaims as she trots on by. She also has an imaginary friend, Sally, who visits us frequently. Usually Mary Hannah greets her in our apartment building elevator and consults her when putting on jewelry and hair bows.

Avery has been getting taller ... so much so that a common question from any acquaintance is "How old are you?" Followed by a quick "Wow! You are tall!" He is enjoying his new status as a 5 year old very much, and tells anyone who will listen that he will be in Kindergarten next year. Avery is a great reader. He loves to read anything in sight ... including every street sign, and even pretends to know how to read a road map. Which, of course, means that he likes to tell us where to go when we are driving. Recently he has gained quite an interest in math and science. School is fun for Avery. Each day we have the same routine. We arrive at school, he excitedly runs ahead of me into his class and doesn't even turn to say goodbye when he reaches the door. Instead he bolts right on in and mingles with his friends. I don't mind. Actually, I prefer it that way ... The other day when we picked him up at the end of the day he turned to Chris and said, "I don't know why school is over. Do you? I love this place!"

Life is sweet for the Hughes fam. We certainly remember to thank God for such blessings!

Spaghetti with the chance of Meatballs

Chris and I have enjoyed being inventive when it comes to date night. Recently we have had dates at home. We feed the kids, put them to bed early, then have our special dinner and movie in the family room.

Tonight the kids had a special "date night" before ours. We rented "Cloudy with the Chance of Meatballs" from Redbox. (We love the $1 rentals!) They ate their meal in the family room on their little table and chairs, over beach towels, of course! Can you guess what was for dinner?

Spaghetti and Meatballs!

It was simple, but fun. Mostly, it was great to do something a little special for them while showing them how think outside the box ... at home.

Hold Me

Mary Hannah came to me this morning dressed in her princess attire. This is normal. She was looking for affection. When I picked her up she pressed into me and put her head on my shoulder. "Hold me for a lot of years" she said. My heart melted. I held her for a long time knowing that she is growing up quickly.

Too Much TV

The Hughes Fam is having a TV-free day, inspired by the Berenstain Bears book entitled "Too Much TV." Our kids were becoming accustomed to watching too much TV and began ignoring their toys. So we turned it off for a day.

We read the book at breakfast time to get into the spirit. Because Avery and Mary Hannah are young, they adapt pretty well to change, but they sure were creative in trying to get around our tv-free choice. Avery suggested watching a movie. Nice try, pal!

Instead of enjoying their favorite cartoons, we played with toys. Mary Hannah took an interest in her baby dolls, rocking them in Mommy's chair and singing "Rock-a-bye-Baby." Avery played with cars. We read a few books. The kids even chose some toys they would like to donate to other kids! We want them to have a spirit of generosity from a young age.

Mary Hannah put down the dolls for a moment to pick up the guitar. She led our family in some worship songs she hears Daddy sing at church and finished with a rousing rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." (Hopefully I can capture that on video sometime soon.)

Just like the Berenstain Bears, our family went to the mall to take a walk. We enjoyed the new Five Guys Burgers and Fries at Aventura. Everyone had a lively conversation. Mary Hannah brought her baby doll.
The day has been going well so far. We even made it home in time to beat the thunderstorms!

The kids are napping now. I am going to dive head first into my new Esther study.
Happy Memorial Day!

School Days are Coming to a Close

School is almost over. Summer is around the corner. We have a count down on our calendar. Avery and Mary Hannah ask me every morning if today is my last day at work. They want their mommy at home ... and Mommy wants to be home, too!
I am going to be a stay at home mom again, and I can't be more excited! Its my desire, my calling. I love my family.
I am looking forward to starting The Hughes Academy (haha). It will be wonderful to continue practicing reading with Avery and Mary Hannah. I can't wait to take day trips to the library or the zoo. Or even just have a picnic at the park. Maybe we could even pop in for a surprise lunch with Daddy at the office. Whatever we do, I'll be home with my babies. And that makes me happy!

20 days and counting!!!

Marketing Works

Background info:
1. The "Volcano Taco" is from Taco Bell... We have never tried one, but Avery has seen the commercial.
2. Dr. Pepper advertises they have 23 flavors.

Here is a conversation from dinner tonight. We were having tacos at home.
Avery: "Hey Daddy, do you like volcano taco? It has a million flavors like Dr. Peprose" (That's what Avery calls Dr. Pepper)

Chris and Emily: (laughter)

Kids hear it all, see it all, and repeat it the best they can.

Marketing works.

Reading Treats

We want to instill in our children a love for reading. But if you have ever been around a 2 or 4 year old, you know that their attention spans are about a long as a sneeze. So we work with what we've got... to keep it enjoyable for everyone. Our kids are little. We spend only 10 or 15 minutes a day sitting down to have some structured reading time. But during that time, magic happens! They are learning to read.

Our kids love it for two reasons:
1. Time with mom and dad
2. Reading Treats! Yes, we are not above candy rewards for a job well done.
What can an M&M hurt?

Today's selection for Mary Hannah is a book she was destined to love. "Fancy Fancy," as she calls it, is all about a little girl who has exquisite taste, and desires to live a life that is encrusted with ruffles and jewels.

Of course, Mary Hannah is not reading the words. But she is developing some important awarenesses. She likes to point out words she recognizes, just like her brother does. Even though she is usually wrong, it shows that she knows the letters stand for something. She loves to make up the story and "read" it with enthusiasm.

Avery, on the other hand, is off an running! You may remember a post right after Christmas that highlighted the Bob Books that he received for Christmas. Avery has been practicing his skills for almost a month. He has already finished the first 4 books, and is quite proud of his accomplishment!
During this time he has learned how to sound out simple words and use picture clues to make sense of the story.
The images below are from his first book. (They are taken from the Bob Books website)
As you can see, it is a simple book. I highly recommend this series! It has worked well in my house.

The End.

Today

Today ...
I wore my warmest clothes. I don't have many. I live in South Florida. But it is cold here.
I taught second graders.
I hugged my husband.
I made hot chocolate for my son.
I went to the gym with my family.
I assisted in the forceful exit of the popcorn kernel that was lodged in my daughter's nose.
(hold one nostril closed and instruct her to "blow!")

It was a wonderful day!

The Night Before Christmas

Christmas Eve was a busy time, but a special time in our house. Chris led worship for the 3 Christmas Eve services at our church. But in between the last 2 he was able to come home to make some memories. After baths and new Christmas PJs, we read the the story of Jesus' birth in the Bible. Then we put out milk and cookies for Santa... and a carrot for the reindeer. The kids were very excited, and so were we. Its fun to see the magic of Christmas through the children's eyes!
Here is a little video of our Christmas Eve tradition.

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It is important to us to teach our kids about Christ, and to have Christmas as a celebration of his birth. We also love the excitement of Santa! Our kids know that we give gifts on Christmas to celebrate Jesus' birth, just like the wise men brought gifts to Jesus. And they know that Santa is a nice man who lives in the North Pole and loves to give gifts to children. It has been so much fun to experience the magic of the season through our children's eyes!!!

Sunday Times

(I love pictures like these. They're pretty much my favorite.)

Sunday is a very busy day in our house. Chris is up and out quite early to get to church. He leads worship for all 3 morning services at Oasis. The kids and I spend some quality time together before we head off to church, too. This morning we had a special breakfast, Pumpkin French Toast. I made up this new recipe (although I am sure it is out there somewhere already... because its not that complicated.) The kids loved to help. They cut the bread with our pumpkin cookie cutter. And then gobbled it up and headed off to play.

Because Sundays are also tiring, I like start preparing lunch/dinner in the morning. So, after cleaning up breakfast, I put something in the crock pot.

Church was awesome. I always love the music. Today I kept the kids with me for some of the music instead of taking them directly to their classes. MH always loves seeing Daddy up on stage. She always yells a huge "There's Daddy! Hi Daddy!" and waves. Luckily, the music is loud and the crowd is not disturbed! Avery and MH love the music, too, and they love hearing their daddy sing. Avery was experimenting with trying to clap to the beat today. He doesn't have it yet, but he's trying. I was glad to see that he was getting into it. It was pretty cute.

We are going to get ready for our small group tonight. That means the house is going to be extra clean! A benefit of a small house is that there are not many hiding places for "stuff." That can also be a bad thing when we are feeling lazy. However, we'll accept that blessing in disguise and clean, clean, clean! Those of you who know me well know that I can have somewhat of a cleaning problem. I always want to clean, and I want it to stay that way. This is an unrealistic expectation. Our preschool and toddler tornadoes are great at undoing everything we have just done. Sigh. I work hard at accepting this new normal. But this afternoon, its a family effort. We will all be cleaning. I will probably cry tears of joy at that beautiful sight.

Ideas Anyone?

I had a brainstorm. Seeing this picture and recipe on RealMomKitchen's blog made me think of the breakfast casserole that my mom always makes on Christmas morning. Then I thought about how close we are to Thanksgiving. I started considering what new traditions and celebrations we would add this year as our kids are growing older.

Teaching Avery about the election was a huge success. The whole experience of voting with me, watching the poll results come in, and coloring in his own electoral vote map gave him a pretty good idea about how we choose a president. Since then Avery has asked many questions as his little mind continues to process all that he experienced. (For more, and lots of pics, read "Par-tay at the Polls.")

It would be a great thing to do the same with Thanksgiving. I am looking for some activities to do with Avery and Mary Hannah that will teach them about the holiday. Its great to build background, excitement, and understanding as the day approaches. Does anyone have any ideas?

Par-tay at the Polls!

Today was a wonderful day to teach our children a bit about our country. Avery and Mary Hannah went with me to vote. They were very interested in the whole process, and they even got their own "My vote counted!" sticker! All day long Avery was making his predictions about who would be our next President. We'll see if he was correct! It wasn't until late tonight that he asked us who we were voting for. I'd hadn't told him previously, because I didn't want to teach him to like one candidate over the next. What would a 3 year old know about platforms and agendas? Instead, we took the opportunity to teach him about the process, and the great privilege of voting to choose our country's leader.

Surprisingly, the polling place was very accommodating to us. I went expecting to have a very long wait, but was pleasantly surprised. I had even packed a lunch box, books, and some toys to keep us entertained. However, we hadn't even made it into the line (which was definitely long) before a poll worker invited us to go to the front of the line! "Its too long for the kids to wait." he said. WOW! I was shocked (and relieved).

There was one glitch, however. When I gave my I.D. and signed my name, the worker gave me a voting slip with someone else's name on it. Glad I caught that error! It was easily fixed, but left me wondering how many other times something like that had happened.

We were fortunate to have our polling place located at a community park. After voting, we had a picnic with that lunch I packed. We all loved that!

The best part of the night was our ELECTION PARTY! We ate a delicious dinner in front of the TV and followed the news reports. (The new recipe I tried was delicious, by the way. It was simple and oh so good!) The party was complete with cake and balloons. Obama and McCain even made an appearance! Avery colored his own electoral map as the announcements came one after another. Of course, he went to bed before the final announcement of our new president-elect. So he'll be surprised in the morning.

Here are some pictures from our Election Day together.

Inspiring Parenting... Creating A Home for Learning

Our parenting philosophy is strong... it is what guides our everyday interactions with Avery and Mary Hannah. It is the reason they are social, polite, curious, and eager to learn. I humbly believe it is the reason that Mary Hannah has such an enormous vocabulary and that Avery is beginning to read at age 3. Not because we are forcing what is unnatural. But because we have
acknowledged our children and their interests and encouraged their potential. I believe these things not with a spirit of pride, but of humility and thanksgiving that I have been around some great people who have lived this example of teaching their children, and have in turn taught me how to let mine grow. (One fine example is my dear friend Rachel.)

This blog post captures the philosophy and presents it well. Here is an excerpt:

"Before we can help our child develop as an individual along the path that God has made for him, we must see and respect him as a person, created in the image of God. We must respect his mind and intelligence. We must be attentive, attuned, and responsive to our child in order to help him thrive and learn in the way that is best for him.

We need to take this seriously, making a point not to get overly busy or distracted. A mother should certainly have some breathing room and time for so-called "mother culture," but a higher priority, during the years of motherhood, is providing for the needs of the child. (This is a different thing altogether than catering to his demands, disrespect, or impulsiveness, which, of course, we should not do.)

So, know when you need to turn away from the computer screen, put down the book, turn off the television, hang up the phone, push back the sewing
machine, stay home, or let the laundry wait. Stop. Listen to your child. Smile
at him. Go with him to see what he wants you to see. Be interested. Delight with
him. He is a human being whose life and growth-- for good or bad-- are very
sensitive to the atmosphere that is you."

I love the idea of an "Inspiring Home for Learning." One does not have to be a "homeschooler" per say to make the home an inspiring place to learn. Learning should take place all the time, everywhere, in every opportunity. Not just when a child is school age. Begin early, and reap the rewards of a child who loves to learn.