Week Recap :)
What a week this has been! I usually babysit a wonderful little 9 month old named Piper, but she was VERY sick with a tummy virus and we did not get to see her until today! So you're thinking, Bethany must've been so free and "un-busy" this week------WRONG! Since we didn't have Piper tagging along, I decided to run every errand necessary for the next MONTH to get a bunch of stuff done with only my two children. Boy does it make a difference when you're only getting two out of the car :-) We picked up craft stuff for my moms needs moms group (wait until you SEE what cute things we're going to make at the April meeting!!), helped the Easter Bunny pick up some things to fill eggs and baskets (I'm really good at "sneaking" things into the cart when my kids don't notice ha!), grabbed lunch TWICE with friends, and hit the grocery store....whew, if that's not enough to make you exhausted...add it two trips to The Little Gym, an evening out with friends and a few trips to the gym...well you get the picture!!
In between everying we've been accomplishing, I've had a bit of a tough week emotionally. God is probably trying to speak to my heart, but I'm not quite understanding the message...YET that is. On Saturday night, a terrible accident happened by our house (check out http://www.fox8.com/wjw-news-paninisparkinglotshooting32109,0,7525436.story for details). Two people have died and the circumstances surrounding the whole situation are terrible. I'm really, really feeling for the two families. Then on Sunday night, a situation started unfolding with one of my favorite blogger's (MckMama) baby boy Stellan. His heart has been stuck in SVT, to make a long story short, and it's been a rough never-ending roller coaster ride for them this week. So WHY you ask do I feel so burdened by these two stories? I'm actually not really sure, but they've been really heavy on my heart. I've been through many difficult tragedies in my life--losing my father, losing my college friends in a terrible fire, etc.--and I guess when I feel at all connected to terrible tragedies and / or tough stuff I just think of these times when I've lost someone very suddenly from my own life. I've been very OCD about checking the most recent news stories about the incident by my house (we live about 1 minute away from the Paninis where the Stacy / Erich thing happened) and about checking MckMama's blog & twitter for updates. I just keep wanting to see something good, something hopeful. All in all though, I know that God is working through each of these situations and while we cannot necessarily be certain what good is coming out of it now, we will one day understand. Take a few moments to pray for each of these families please. That is all we can do at this point!
Onto a much happier note... :-)
Guess what happened to ME on Saturday night?? I got CARDED at the movie theater!!!!!! My hubby and I were going to see the movie I Love You Man (great flick--a bit of "adult" humor, but very cute ending and overall pretty funny). Scott dropped me off at the door to buy the tickets while he parked our car and I said to the window attendant:
"Two for 'I Love You Man'"
"Who's the other ticket for?" She asked acting VERY suspicious...
"My husband," I replied, very confused.
"You're not under 17?" She asked.
"Ha! No!" I said laughing.
I showed her my ID and the entire lobby laughed along with me. At almost 27, I cannot believe I would ever pass for someone TEN years younger!! The attendant has no clue, but she completely made my day!
That same night, a little earlier in the evening, I came up with a revolutionary idea at the dinner table. Okay, well maybe not exactly "revolutionary," but a pretty darn good idea birthed itself in my brain! (If you're not a mommy of small children, you can stop reading now. I'm warning you, so don't go making fun of me later when you get to the bottom of this!) We went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants--The Courtyard Cafe. With Jaden and Sienna in tow, this was bound to be one of those 'I'm sorry for being the loud, crazy table' dinners out. We sat down and Jaden immediately poured out the little container of sugar / nutrasweet / equal. Ahh, why do kids always have to do that?!? Well, I turned it into something EDUCATIONAL and PRODUCTIVE and FUN! Yes people, the little packets of sugar and the like are now part of Mama Vitt's educational plan for her children. Well, at least when we're out to eat that is!
I first told Jaden to sort the packets by color. She got that done in about 3 seconds flat. Great job--a three year old that knows her colors. But then I took it one step further! I started making patterns with the packets across the table. I worked with her to figure out what color came next in the pattern and she did great with this! We made the patterns more and more complicated and she kept catching on. It was wonderful to watch! Before we knew it, our food was being placed in front of us and Jaden had learned a new concept in the meantime. I felt like a mommy-genius for making a dinner out a learning experience.
Do YOU have any ideas on how to make simple everyday experiences into LEARNING experiences? Do YOU have any ideas for how to make the wait-time at restaurants more bearable with small children?? If so, please SHARE!! Email me or comment on this post!!
On a final note, the lovely baby girl I mentioned at the start of this post bit my camera cord which I use to download my photos onto our computer. Ooops, guess I shouldn't have let her near the computer! My bad! So no new pics YET, but I did get a new handy-dandy-card reader today at Best Buy and am going to install it tonight. So look for some pics of my "date" with Jaden from Friday night soon--hint hint, it involves ice skating!
Have a fantastic day everyone!!
In between everying we've been accomplishing, I've had a bit of a tough week emotionally. God is probably trying to speak to my heart, but I'm not quite understanding the message...YET that is. On Saturday night, a terrible accident happened by our house (check out http://www.fox8.com/wjw-news-paninisparkinglotshooting32109,0,7525436.story for details). Two people have died and the circumstances surrounding the whole situation are terrible. I'm really, really feeling for the two families. Then on Sunday night, a situation started unfolding with one of my favorite blogger's (MckMama) baby boy Stellan. His heart has been stuck in SVT, to make a long story short, and it's been a rough never-ending roller coaster ride for them this week. So WHY you ask do I feel so burdened by these two stories? I'm actually not really sure, but they've been really heavy on my heart. I've been through many difficult tragedies in my life--losing my father, losing my college friends in a terrible fire, etc.--and I guess when I feel at all connected to terrible tragedies and / or tough stuff I just think of these times when I've lost someone very suddenly from my own life. I've been very OCD about checking the most recent news stories about the incident by my house (we live about 1 minute away from the Paninis where the Stacy / Erich thing happened) and about checking MckMama's blog & twitter for updates. I just keep wanting to see something good, something hopeful. All in all though, I know that God is working through each of these situations and while we cannot necessarily be certain what good is coming out of it now, we will one day understand. Take a few moments to pray for each of these families please. That is all we can do at this point!
Onto a much happier note... :-)
Guess what happened to ME on Saturday night?? I got CARDED at the movie theater!!!!!! My hubby and I were going to see the movie I Love You Man (great flick--a bit of "adult" humor, but very cute ending and overall pretty funny). Scott dropped me off at the door to buy the tickets while he parked our car and I said to the window attendant:
"Two for 'I Love You Man'"
"Who's the other ticket for?" She asked acting VERY suspicious...
"My husband," I replied, very confused.
"You're not under 17?" She asked.
"Ha! No!" I said laughing.
I showed her my ID and the entire lobby laughed along with me. At almost 27, I cannot believe I would ever pass for someone TEN years younger!! The attendant has no clue, but she completely made my day!
That same night, a little earlier in the evening, I came up with a revolutionary idea at the dinner table. Okay, well maybe not exactly "revolutionary," but a pretty darn good idea birthed itself in my brain! (If you're not a mommy of small children, you can stop reading now. I'm warning you, so don't go making fun of me later when you get to the bottom of this!) We went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants--The Courtyard Cafe. With Jaden and Sienna in tow, this was bound to be one of those 'I'm sorry for being the loud, crazy table' dinners out. We sat down and Jaden immediately poured out the little container of sugar / nutrasweet / equal. Ahh, why do kids always have to do that?!? Well, I turned it into something EDUCATIONAL and PRODUCTIVE and FUN! Yes people, the little packets of sugar and the like are now part of Mama Vitt's educational plan for her children. Well, at least when we're out to eat that is!
I first told Jaden to sort the packets by color. She got that done in about 3 seconds flat. Great job--a three year old that knows her colors. But then I took it one step further! I started making patterns with the packets across the table. I worked with her to figure out what color came next in the pattern and she did great with this! We made the patterns more and more complicated and she kept catching on. It was wonderful to watch! Before we knew it, our food was being placed in front of us and Jaden had learned a new concept in the meantime. I felt like a mommy-genius for making a dinner out a learning experience.
Do YOU have any ideas on how to make simple everyday experiences into LEARNING experiences? Do YOU have any ideas for how to make the wait-time at restaurants more bearable with small children?? If so, please SHARE!! Email me or comment on this post!!
On a final note, the lovely baby girl I mentioned at the start of this post bit my camera cord which I use to download my photos onto our computer. Ooops, guess I shouldn't have let her near the computer! My bad! So no new pics YET, but I did get a new handy-dandy-card reader today at Best Buy and am going to install it tonight. So look for some pics of my "date" with Jaden from Friday night soon--hint hint, it involves ice skating!
Have a fantastic day everyone!!
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