My babies and blocks

Ah brotherly love, funny how that Jack is grinning in this picture and Devon is crying. Devon threw a block at Jack, Devon got in trouble and Jack got his "owies" kissed.

One good thing about being a little more confined to the house is the amount of playtime I've gotten in with the boys. I'm often too busy trying to get things done but I've had ALOT of time to sit down to play trains, blocks and do puzzles. One thing we've been working through is the boy's frustration when playing with blocks, they get SO mad when their tower falls and they didn't want it to yet. Its hard as a parent to incorporate life lessons into play time, trying to figure out how to guide our children as they work through their emotions and feelings. I definitely don't have everything figured out when it comes to parenting but one thing I've definitely noticed is how our kids can mirror us. Its hard to stay calm when we've burned dinner, broken a dish, or tripped over a toy. I know there have been SO many times that I've blown up or lost my cool over the smallest things. Then when either of my boys bursts out in frustration I scold them for it? Its something that I'm working on, its hard to keep in mind how much our kids see what we do and how to work through things based on how we do.

Devon sat at the table for an hour and a half today making puzzles, it amazes me his attention span for that. I could NEVER do that! Jack's shenanagens (spelling?) for the day is his curiousity with the potty. He took off his little pants about 3 times and sat on the potty with his diaper on. I'm not sure if I'M ready for it! We cuddled this afternoon and watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and ate popcorn, I love those moments =)

I had some quiet time tonight as John took the boys with him to volleyball aand I stayed home.

I was playing with my camera today, as you can see from the pictures I chose a single color to stand out in the pictures. It was fun to play with a little.

I've started praying over my kids every night, something I love doing and I hope that it is a habit I keep. Right before I go to bed, I tip toe into their room and kneel beside each of their beds and pray for them. Pray that God would keep them strong and grow them spiritually. That the things they struggle with would be overcome by God's Almighty Power and that they would know how much I love them and God loves them. Theres just something about a sleeping child that makes everything in the world seem alright, even after the worst day its something that melts my heart. I'll often try to touch their little foot or place my hand on their back as I pray for them, sometimes startling them a little in their sleep. I know that God will hear my prayers for my children and bless their socks off =) I'm excited to see what God is going to do in the lives of my boys, what grand adventures he has in store for all of us.

We've been out of bread and Devon asked for peanut butter and jelly so I put it on a tortilla and rolled it for the boys for lunch. The entire time the kids were eating they were making "mmmmm" noises and thanking me for their lunch. Its funny to me when I feel like the kids go above and beyond on the gratitude thing, thanking me after almost every bite =) I guess you could call them obnoxiously polite.