an afternoon with Jared

The other day I found myself with an afternoon with Jared. To say I was happy is an understatement. One of my greatest pleasures in life right now is one-on-one time with a child of mine. And Jared does not disappoint. We started out the time in the kitchen...a place I have never loved, but when Jared is with me, it's good. Real good. We made a chex mix for Christmas. Then he helped me clean up the kitchen and put the dishes away. The great thing about Jared is that he likes to work(I will post more on this later). So after actually enjoying cleaning up the kitchen, we decided to watch the last DVD of Planet Earth together. Jared is VERY into animals right now. As we went into the home theater and I was turning on the projector and putting the DVD in, I notice my sweet boy getting pillows and blankets all arranged on the couch not just for him but for me too. This did not surprise me but it touched me and the memory of this simple gesture will stay with me. I have said many times that Jared will be a wonderful husband...he thinks of others constantly, he always says thank you and usually with a hug, I already mentioned how he likes to work and he is the best cuddler on the planet. And that is the reason I wanted to watch the DVD with him, to cuddle with my growing up too fast boy. As I sat down next to him, he lifted up the blanket and put it over my legs and fixed it just so. And as we cuddled and watched he shared all the facts he knew about the animals we were watching. When the show was over, we wrapped a few Christmas gifts together and then the rest of our family was home. I felt rejuvenated like I had just come from the spa. Thanks Jared.

hard work and play

Thanksgiving weekend Carter and Jared decided to make a big pile of leaves. Allen said that would be fine as long as they blew the leaves to the horse farm behind our house when they were done (Allen's job). So, the hours of fun began. They blew and racked leaves and loved every minute. And then they played in them like all children should do many times in their lives. I was able to take some action shots to document this moment of their childhood.

competition

Competition. Carter loves it. Carter likes to come in first. Carter likes to win. Carter likes to do his best...first. Carter loves to play board games. And win. He is very confident that he will win any board game, even though he doesn't always. The best part is when he doesn't win, he is ok. He congratulates the winner and asks if they want to play again, because he knows he will win this time.

This competition is found in school and sports also. He sees no reason to play if you are not trying with all you have to win. And you better follow the rules-rules are everything to Carter. Both of his teachers commented on his report card that he is competitive at school and this is one of the reasons he excels in school. He is always giving his all. He wants everything to be perfect. They say that he doesn't care about the beating others, just about being the best, being first, and winning for himself. And again, when on occasion when he is not, that's ok...because Carter knows that next time, he will be.

When I showed him the teachers comments he said they probably said that because he and a buddy are 20 pages ahead of the class in Math (with the teacher's ok). When I asked why he wanted to be so far ahead, he gave me the look he gives me, his uncompetitive mom, alot and said, "why wouldn't I want to be ahead? It's fun".

I love this trait of Carter's. He will go far in life with this kind of drive. I hope and believe that it will stay at the "wanting to be the best" and not go to the "I want to beat YOU". Carter is too sweet for that kind of thinking.

the forgotten quarter

Carter has a bit of an obsession with those quarter machines you find at stores and restaurants that you can get a whole half a child's handful of candy for a quarter. Knowing that I, 1. rarely have a quarter on me and 2. will more than likely will tell him it is a waste of money when we have candy at home, Carter has for about the past 6 months(maybe longer) kept a quarter in the car for such an occasion. Do you know how many times he has actually used the quarter? Zero. It's gone from funny to sad to hear him exclaim as we walk into the mall, "oh man, I forgot my quarter, and I know they have those machines here!" Poor guy, if I hadn't given in a few times these past months and given him a quarter, he may have gone mad. Especially when he sees it's a gum ball machine.

car rides

I spend a lot of time in my car. I drive my kids to school every day(2 different schools)...so that is 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. Then there is scouts, soccer, piano lessons, basketball, dance class, swimming, play dates...and I am only mentioning the things that involve my kids.

Now some of that time I am alone, once the kids are dropped off or before I pick up. What do I do with that time in the car? I listen to talk radio...this in my way of staying connected with the outside world and hear some news because I don't have time to read a newspaper.

When the kids are with me in the car we listen to CDs of music that we all like. At a young age, we got our kids into our music and life has been good every since. But over the music, we talk...alot. I find myself constantly saying, "in the car today, Carter(or Jared or Claire) said..." I have some of the greatest conversations with my kids in the car. We talk about music, friends, family, religion, politics, holidays, favorites, vacations, school (a little), and much more. I get a lot of "why" questions in the car. Sometimes I can answer them, sometimes I say, "ask dad about that one" and sometimes I let them know there is no way to know why. We just went through about a month of a game that consisted of saying "beetle bug (insert color)" for points when we spotted one. When a song is on that we all like, we sing together or at each other, which make Jared laugh when I turn around and sing a love song to him. Claire will always say, "mom, you sing the boy part and I'll sing the girl part" She loves to sing and knows all the songs.

But the best thing is when it is just me and one child in the car and we can really talk. It is now time for me to ask the questions. And with their answers I find out so much about them. Carter loves to talk and will move up from his seat in the back to the closest one to me (he can't wait till he can sit in the front seat) so we can hear each other better.

So, do I like to spend half my day in the car? No. But would I want it any other way? No way.

curly claire

I bought some sponge rollers to try and see if I could get Claire's hair to curl. I have fond memories as a little girl sleeping in these magical rollers to awake the next day to wonderful curls that my straight hair could never imagine. Claire was equally excited to experience the magic.

round one:

I used the smallest rollers thinking that her hair is so straight it might not take and wanted to have the best chance possible. Boy did her hair curl! A little too much! but she loved it and proudly bounced around all day. When she first saw the curls she said she was so happy to finally have curly hair. I had to break the news that these curls were not permanent.

round two:

I used the two largest rollers and we came out with a much better result. Her nickname changed from Claire Bear to Curly Claire for the day. This day was a school day and she was in heaven showing them off to everyone at school.

my baby is five

Claire turned five. All day long she told everyone that it was her birthday and that she was five. She had her first friend party...it was a princess party of course. And she loved it so much I don't think she needed anyone else to be there, just her and all the princess stuff and she would be happy.

So, my baby is five. How do I feel about that? Pretty good. A small part of me can't believe that my last child is that old. What does that make me? Old. But, I'm ok with that. I am enjoying these baby free years too much and I am not sad that the baby years are gone...I have wonderful memories of them. I have few regrets of my baby rearing years...they were good to me. I love being a mom to these kids.