Little JCrew's 7th Birthday

This boy made me a mom seven years ago! It surely doesn't feel like it was that long ago when I realized, "Oh my, there is no turning back! I will have a life dependent on me!" It was a scary realization that I had right before his birth. I remember being nervous to take him home. That car ride home, I was a ball of nerves. And I was a babysitter! I knew kids and loved them, but having my own was going to be different.

Little JCrew was a great baby and has stayed that way for seven years. He has such a sweet spirit and wants to be everyone's friend.

He is my social butterfly. He wants to be around people, learn their names and make them feel welcome. It is great to watch! He goes right up to people without hesitation. You should see him in the lunchroom at school! He flags EVERYONE down to tell them "hello!"

He is also my animal lover. It's his goal to catch the animals. He has always chased after birds. Still thinks he has a chance!

Little JCrew is my bookworm. He loves to read so he can learn more things.

Little JCrew loves to build, which of course pulls at my heartstrings. Recently, he mentioned he wanted to sell animals to make money so he wouldn't have to spend mine (I think this was a result of him being tired of telling him "No" for things he wanted.) To sell these animals he needed a table. He went to my scrap wood pile and pulled all the pieces he needed and told me how it should go together. I used the nail gun and followed his instructions. He never caught any animals to sell, but he sat at his table wanting people to stop by.

Being the oldest he also likes to control his brothers. His brothers don't like this. But he continually tries to be the boss.

He loves art and creating things. He has quite the imagination.

In May, he had a big moment for him, when he asked God to live in his heart and be his guide.

He loves to play the piano and currently wants to start learning to play the violin.

He's not the roughest boy, but he likes to do all boy things. Keeping his hands to himself is a struggle. He just wants to get in the middle of it all.

He makes being a mom so easy. No wonder he was the first one... made me confident I could have more kids!

Happy birthday, Little JCrew! You are so special.

God Wink

I love the term "God Wink." I learned it from a dear friend that described it to mean 'something that only God could orchestrate.'

We experienced one of those moments just yesterday and I couldn't wait to share.

Back in May, our Director of the Kids Ministry at our church asked if Little JCrew would read the scripture for a service during the Summer. During the past two summers they have involved the kids ministry in reading a scripture during the service. Little JCrew jumped at the opportunity. We were then provided dates during the month of July that would work for us and we were then told our date and told our verse to rehearse.

Yesterday was Little JCrew's turn. I was torn about videoing the process, because I like to be "in the moment," but I turned my phone on and tried to do both.

I showed the video to my mom when she got home. She watched it and then asked if I knew the verses. She then explained the importance.

I have a brother that died when he was seven. I was born shortly after his death (that is a whole different God story.) Before his death, he learned Philippians 3:12-14 to earn his badge for Jet Cadets. Those verses were read at his funeral.

And here Little JCrew is, 1.5 months shy of his seventh birthday, reciting that same verse. No one knew this story, yet those verses were chosen for the Sunday that my little one was chosen to serve.

*God Wink*

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Christmas Day 2017

This year, I planned so well, that I know I was on top of my game and I wouldn’t be able to repeat it. I had all my shopping done before Christmas! And then Thanksgiving was spent wrapping it all! All the presents hung out in my closet and I can now reclaim my closet space!

We had the cousins over for dinner and exchanging gifts on Saturday. That was a lot of fun with good food.

I bought a tablecloth for the kiddos that you can color. We had fun all throughout December filling it in. It was at the kiddo table, so when they were done eating, they had something to do while the adults finished their meal.

We had my sister come visit us from Florida, and we really enjoyed her visit!

It’s never long enough, but we soaked it in. She helped the boys decorate cookies.

And drew a picture for them before she left.

Aunt Logan gifted the boys Star Wars backpacks and action figures. They also got thermos that they love. Mister Pfitzer got some much-needed pajamas that turn him into a Star Wars pilot. We love it on him!

On Christmas Eve, we have our traditions. We bake a birthday cake for Jesus.

And we attend the candlelight service at church. Little JCrew’s choir sang in the service.

The birthday cake procedure was fun this year. All three boys were involved. Mister Pfitzer kept trying to steal ingredients off the counter, and Little JCrew read the instructions and kind of lead the process.

After the church service, we go home and get ready for bed. But at 7PM, our local fire department drives the big red truck with Santa on it!! They go by really slow and they drive right in front of our house.

It is then, that we set out the goodies for Santa, and race into bed! Santa gets a slice of birthday cake and his reindeer get carrot sticks.

We went to bed early on Christmas Eve, but I did not want to wake up the next morning! Little JCrew and Mr. Brigglesworth were up around 6:30. They saw that Santa had eaten his cake and drank almost all of his milk.

Santa gives one present at our house. The rest come from Mom and Dad. This year was a magical year for the boys. I had to make sure my game was perfect. I never knew if I would go along with the Santa thing when I had kids, and we didn’t have Santa until the boys started school. They came home one day and told me about this Santa guy and I asked him what they had heard about him. We had to be on the same page. We don’t talk about Santa at our house. I’m sure he is talked about elsewhere, but I don’t bring him up. And if the boys bring him up, I acknowledge, but shift the conversation. We do talk about St. Nick, though.

At a church event this year in October, the boys got to sit with Santa.

They were in disbelief. We have never sat on Santa’s lap before. I made sure that I paid close attention. Little JCrew asked for a smaller x-wing than he currently has and Mr. Brigglesworth asked for a toy elf version of Santa’s elves.

Later in the month, while shopping at Walmart, they had a booth set up with some toys to try out, their toy circular and a lined piece of paper to make your wishlist on. When the boys got home, they made a long list! They struggled to fill all the lines up, as they thought they were supposed to. I then shared that they did not have to fill all the lines. But, they managed to!

Little JCrew

Mr. Brigglesworth

The boys were so tickled that Santa got them just what they asked for. I then heard Little JCrew talking to Mr. Brigglesworth about how the Santa at church must have been the real one and not a fake Santa, because he only told the church Santa about the x-wing and that’s what he got!

Santa also wrote notes to the boys. They can recognize my handwriting, so we went with the magazine cutouts.

We made Mister Pfitzer’s note pretty funny for enjoyment from the boys. Mr. Pfitzer has entered his terrible two’s early and yells at his brothers. He also throws in a hit when he’s mad. His brothers are only trying to help him get out of trouble, but he’s not appreciative. We are working on this behavior and he’s getting better, but the boys now tell us when Mr. Pfitzer yells at them.

The boys also noticed their stockings were full and got excited. There were pencils, candy, ornaments and toys in the stockings.

The theme of this years toys were Ghostbusters! Playmobil made some cute toys for the Ghostbuster film and I had to get them.

My dollhouse is Playmobil Victorian and it is still going strong!

I made the good decision to open these boxes and put them together before wrapping them so that it could be pulled out of the box and played with immediately. If you know Playmobil, you know their attention to detail. No detail is left out, therefore there is a lot to put together. I didn’t put together the large firestation ahead of time because I was getting tired, but if that was the only thing I had to put together on Christmas Day, that was a good thing.

Poor Mr. Pfitzer wants to be big like his big brothers, and he wanted that Ecto car so bad!

We let him play with it heavily supervised. He loves cars so much!

Mr. JCrew got a popcorn maker! He loved it. It was in his favorite color, orange.

He also received other presents early; one of them being his car completely detailed. He was so excited about that!

Mister Pfitzer received a few things from my mom that were just for him! He now has his own rainboots.

And he has his own SpiderMan costume! He was always wanting to wear his brothers.

The boys also got art supplies from our neighbor. The boys have a sweet relationship with our neighbors. They always want to make things and take them to “Jack.” They think of him often and want to do things for him. The neighbors mentioned they wanted to do something for the boys and I mentioned "Something small, like colored pencils and paper. They love to craft." Well, that turned into an easel with paint, markers, paper, playdough tools, etc. It was fun to open and the boys went to town with creating artwork. It was a great present to occupy them while school is out.

We already had one easel, but it doesn't have a paper roll. We just cut pieces from the roll and clip them to the easel and it works. Thank goodness we have two! The boys team up. They both start out by copying each other, but then it moves into different directions.

Both boys are very artsy. I love seeing what they come up with.

We are so thankful for the time together. This Christmas has been so much fun and enjoyable. May all your Christmases be bright!