Parties, prayers and church

A Party

We had another great family weekend. Saturday afternoon we had another birthday party - a 4 year old princess party. They had a castle bounce house and the boys were excited. They hung out in the bounce house for about 15 minutes, then the moved on to the swingset. :)

Meanwhile, the little girls, giggled and squealed and jumped. There was only one other boy there...who was the same age - but they didn't play together till the end. As John was standing next to the bounce house, the girls delightfully declared John the 'shark' and were giving him orders. I looked at him and asked if he was still looking forward to possibly having a girl someday. He laughed and said that a girl will likely take more energy. :)

They had a pinata....it was Logan's first time when he actually understood what to do. He gave it 3 pretty good cracks. :) It was nice as the pinata was filled with 100 calorie snack packs instead of candy. At least if they eat a bag, it is not a crazy amount. :) We left right around bedtime, so we came home, changed and sent those kids to bed. Logan was being a stinker and wanted to watch football in Daddy's room (hey - pretty sure it is MY room too). The Bears pre-game was on. So John, against my better judgement, finally caved and we decided he could stay for 10 minutes - then off to bed. Naturally when he went to bed...it was tears all over again. The kid was just over-tired. He was weepy and whined himself to sleep. In the meantime, John and I dozed off in bed. I woke up at 11:30 and noticed that Logan's light was on. I went in to shut it off and it stunk....poor kid finally pooped (he was constipated for a couple days). So perhaps his whines were a bit more about his struggles. Poor guy. If he would've just told me, it would've made our night easier. Ah well.

Prayers

So a few weeks ago we said prayers at dinner time. I admit that it is not something John and I do regularly. We both did growing up and still do with our extended families, but living with just the two of us, it was something I guess we just got out of the habit. The boys both do great with putting their hands together, bowing their heads, being quiet while John and I say grace and then they say 'Amen'. So as we are not in the habit...it is so funny...cuz Carter is! Everytime we sit down as a family, Carter puts his hands together and says 'Amen'. No joke - every family meal! He hasn't done it at lunch time with just me and the boys...but every dinner when all 4 of us are together. As soon as he says it, we all put our forks down and say our prayers. Just so cute.

Church

So, along that note - we also don't go to church as often as we should. Part of it is while Logan is pretty well-behaved now, Carter is still in an exploring stage and let's everybody know how mad he is if he is restrained. While we have Tao (elephant) and he helps, sometimes even he can't quiet him down in a tantrum. We end up spending most of the sermon taking turns taking him outside...of which we then don't get much out of church. Coupled with that and the fact that our church is about 20 minutes away with a service at 11....it is tricky. The boys almost always fall asleep on the drive there - then we wake them up, get them back in sorts and sometimes the service is longer than an hour. Then it is lunch time and they fall asleep on the way home.

So I suggested finding a church closer and John is on board. Logan and I tried out our first church today. I am taking Logan to get him in the habit of going in hopes he'll continue to set a good example for Carter. John is staying home with Carter until we find a good church. One of our requirements is having a mother's room. Well this church today didn't have one. When Logan & I sat down in this very small church, I smelled him (more poop from that constipation). I went to change him and the bathroom didn't have a change table - pretty clear sign that it is not a church with many small children - another requirement. Ended up that we were one of 35 folks in attendance that day (small church)...only one other kid younger than 18 was present. It was a contemporary service, which John and I prefer, but it was almost concert-like as it was very loud. Logan thought the drums and guitars were pretty awesome! He did great in the service and many of the older couples around just thought he was the cutest thing! The service started late, had a couple interesting folks and pastor and ran a bit long....So I have another church pegged to try in a couple weeks. I've heard September 18th is National Go Back to Church Day...for everybody to get back in the swing as summers people tend to stray...so we'll aim for then (plus our other 2 Sundays until then are busy...).

Sunday afternoon

This afternoon John hung out with the guys to do his Fantasy Football Draft - at Hooters....one of his least favorite places (...right....it is one of his faves). The boys took a 3 hour nap, which was super - I went through all their toys downstairs...threw stupid McDonald's plastic toys away, put some 'baby' toys away in the attic and organized the rest. While organizing, I found all these Thomas the trains. Later I found 2 more upstairs....and I know we have at least 2 wooden ones in the wood train bin. I think it is clear that Thomas is the favorite....and that we don't need anymore Thomas'!!



Whew....oh it feels so nice to not have such craziness in the toy dept. going on! I still have a lot of organizing for crafts and such....but this was a great start. When the boys woke up, we went for a walk around the block. I pushed Carter in the buggy and Logan literally ran around the block 3 times. Burn that energy!! Below is a picture of Carter just being adorable.

We had some great family time when John got home shortly after dinner. This picture doesn't capture it best, but Logan was staring at John...then John would make a funny sound or face and Logan would laugh hysterically! Here he was even grabbing his belly while laughing...so cute!



Logan was still a pickle to put to bed - this time his eyes hurt. I wonder if he was feeling a bit of allergies and rubbing his eyes ragged. I got a cool cloth, wiped off his hands, then laid the cloth on his eyes. It seemed to do the trick cuz he fell asleep very shortly after, with the cloth still on his head. :)

Great weekend and great family time! I do LOVE my family and spending time together!!