Tag - Elijah

5 Everyday Moments That Make Being a Mom Totally Worth It

May 2, 2016

As a mom, I know that some days, parenting is just hard. Children can be demanding, cranky, destructive (usually accidentally), disobedient, whiny, messy, and just exhausting. However, I have found that even on those really rough days, there are still moments sprinkled throughout the chaos that remind me that my children are truly gifts from God and being a mom really is worth it.

Here are five of my favorite everyday moments that make being a mother the best calling ever.

1. Cuddles and Snuggles:

My boys are all pretty affectionate little guys, and they love cuddles and snuggles. Whether it’s climbing into bed with Mommy and Daddy on Saturday morning (so much sweeter when they wait until after 8 am!), or just scooting up really close to us on the couch, our boys are cuddlers. They want to be with us.

Josiah likes to sit beside me as I’m typing or editing pictures, laying his little hand on my lower arm and his head against my upper arm, and just watch me. Elijah’s tall enough now that he can almost rest his head on my shoulder. Even the most frustrating days can be softened when they are being sweet and tender like that.

2. Giggles:

No matter how bad a day is, my boys will be laughing at some point, those deep-belly giggles that are impossible to resist. They can be fighting and arguing with each other one minute, then laughing with each other the next. And their joy is contagious. Of course, it’s even better when I get to be the one to bring out the giggles in them with silliness and tickles and fun. Laughter is a beautiful remedy for discouragement and exhaustion (I laugh even easier when I’m tired. Haha!) After all, the Bible tell us, “A merry heart does good, like medicine.” (Proverbs 17:22)

3. Unexpected Hugs & Kisses:

Having mentioned our boys’ affectionate natures, is it any surprise that I get treated to random hugs and kisses throughout my day? Josiah’s thing is to give me “all the hugs in the world,” which is basically a really tight, prolonged clinging sort of hug. Even though he will have moments when he doesn’t want ME to give HIM hugs or kisses, he loves to surprise me with them.

Elijah, however, has never rejected a hug that I can remember. He’ll give me a “good morning hug,” a hug before and after school, and hugs “just because” throughout the day, but his specialty is his bedtime hug, where he basically lets you think you’re just leaning down for one last kiss before he goes to sleep, and he’ll latch on, both arms around your neck, and keep you there. (And giggle.) He’s surprisingly strong for his age. He’s also the most likely to come up and give Mom random kisses on the cheek.

4. “I love you, Mommy”:

I don’t know if there is anything more encouraging or refreshing on a difficult day than when your child looks you in the eyes and sweetly and sincerely tells you, “I love you, Mommy.” Even if they are echoing your words with an “I love you, too,” it has a way of refocusing you to how blessed you are to be the mother of that child (yes, that one, the one who just a few minutes ago flushed his training underwear down the toilet – true story. Or that one, who is so driven to create that he keeps ransacking the kitchen junk drawer and recycle bin, even when he’s been told not to, to “make something,” leaving crazy messes and empty tape dispensers in his wake.)

I also cherish their unique compliments of “You look like a princess, Mommy,” or “I like how your hair feels, Mom.”

5. Watching My Babies Sleep:

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep.” And when the child isn’t being so lovely, oooh – naptime and bedtime can’t come soon enough! However, even when my kids have been driving me crazy, it’s amazing how precious it is to rock them to sleep and hold them close to you and study their sweet faces.

Of course, Elijah’s a bit too big to rock anymore, but he still melts my heart when I go in to check on him before I go to bed each night. Both he and Josiah usually require an adjustment of their blankets here or a tucking in there, with Josiah sometimes needing to be completely rearranged so he doesn’t fall off his bed (how he moves so much without being awake is rather puzzling). Those last-minute checks, with a whispered little prayer over them, are the perfect way to end even the hardest days.

There are many other little moments that I could mention (When Josiah takes my hand tightly to walk beside me; when Elijah’s sense of humor shines through, and he makes a really witty comment; the boys’ faces when they accomplish something they didn’t think they could, when they are loving and sweet to each other; listening to my boys when they pray and watching their personal relationship with and faith in God grow). I generally get to experience those each and every day with my children.

When I take the time to notice and appreciate those many special moments, how can any day be all that bad?

WHAT EVERYDAY MOMENTS WITH YOUR CHILDREN ENCOURAGE YOU AS A MOM OR DAD?

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Tried It Tuesday: My Kids’ New Favorite Board Game

April 5, 2016

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Life in Lape Haven - Tried It Tuesday: My Kids' New Favorite Board Game. With all the gifts my son received for his birthday, I didn't expect this simple, but cute, board game to be his new favorite game to play. Our whole family enjoys this award-winning game.

This post contains an affiliate link, which means at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission when you make a purchase through the link.

With Josiah’s recent birthday, he has had an influx of new toys, clothes, and games to enjoy.

Of all the things he received for his birthday, there is one thing that both he and Elijah have been playing with more than any other: The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game.

I could claim all kinds of “awesome parent” points for this since it was from Mommy & Daddy, and I picked out the game… except that with Easter and birthday party prep, I kind of overlooked getting him a present until a couple days before his birthday. (Brad and I have been considering getting the boys a swing set or playset for our yard, but we hadn’t found one yet, so we kept putting off getting Josiah’s birthday gifts, just in case we came across a swing set before his birthday.)

Thankfully, my instincts were good on this one. I knew I had seen comments about how much families liked this award-winning game, so I figured it would be worth a try. Besides, we (read: Mommy) can only play so many games of Candyland.

The boys even played this game in their blanket fort.

From the minute we opened the box, the boys were intrigued (and fighting over the adorable “squirrel squeezer”). With their little tree trunks in front of them, they barely let me read over the very easy directions before they started trying to play.

It’s a really simple game with a spinner, acorns in five different colors, tree trunks for “stashing” your acorns, and the aforementioned cute little squirrel squeezer that you use to pick up the acorns. The object of the game is to collect all 5 colors of acorns before anyone else, but you have to watch out for obstacles on the spinner that slow you down: the Sad Squirrel that causes you to lose your turn and the wind storm that blows all your acorns back to the main tree.

Without a doubt, our boys’ favorite thing to land on is the Sneaky Squirrel because then they get to steal an acorn from someone else. They are positively delighted to get to be so mischievous. Of course, they don’t really enjoy it when someone else steals their acorn, so it’s been a great game for teaching them to be a good sport.

That first day we played several rounds of the game, and we’ve played it nearly every day since. They played it with their grandparents, and Josiah even took it over to his cousins’ house this past week to introduce them to the fun. Watching the four boys play it together was hilarious and precious. They all loved the sense of accomplishment when they managed to collect all their acorns and win a game.

As a parent, I appreciate the simplicity of the game, which makes it easy for my 3-year-old to play without help, while not being too young for my 5-year-old (or Brad and I) to have fun. The game is designed to help encourage color identification, as well as matching, sorting, strategic thinking, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and pre-handwriting skills, and I can already see improvement for Josiah in some of those areas.

So even if it was more of a last-minute gift, it has turned out to be a great one, one that our entire family enjoys playing, and one that has easily become our boys’ new favorite board game.

The Happy Talent of Play

March 31, 2016

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Life in Lape Haven: The Happy Talent of Play. We need to encourage our children to develop their talent for play and make sure that our own skills in that area stay sharp, too.

The other day as I was folding clothes in the living room, the boys were playing a few feet away. Elijah is on Spring Break this week, and while they had been crazy earlier, fighting and whining, Elijah and Josiah were behaving well now and getting along happily. In fact, they were loudly enjoying themselves.

As I worked, instead of blocking them out, I intentionally tuned in through the chaos of the boys playing together to listen to what and how they were playing together.

Just on the other end of the couch where I was stacking clean clothes, the boys had constructed a “fort” with a blanket stretched from the main couch to the end table to the smaller chaise we’d brought down from upstairs on Saturday for more party seating for Josiah’s birthday.

From their little corner hideaway came the giggles and chatter that only come from true play and imagining. With nearly all the pillows in the house either underneath them as their floor or propped up against the piano bench as doors, the boys were pretending to be a king (Elijah) and a prince (Josiah).

I’m not certain what their storyline was because it changed frequently. However, I gathered that there was a “bad guy” that they had to fight, but they didn’t want to leave their castle. With my suggestion that they post trustworthy guards at the gate when they went to battle, Josiah’s new stuffed Chewbacca was recruited and placed at the opening of their fortress.

Probably the best thing I heard that day was their conversation with their new guard as they prepared to go fight:

Elijah: “How many people have tried to get into the castle?”

(Elijah pushes the button on the talking Chewbacca): “Arrrrgghroooowrrr arraaggh.”

Elijah: “Eleven million?”

Chewbacca: “Arrrggghrooowrrr.”

Elijah: “Ok.” To Josiah, “He’s put them all in the jail. Let’s go.”

Josiah: “Ok. Let’s go get the bad guy.”

Chewy makes a pretty impressive guard – he put eleven million people in jail in one day!

I love it when my boys really play like this, using their imaginations and creativity, rather than just wanting to sit and stare at a tablet or TV screen (we like technology and media, but we don’t want our children to be bogged down by it). Actual play allows them to build memories together and bond as brothers and friends, learning how to get along and find unique solutions to resolve their imaginary (and real) conflicts.

I especially love when I can witness them playing together or better yet, join in with them. (Post-birthday-party clean-up had me playing a bit of catch-up with the housework first, though. I did, however, get to play some “Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel” with them a bit later.)

From the time our boys could speak, one of their favorite questions for Brad and me is, “Will you play with me/us?”

And while we know we can’t be at their beck and call all day long, we do our best to get down on the floor, or under the blanket fort, or out in the yard, and play along.

Today we had a chance to visit a local park as a family for about an hour or so, running around the huge playground and exploring the pathways and pond. As we wandered around the area, we went through a rather nice shelter house that had this saying carved over one of the two fireplaces (seriously, fireplaces in the shelter house):

“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” Emerson

Brad laughed at me for snapping a picture of the quote, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget it later.

We were there with our boys, playing, nurturing a talent that I want them to use every day for the rest of their lives and making sure that Brad and I don’t let our own talent for play get rusty.

As parents, we like to encourage our kids in practicing piano or learning to draw or developing any other number of skills, giftings, and abilities that God has given them. This little quote reminded me that I also want my boys to be very talented in knowing how to play, to create their own fun, to make-believe and pretend, and to find joy and adventure in a simple walk around the block or a dash across a field.

We can’t forget the importance of this talent, in both our children and ourselves.

If you need a little inspiration, here are some fun quotes about the importance of play:

“Those who play rarely become brittle in the face of stress or lose the healing capacity for humor.” –Stuart Brown, M.D.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.” – Mark Twain

“Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.” – Kay Redfield Jamison

“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good.” – Lucia Capocchione

“Do not…keep children to their studies by compulsion but by play.” – Plato

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” – Fred Rogers

“Surely all God’s people…like to play.” – John Muir

“A child who does not play is not a child, but the man who does not play has lost forever the child who lived in him.” – Pablo Neruda

Tried It Tuesday: How to Get Grease Stains (Even Set-In Ones) Out of Clothing

March 21, 2016

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Life in Lape Haven - Tried It Tuesday: How to Get Grease Stains (Even Set-In Ones) Out of Clothing - After finding grease and oil spots on my son's shirts, ones that had already been washed and dried, I decided to find a simple way to get the grease and oil stains out of his clothing.

My children are really doing wonders for improving my laundry skills and stain-treating know-how lately. First it was the hunt to figure out how to get rid of dry erase marker on my 5-year-old’s pants. Then, thanks to my 2-year-old, I learned how easy it is to remove silly putty from fabric.

This week, Elijah’s sloppy eating habits have sent me on a new quest: How to get grease stains – set-in ones, too – out of clothing.

(This post may contain affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission when you use the link.)

Last week my son wore a brand-new yellow polo shirt to church and at lunch spilled pasta sauce on it. My hubby used cold water to sponge it off, and I thought we might have dodged a stain bullet. I even pretreated it before washing it, just to be safe. However, I was disappointed when I went to fold the laundry and saw three very obvious oily, grease splotches on Elijah’s only-worn-once new shirt. Ugh.

Then that night as I was pulling clothes out of his dresser for him to wear to school in the morning, I picked out a long-sleeved dark blue shirt, only to toss it back down in defeat when I noticed that it had some mysterious greasy-looking stains on it, too.

: Elijah’s yellow shirt with oil spots

: Close-up of grease stains

: His blue shirt has lots of little spots

Determined to salvage these two shirts, I looked for solutions online for how to remove grease or oil stains from clothing. Having tried the chalk idea in the past with little success, I skipped that, and we didn’t have any WD-40 on hand, so that knocked out a good number of Pinterest search results for removing grease spots.

Then I found one that promised that I could get the grease out, even if the item had been through the dryer, using only items that I had in my house!

It required Spray ‘N’ Wash stain treater, baking soda, dish detergent, and an old toothbrush. Check, check, check, and check!

I was ready to treat, scrub, and wash, and hopefully save two shirts.

Following the directions I had found, I treated the shirts with Spray ‘N’ Wash and used the toothbrush to scrub it in. Then I heavily dusted the treated areas with baking soda and scrub some more. (Actually, Josiah came in and wanted to help, so I let him do some scrubbing). After that I added some dish detergent, scrubbed a final time, and then let the shirts set about 10-20 minutes. (The instructions online said you could leave it anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes.)

: They suggested placing cardboard inside the shirt.

: Sprayed with stain treater.

: Josiah helped scrub in the baking soda.

: Scrubbing the shirt once the dish detergent was added.

: Stain treater on the blue shirt.

: Ready to scrub this one, too.

After washing and drying the shirts as usual, I laid them out on the table for inspection.

Sadly, the yellow shirt still had some visible staining, even though it was much less than before. The blue shirt actually looked completely stain-free, however, which made me very happy. It wasn’t until I took a picture of the blue shirt, using my flash, that I could even see even a hint of a small stain or two that I must have missed treating the first time through.

: The blue shirt came clean!

: The oil spots on the yellow were still visible.

: So, the yellow shirt got a second treatment.

Having evidence that the solution would help, I put the yellow shirt through a second complete stain treating and scrubbing, then washed and dried it again.

This time, the stains were pretty much gone. Again, it only shows up vaguely when I took a picture with my flash on. To the naked eye, it looks like a stain-free shirt again!

So, now I know that Spray ‘N’ Wash, baking soda, and dish detergent are a great combination for getting grease and oil stains out of our clothing.

I wonder what new stain my little boys will find for me to become an expert on next…

Here’s a hint: It’s grass stains! 🙂

My Kids’ New Favorite Fun App

March 8, 2016

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Life in Lape Haven: My Kids' New Favorite Fun App. While we limit our boys' screen time, we do like it when we find good, educational children's apps that they love to play. There are some they enjoy a lot and a new one that is their favorite.

(Shhh! It’s Educational!)

By the way, this post contains affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission when you make a purchase through the links.

This Christmas my hubby really, really wanted to get our boys a tablet so they could play their ABCMouse.com and other learning apps and games without risking Daddy’s Surface or draining Mommy’s phone. When he found a good deal on a Kindle Fire, I acquiesced, even though I didn’t think my boys’ needed access to yet another screen.

However, with parental controls for when they can play, what they can play, and how long they can play, the tablet has actually been a very good tool for our boys. (Yes, Brad was right.) My favorite parental control setting is the one that requires the boys to spend at least a certain amount of time playing the educational apps before they can even see the icons for the “fun only” games.

This meant, though, that we needed to find some really good educational app options for them. We definitely included ABCMouse, but we wanted them to have more to choose from. I also preferred they be inexpensive, or better yet, FREE. Some of the good ones we found are totally free, while others are free but have more with the paid upgrade, and still others are, at most, a few dollars.

Since the boys each have their own profile, we can customize who gets what apps, so Josiah’s educational apps are the counting, colors, shapes, and ABC ones. Ones that he seems to really enjoy are Toddler Counting 123, Phonics Island by 2 2Learn (we upgraded from the free), and Monkey Preschool Fix It! (I really like that one)

For Elijah, some of the apps we included were Phonics Island (even though he’s reading well), Sight Words & Flash Cards Volume 1 by 2 2Learn (also upgraded), and Monkey Word School Adventure, plus some free Kindle books that he can read.

They have been doing well with using their learning apps, and I can definitely tell that the boys are learning, especially Josiah, who has been counting things and trying to identify letter sounds.

However, the other day, Elijah asked if we could find him a new game or app for the tablet and offered to pay for it with his own money from his piggy bank.

We did a quick search on Amazon for apps for kids, and I sorted the results by the highest customer rating. That’s how we found ThinkRolls 2. This app had a 5-star rating from 97-percent of the reviewers, with the remaining 3-percent giving it 4 stars.

If you’ve never heard of the app (we hadn’t), here is some of the game description:

“Thinkrolls 2 is an enlightening logic puzzler for kids 3-9…Children must use all their wits to navigate 28 spunky characters through 235 levels of increasingly complex mazes (117 for ages 3-5 and 118 for ages 5-9)… This clever game of logic keeps kids on their toes as they use properties of matter and basic physics to make their Thinkrolls not only roll, but float, glide, and teleport through a series of themed chapters. Each gradually introduces a new scientific concept in an accessible, easy to understand way. As kids explore and master, through trial and error, how to navigate the twists, turns and many pitfalls, they gain confidence in their deductive reasoning and ability to problem solve.”

It intrigued me, so I looked for reviews outside of Amazon and found this YouTube video, which shows you how the app is played.

Elijah watched along with me, and just a little way into it, he was saying, “Yes, I want that one.”

Not only does Elijah LOVE it, but so does Josiah, and I have been very surprised and impressed to watch them figure out how to move their character through the maze and the obstacles. They are learning how to think through steps to solve a problem, and when they make a mistake, the character doesn’t die. They just hit the do-over button at the top corner, and they can try again. Plus, the game lets them keep trying and trying until they get it. It isn’t timed, there’s no limit on do-overs, and no help prompts, unless you, as the parent, give them a nudge.

Each time they finish a level, they unlock a new little character, which Elijah said is his favorite part. Once he completes the “easy” levels, we can bump him up to the harder levels and see how he does, so the game can kind of grow with them. You can also have up to 6 player profiles on the game with different difficulty settings, so you can have your preschooler and elementary kids playing at their own levels. The game automatically starts wherever you leave off.

By the way, this game isn’t only for kids. When I had Brad play it the other night, I later had to suggest that he quit playing and get ready for bed. Haha. It IS really fun.

It is a purchased app, but the few dollars have already been more than worth it for my boys…all three of them. 🙂

God Knows My Name

March 7, 2016

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Life in Lape Haven: God Knows My Name. Sometimes as parents we call our children by their siblings' names or even other family members' names, but God knows each of us, even as we try to become more and more like Jesus.

For a good part of my growing up years, my family didn’t live close to our extended family. We would make hour-long, 3-hour-long, and 13-hour-long trips to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides of the family at least a couple of times a year (more when we lived closer, of course), but we weren’t around our relatives all that often.

Because of this, it was always funny and odd when my mom would call me “Ruth,” meaning her sister. I expected the cliché of our parents trying to call out to one of us and going through all our other siblings’ names first, but Mom calling me by HER sister’s name was always more entertaining and somehow cooler.

I thought it was just a quirky thing with her, where I resembled my aunt just enough to make Mom think of Ruth.

Until I started doing the exact same thing with my boys… However, instead of calling my children by my siblings’ names, I’m calling my sibling by my child’s name, calling my brother Caleb, “Elijah.”

They don’t look alike at all, and their personalities aren’t really similar. Nevertheless, I’ll be either talking to my brother or mentioning him, and out comes “Elijah.” And I just laugh.

It’s so weird. It’s happened several different times, and it’s always him and always Elijah.

Maybe I’m just used to having to say, “Elijah,” all the time. I probably say his name more than any other all day long. (When it’s just Josiah with me during the day, I don’t really have to say Josiah’s name unless he’s in trouble. Haha.)

Or maybe it’s because Caleb is my younger brother, and I always tried to help take care of him. Maybe the protective tenderness of a big sister translates well into mothering, and that makes me think of Elijah.

I know for my mom it makes more sense because I, at least, resemble her sister a little bit. Something about Elijah reminds me of Caleb (or vice versa). But no matter why we do it, we both do it.

When I did it the other day – again! – I had a funny thought: I wondered if God ever does this with His children.

(Okay, yes, He is God and perfect, so, no, He won’t REALLY make a mistake. It is just a playful thought. Humor me and go with it!)

According to Galatians 3:26 & 27, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Does God ever look at me and see so much of Jesus’s character in me that He has to pause and make sure He says the right name?

Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch because, like I said, God’s not going to make THAT mistake. I may be “clothed with Christ,” but He still knows it’s me, Kishona, and not Christ. He knows my name, (Isaiah 43:1) knows the number of hairs on my head (Matthew 10:30), and He’s known since before I was born (Psalm 139:13-16). God always gets my name right.

But still – becoming so much like Jesus that even God does a double take – it’s a good goal to aim for. 😉