Some Details

I hate doing Natalie's hair, and she hates having it done. We keep it simple, and that suits both of us. We took a few inches off recently to help keep the tangles away. This little lady that cut her hair was so sweet and kind to Natalie. I accidentally tipped her an amount that was twice the cost of the haircut (only $5), but hopefully it made her day because I appreciated her extra effort. 

Natalie also received the Tiger of the Month award recently for "Academic Excellence." She was sure excited. I think she really feeds off that kind of thing. I just love that she has her arm around the tiger.

As the weather has warmed up a tad, we have been spending a little time after school gets out collecting acorns (or something like that). Now I am stuck with the same problem I am faced with over and over...what to do with her bags of "stuff."

I wanted to get a picture of Jansen after he gets home from school. It's so nice to have him home early and around in the afternoon. Some of his favorite after school snacks right now are Rice Krispie cereal and/or graham crackers and milk. We've had some rough days in the past month, and he has sent me scurrying to friends, books, and prayer as I have tried to figure out 7 year olds. He is a very good kid, but Nate and I both want to make sure we have a handle on how we want to respond when he is having a tough moment. Nate and I have had a lot of talks lately as we discuss parenting. I am reading a book called "The Anatomy of Peace" and a line from it pretty much sums up our parenting goals/style: "Rather than simply correcting, for example, I need to reenergize my teaching, my helping, my listening, my learning. I need to put time and effort into building relationships." We have rules and consequences, but I want to be an empathetic parent and one who keeps her cool when everything is going crazy...which is EXTREMELY hard for me. Anyway, a lot on my mind. Lots to figure out.

 

This picture is a little hard to see, but it cracks me up. This is life over here. Emmy just going along with whatever Natalie's imagination has come up with. A few things about Emmy: she is so scared of small bits of fuzz and string right now. For some reason, they really bother her. Her new phrase is "It's okay I..." like "It's okay I have another banana?" or "It's okay I go outside?" She loves the color pink. I know this is pretty typical for little girls, but it's new to me. She wants the pink spoon, the pink jacket, the pink kitty, etc. I'm loving it.