tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43034066236915017002024-03-19T02:03:34.696-07:00What a Ride!Following God with reckless abandon...and excited to see where it takes us!Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-6502219288787367452013-07-06T17:26:00.001-07:002013-07-06T17:26:32.317-07:00What a Difference a Day Makes!Wednesday, June 26, 2013<br />
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Three years ago yesterday, we got a call that changed our lives forever: a baby boy had been born 17 days earlier, and we were being given the chance to become his parents. You can read that blog entry for more on that momentous day, but as I've thought a lot about that day this week, never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate reliving it...<br />
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But then this afternoon, I got another call...<br />
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Jadon's birth mom had a baby girl 24 days ago, and long story short, we are now being given the chance to become her parents.<br />
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I had so many plans for this week, this summer, this year...but now all those plans have been wiped away in an instant and we are giddy thinking about bringing home OUR DAUGHTER!<br />
Giddiness is pretty much the constant underlying emotion...but it has been accompanied by a fair share of other thoughts and feelings...<br />
What are we going to name her? Ariana and Eliana are two names we have thrown around for fun in the past...but now that push comes to shove, there are a ton of other options out there! Which one is right for this baby girl we have yet to meet?<br />
How am I going to survive TWO sleepless children?!?!<br />
I'm going to have my long awaited daughter!!!!<br />
Wait, is this it? Could this be our family? We've always thought we were 2 kid people...and now we have a girl and a boy. Hmmmm...after so many years of waiting and longing, it feels weird to just be done...<br />
Oh shoot, what if Jadon's mom keeps popping out babies? Hmmmmm...<br />
Oh man, how am I going to take Jadon to Legoland and the beach this summer with an infant?<br />
Oh man...how do I pack a diaper bag for an infant again?<br />
Oh wow! I'm going to have a daughter in our pink bedroom!<br />
Yikes, how is Jadon going to react? He's really good at being an only child!<br />
Awwww, I'm going to miss these days of Jadon and I. This is a sad end of an era.<br />
Aw crap! How am I going to balance TWO needy kids? (just this morning I told God that I was exhausted and really couldn't do this parenting thing without Him...and that was with just one child!)<br />
But WOOHOO!!! We have a daughter!!!<br />
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*****<br />
Over a week has passed since that momentous day, and most of the feelings of fear have drained away to an overwhelming sense of peace and understanding that God has orchestrated all of it...<br />
Because, oh yeah, the story didn't end after that phone call! When Jim got home a couple hours later (after a brief 3-min. conversation where I told him the exciting news before he had to rush off to another meeting), he eagerly asked me for the details as we prepared dinner for company, and then added that he had some other big news to share. It turns out that he also had a life-changing conversation that afternoon, with our college-aged pastor, who had just accepted a call with his wife to serve in the UK with a church planting movement...and they are starting in September...which means they need to leave New Song in August...which means, long story short, that Jim has decided to step out of 15 years of youth ministry into an adult ministry role! <br />
That sentence looks so much less momentous in type than it felt that evening in our kitchen! This is huge. For virtually our entire relationship (we started dating in February 1997 and started youth ministry that fall) we have served teenagers together. We love teenagers. (Although lately, we have been feeling our age more, ha!)<br />
So indeed, what a difference a day makes. In this case, what a difference an hour made! Within 60 minutes, we accepted "challenges" that are drastically changing the course of our lives. But again, although overwhelmed, we are really, really excited.<br />
So excited, in fact, that we decided to make one more huge decision 2 days later: We decided to officially become a minivan family!<br />
We have been thinking about getting a new car for a year or so now. My 1997 Saturn has 210,000+ miles, and while the engine works great, "nothing" else does (broken AC, heater, windows, locks, ceiling fabric, side mirror, etc...). But when we decided to invest my car fund into our next movie project (which, as yet, God has still not given the green light), we knew that my new car dreams would have to be put on hold for awhile, until we got the money back or we truly "needed" it. <br />
During this time, I went from avoiding the thought of buying a minivan like a plague, to realizing that a minivan was the car that really made the most sense for us. I kind of had a moment where it was almost like God was challenging me on my pride. "You think you're too cool for a minivan? You're a mom, Rachel. Embrace it!" Well, if you put it like that, God! So I humbled myself and looked at a Toyota Sienna...and totally fell in love!!! At least, I fell in love with the SE ("sport") model, 2011 or newer--which had just a touch more of a "cool" factor, ha! Unfortunately, those models are relatively few and far between. Which makes good deals on them even fewer and further between. Over the months, I gulped at the price tag I'd be paying...and Jim flat out balked, "We aren't those kind of people!" Well, since I didn't have the money anyway, I just had fun occasionally looking and dreaming. And as I looked, I one time told God, you know, it would be fun to have cool rims on my car. (I know, girls aren't supposed to care about rims, but a neighbor down the street has a Sequoia with cool rims, and I really like them :))<br />
So back to last week, long story short, Jim and I looked at each other and realized my car during the summer really would be miserable for an infant, and as it is, we had a tough time fitting everyone/thing in it that we needed many times. This was it: it was "time" for a new car. Since I couldn't sleep for the first 3 days after hearing all this news, I spent my sleepless nights scouring the internet, and ultimately found only 1 (that's right, ONE!) used Sienna SE within a 200 mile radius that looked like what I wanted, and 2 new cars within a 100 mile radius that were a color that I wanted (hey, I figured if I was going to go new, I might as well get exactly what I wanted, right?!). And guess what, they were all at the same dealership in Escondido. So on Friday afternoon, after Jim "generously" offered to stay home with Jadon (hey, he came home early from work to do it), my dad and I went to Carlsbad first to check out their SE (it wasn't the right color, but it was so close to home, I just wanted to get a feel first)...and then we made it to Escondido, and while I really liked the new ones (with dual DVD entertainment!), when I saw the used one, I had to laugh, and I knew immediately that it was mine. It didn't have the DVD...but it did have custom rims! Ha! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17YLkxaYjapyetbGEhpaCQXulZ2cGlK1ob1IYaQw0Wx7-2eCUqmxd31ADzVxxaVpP502ECvUFqQi8H5gf_V1ARq_Okj6eZ5pVaGLoB93vcrGAOmaIFblfINCfibo2T0Ti3_OTlO9KmNE/s1600/IMG_1379.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17YLkxaYjapyetbGEhpaCQXulZ2cGlK1ob1IYaQw0Wx7-2eCUqmxd31ADzVxxaVpP502ECvUFqQi8H5gf_V1ARq_Okj6eZ5pVaGLoB93vcrGAOmaIFblfINCfibo2T0Ti3_OTlO9KmNE/s320/IMG_1379.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I don't know if they are any cooler that the usual ones, but I couldn't help smiling as I thought back to my earlier prayer. And the van has a sunroof, which was my favorite part of my Saturn until it broke ten years ago. And it came in quite cheaper than I had planned, enough for Jim to even be fully on board. Based on the circumstances, I'm pretty sure God handpicked this van out for me. And I love it! <br />
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SOOO, here we are at my parents' house in Shaver Lake, getting ready to head to Jim's parents' house and then Donner Lake with his family...and on MONDAY we are going to make a "quick" detour and meet OUR DAUGHTER!!! She was born in northern California, and since the foster systems in different counties don't all work the same, there are some delays in getting the paperwork in order and changing the jurisdiction to San Diego County so that we can actually bring her home. So while we are thrilled that we finally get to meet her, we are praying that we will actually get to go pick her up for good while we are up here on vacation. Otherwise, her social worker up there will bring her down by the 20th at the latest. Woohoo!<br />
(We finally got to see a picture of her, and oh. my. goodness, she is the cutest thing ever!!!!)<br />
Another prayer we have is for Jadon, who is really good at being an only child...and has been very passively resistant to this new idea of having a sister. But, for the first time today, he actually talked about her on his own (usually he changes the subject or walks away or just stares blankly when we talk about her).<br />
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God is so good, and we are so excited to be embarking on this new leg of our journey through life.<br />
What a ride!<br />
Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-49834187232542373792013-06-26T15:49:00.000-07:002013-07-06T17:28:00.336-07:00DIY Measuring Stick Height ChartPinterest struck again at me as I kept seeing various versions of the Measuring Stick Height Chart. Apparently it's a knock-off from an original Pottery Barn find. I couldn't find the PB one anywhere, but I scoured the internet looking at the various tutorials, and finally came up with my own rendition...which I love!!!<br />
This DIY project is <i>totally </i>doable. It took me a few days worth of nap times, but doesn't require any special tools or skill.<br />
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Materials needed:<br />
board (I used a 2" x 6" x 6' pine board (about $7 at Home Depot)<br />
stain (I used Minwax Polyshades--love this stuff!--in Espresso Satin)<br />
printer<br />
pencil<br />
ruler/straightedge/square<br />
paint pen<br />
hanging hardware<br />
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I started out with my 2"x 6" x 6' pine board.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnllqHCMSudPfiB8_WExo0_d0N80Dz6J7E4X9cLm6O6EcnbIgjUVjYZDtHjyjfMU7p76MXTMKrif08s2y_G5shDAot9e6xXC0EPe-CfBDDGPoSQWAUUqu8BYIQqFdBX0S3SOb0E_FK5w/s1600/100_8600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOnllqHCMSudPfiB8_WExo0_d0N80Dz6J7E4X9cLm6O6EcnbIgjUVjYZDtHjyjfMU7p76MXTMKrif08s2y_G5shDAot9e6xXC0EPe-CfBDDGPoSQWAUUqu8BYIQqFdBX0S3SOb0E_FK5w/s320/100_8600.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Then I stained it with some stain that I already had (and love!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxaPQUiIVbRMwFO_v6nxECixB2PLnZRrMFKC4hoEpmax9ckM0hQRZf08LdttZPfjWBNWmELpQMD1zZxLp0jYQJDT_KtiWHYt93AolNWyb5DSSt3NltwdZLkoK8gp4O3DbqJyS0KkuOrHQ/s1600/100_8602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxaPQUiIVbRMwFO_v6nxECixB2PLnZRrMFKC4hoEpmax9ckM0hQRZf08LdttZPfjWBNWmELpQMD1zZxLp0jYQJDT_KtiWHYt93AolNWyb5DSSt3NltwdZLkoK8gp4O3DbqJyS0KkuOrHQ/s320/100_8602.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR61ZQouTyTuTSqRK0rJY7h8Yp9NFdbkvoR1UWPPxwF0ZgSIVFIvKC1uCSyt0BawqT6DTIEd6Fsc_DrdGbPwuvmE2bo5VRaMt7BCLhVwp2gmWoBePo827JK5qEydLurQV6BfLKteR610c/s1600/100_8604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR61ZQouTyTuTSqRK0rJY7h8Yp9NFdbkvoR1UWPPxwF0ZgSIVFIvKC1uCSyt0BawqT6DTIEd6Fsc_DrdGbPwuvmE2bo5VRaMt7BCLhVwp2gmWoBePo827JK5qEydLurQV6BfLKteR610c/s320/100_8604.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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This shade can get pretty dark, but with only one coat, it was perfect for me. I love how it really emphasized the grain and "movement" of the wood. Beautiful!</div>
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While I was waiting for that to dry, I printed up my numbers and letters. Based on the suggestion of one blog, I used Century font, size 175 BOLD for the numbers, 85 BOLD for "BRITTS" and 100 for "family". I experimented with the caps/no caps and came up with caps for our last name and lower case for "family", which made both words about the same length.<br />
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The next day I came back and started tracing the inch marks and numbers. (This was the most tedious part.)<br />
First I had to measure off the inches. This plunged me into an unexpected decision: how long did I want each line. Some boards that I saw on Pinterest had all the lines the same size; others looked more like a ruler with different sized lines. I ultimately decided on the varied line lengths corresponding to 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, etc... (except each mark measured an entire inch rather than a fraction of an inch). And after experimentation, I made the foot marks 2" long, 1 and 2" were 1/2" long, 3" was 1" long, 4 and 5" were back to 1/2" long, 6" was 1 1/2", 7 and 8" were back to 1/2", 9" was back to 1", 10 and 11" was back to 1/2", and then I came back to the 2" long foot line. (That sounds really complicated! Just look at my finished product and hopefully you'll understand what I mean...)<br />
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I think that part took me almost an entire nap. Oh yeah, and I started the bottom of the board at 6" so that I could then hang it 6" off the floor. (Don't forget that adjustment!)<br />
Then it was time for the numbers. First, you scribble the <i>back </i>side with pencil, so that the lead will transfer onto the wood. I'm not sure this is totally necessary since you're making an indentation anyway, but this part is pretty easy and I think the lead helped me to see the lines a little better.<br />
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Then you tape the numbers in place. This took more experimentation because everyone seemed to be doing theirs differently on Pinterest. Some had the numbers sideways, some right-side-up. Some had the numbers tighter to the side and some closer to the middle. In the end, I decided I liked the look of having the numbers read right-side-up when the board is hung vertically (instead of sideways like an actual ruler). I also decided I liked the numbers to sit right on the edge of their inch marking (rather than off the end of it). Take your time figuring out your preferences, because there really are so many options!<br />
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Then, pressing <i>really </i>hard, you trace each number. Thanks to the wood grain...and my hand feeling like it was going to fall off!...mine were far from perfect. But they merely needed to provide a basic outline for me to fill in with paint.<br />
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Once all that was done, it was time for the fun part--filling everything in with paint. Again, I had more choices. Most of the boards I had seen were either white or black letters/numbers...and I couldn't figure out which I wanted.<br />
Finally, I decided on black, and simply used a black Sharpie, which I have tons of. It came out really good and I really liked it...until I pulled my face away and realized that the letters/numbers were barely visible since the stain is so dark.<br />
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Sooo...I guess that made my decision for me. I made a "quick" stop at Walmart and picked up this white paint pen (the last one in white! whew!)...and retraced my steps (literally!)...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55l2By81wJIIRrljPtNxxv8d-np-BBRS25LUigH3i6G9BE25WIQqVIjnHBXKNmC0NvhzC2pJTkE4aUZxZTvcm2MUn5yWZ4M3wHDKZlsUoJq886MblNR82KXEX0Q4A2Rf61vZT34J4N6c/s1600/100_8655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55l2By81wJIIRrljPtNxxv8d-np-BBRS25LUigH3i6G9BE25WIQqVIjnHBXKNmC0NvhzC2pJTkE4aUZxZTvcm2MUn5yWZ4M3wHDKZlsUoJq886MblNR82KXEX0Q4A2Rf61vZT34J4N6c/s320/100_8655.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Much better!...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8q5SwX178f2PlgqWELZ8SIxwSd3cJhtvAuKTyhfL3_LVmTuEv1COw9ZYQ7X_pHjG01UU9QzX7R5eW8qkPokdHi4JHe0eQi1o2aAQqXk3PVg_v93aTqzRzrLKQq9mre6xbo0tePZ1eEA4/s1600/100_8658.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8q5SwX178f2PlgqWELZ8SIxwSd3cJhtvAuKTyhfL3_LVmTuEv1COw9ZYQ7X_pHjG01UU9QzX7R5eW8qkPokdHi4JHe0eQi1o2aAQqXk3PVg_v93aTqzRzrLKQq9mre6xbo0tePZ1eEA4/s320/100_8658.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Then I sealed it with a thin coat of this Polyurethane spray I already had...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDuSNvbDvN1JaiD-iaruMsHFUieZ5TPCOpRdSszek49wrV-SY1vg5MuFwFTDrHIVHZE38fmfNxLnSPjaX2xojDH2NE1Vgta05kttDx4rRq4Y-NswT63U2sKRs_pxk0A0cXEKHVgrVfeXQ/s1600/100_8662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDuSNvbDvN1JaiD-iaruMsHFUieZ5TPCOpRdSszek49wrV-SY1vg5MuFwFTDrHIVHZE38fmfNxLnSPjaX2xojDH2NE1Vgta05kttDx4rRq4Y-NswT63U2sKRs_pxk0A0cXEKHVgrVfeXQ/s320/100_8662.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
And then I attached the mounting hardware...(I was trying to do this on the cheap, using stuff I already had, and so I experimented with a few creative solutions before finding this picture hanger in my odds n' ends box.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtRwXXc7otfAkXmgTDmrMootTHxkhakkvqmVi7XO-1orH2SNo2MWpkd70AmsQNEy04hWrBw4hjwGnoS6XtAYAw-QCJRkA9dDnGA8EhvLEfH1Smo8imOMT9xHHpp8oc8Y-7gUIJa-9-vs/s1600/100_8665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtRwXXc7otfAkXmgTDmrMootTHxkhakkvqmVi7XO-1orH2SNo2MWpkd70AmsQNEy04hWrBw4hjwGnoS6XtAYAw-QCJRkA9dDnGA8EhvLEfH1Smo8imOMT9xHHpp8oc8Y-7gUIJa-9-vs/s320/100_8665.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
And whala! There it is at the top of our stairs. I love it! (Of course, once I got it up there, I realized that the mirror to the left of it--which was black--didn't not work anymore...so I took that down, gave it a couple coats of white paint, sanded the edges for a slightly distressed look, and then topped it with the polyurethane spray for a slightly yellowed finish like the old door.)<br />
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Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-33590601367871299482013-06-23T15:31:00.001-07:002013-06-23T17:04:44.922-07:00Jadon's Construction Themed 3rd Birthday PartyI have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I really do enjoy it. But man, can it suck up a lot of time (that I don't have!)...and it creates in me a sort of lust for things that I don't need. But it sure does make party planning easier!<br />
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About 4 months ago, my friend Lindsey told me about this birthday party she had just attended that was a construction theme. She thought it would be perfect for Jadon. My initial reaction was ambivalent. It sounded cute, but I didn't want to just copy someone else. But then I started thinking about it, and it was true. Jadon loves all things tractors/tools/destruction. And then I got on Pinterest...and oh. my. goodness. I was hooked!</div>
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So, here is what we came up with. (I take no credit for any original ideas. Check out my <a href="http://pinterest.com/racholi/jadon-s-3rd-birthday/">Pinterest board</a> to get to my original sources.)</div>
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First, I had to decide on graphics and invites. I found several that I liked:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3138_KPBni9uV6Z9sN1uVyFs9KFdOyIIX9IFpWc_RidPPzjDH8aGZn6-2OVrVjQHZ51Fl0hAAFK2Gs2jg3gJpP2aVlWiDrR_JTjd_DsFtLaQxEZCEttKMZLIxKv56lQcHiuVIOKQpgA/s1600/excavator+invite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3138_KPBni9uV6Z9sN1uVyFs9KFdOyIIX9IFpWc_RidPPzjDH8aGZn6-2OVrVjQHZ51Fl0hAAFK2Gs2jg3gJpP2aVlWiDrR_JTjd_DsFtLaQxEZCEttKMZLIxKv56lQcHiuVIOKQpgA/s200/excavator+invite.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3wJ-_8SwwnqojPNRu2UApXIq7DzuFtD1u49WMawMWxUMLvCqZ7Dx3-NOf-AR9-lvnjn6DcqWLdTHduxy0MCIPteNMX28wJ3Nal4LpZVMUGUgFyGlAg4QMYOc-UuYX9OZV9yLGjAIxUS0/s1600/dump+truck+invite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3wJ-_8SwwnqojPNRu2UApXIq7DzuFtD1u49WMawMWxUMLvCqZ7Dx3-NOf-AR9-lvnjn6DcqWLdTHduxy0MCIPteNMX28wJ3Nal4LpZVMUGUgFyGlAg4QMYOc-UuYX9OZV9yLGjAIxUS0/s200/dump+truck+invite.jpg" width="142" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibV2NVfeoEgVP4fz0z5HNtys_qPkFsH-EzlXeHAmYOr9Ddcwb_bNfqrtyHC27ndysXF3ej1QXPvXQFLaTa_pb63D0Cx4jwwp-OzJLv-pR2XYRNf5VKDhdPbqMsBDEiyjai7vtjEughp0/s1600/Dig+it+invite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibV2NVfeoEgVP4fz0z5HNtys_qPkFsH-EzlXeHAmYOr9Ddcwb_bNfqrtyHC27ndysXF3ej1QXPvXQFLaTa_pb63D0Cx4jwwp-OzJLv-pR2XYRNf5VKDhdPbqMsBDEiyjai7vtjEughp0/s200/Dig+it+invite.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>
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The<a href="http://www.tinyprints.com/product/14616/birthday_party_invitations_digger_truck.html"> first one</a> was my first choice...until I found <a href="http://camandshan.blogspot.jp/2012/07/westons-3rd-construction-birthday-party.html">the second one,</a> and liked the orange stripes and yellow truck and number at the top better. But Jadon doesn't really care about dump trucks, he likes tractors...So then I found <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/117136634/construction-truck-invitation-printable">the third one</a>, which fit the bill, but I still liked the bold graphics of the second one better.</div>
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Bottom line, none of them were perfect. So what did I do?...</div>
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I decided to design my own! (duh. What any normal person would do, right? Okay, maybe not. I'm a little crazy like that.) So I dove into youtube videos and online tutorials for Photoshop, and ultimately came up with this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjY0LPZfrfGJAJHA4VLeSvGeUhoBB3siNSW5Z-9Lqt6278QpW7tb2T7GjF1VvJD6VyGucBkevdjw-zBLJXmEf1_CHZjBogqZkkEud-5gVpBWH1PA2gBVCVXEb__t0kVjE5ccI2RzY2C70/s1600/1A+Construction+Party+invite.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjY0LPZfrfGJAJHA4VLeSvGeUhoBB3siNSW5Z-9Lqt6278QpW7tb2T7GjF1VvJD6VyGucBkevdjw-zBLJXmEf1_CHZjBogqZkkEud-5gVpBWH1PA2gBVCVXEb__t0kVjE5ccI2RzY2C70/s320/1A+Construction+Party+invite.JPG" width="131" /></a></div>
And then on the back I was able to personalize it, too, asking guests to consider bringing a few dollars to donate to Jadon's World Vision sponsored kid, Misael, instead of bringing a gift for Jadon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVYvTP_lYmCIQg4XkCkUpbF5oYjeRx2c-ausYIhE4qLQ03g1pjf3Yaoc-bcQblOFVWn7H47ezHAfF4qRuXsrux4vbCAUvjO0PmUSagKXa0L7rgJXwjt3V9gKJpAul1KkycLpjDvAJACMo/s1600/1B+Construction+Party+invite.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVYvTP_lYmCIQg4XkCkUpbF5oYjeRx2c-ausYIhE4qLQ03g1pjf3Yaoc-bcQblOFVWn7H47ezHAfF4qRuXsrux4vbCAUvjO0PmUSagKXa0L7rgJXwjt3V9gKJpAul1KkycLpjDvAJACMo/s320/1B+Construction+Party+invite.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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I discovered these orange envelopes I bought on clearance (for some reason?) years ago, and added the cute little tractor graphic on some address labels, and whalaa! I think I still like Invite #2 (with the dump truck) better graphically, but I'm pretty happy with how these turned out. If anyone cares, the font I used was called Wicked Grit. It's one of my new favorites!</div>
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Then, since I had already created the basic graphics, I was able to use it for a bunch of other projects, including a special birthday t-shirt for Jadon (too bad white is such a lousy color for a little boy who loves to get dirty!).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8I2XgHZKxHIdT2UJVHSZ3s3NIJdO161K7CZIg-hg9qR964y3yTELuXm7eVEh-ZzSsxP3xIzxJXj7TamFB2QfMSLWZcgAea7F1G_MxDeuyd4R8OXhCQuZviVhu2rC_DLUEuPwUH4d7H0/s1600/tractor+tshirt+montage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8I2XgHZKxHIdT2UJVHSZ3s3NIJdO161K7CZIg-hg9qR964y3yTELuXm7eVEh-ZzSsxP3xIzxJXj7TamFB2QfMSLWZcgAea7F1G_MxDeuyd4R8OXhCQuZviVhu2rC_DLUEuPwUH4d7H0/s400/tractor+tshirt+montage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Instead of using my beloved Cricut for the typical banner, I continued my Photoshop endeavors and created an easier one using the same graphics:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1OT9wHM2qHslfVnJAtNmTGtbUtYV9kJ7nN5yAVhttv-_RKWbdycQcmY9a_OthJpPwagXA8el3GJ2gQc3cisO7MryhjqEIPqIVT-2JCJoJBvHoAAZqG0iJuBbqiZWL2yfzHIdOU3q9Cg/s1600/5D+Construction+Party+decor+Jadon+banner.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1OT9wHM2qHslfVnJAtNmTGtbUtYV9kJ7nN5yAVhttv-_RKWbdycQcmY9a_OthJpPwagXA8el3GJ2gQc3cisO7MryhjqEIPqIVT-2JCJoJBvHoAAZqG0iJuBbqiZWL2yfzHIdOU3q9Cg/s320/5D+Construction+Party+decor+Jadon+banner.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
The tractor graphic also was useful to personalize the party favors. I just switched up the colors, added a few layers (including each child's name), and made them into 2" circles, which I then printed onto full page labels and punched out with a 2" hole punch (very valuable purchase!). For the favors, we had cheapo <a href="http://www.orientaltrading.com/childs-construction-hats-a2-25_1615-12-1.fltr?Ntt=hard%20hat">Oriental Trading Company hard hats</a> along with some of Jadon's favorite tools: a <a href="http://www.orientaltrading.com/api/search?Ntt=inflatable+hammer">hammer from Oriental Trading Company</a> (inflatable for safety's sake!), a tape measure (99c Store), and <a href="http://www.dollartree.com/Translucent-Plastic-Flashlights-7-188-/p298752/index.pro?method=search">a flashlight (and batteries, from Dollar Store)</a>, plus a <a href="http://www.birthdayexpress.com/Construction-Cone-Cup/57003/PartyItemDetail.aspx">construction cone cup</a> (which were probably not worth their $2/each, but they were so cute I couldn't help it!). I stuffed it all in Home Depot aprons, which Home Depot generously provided for free (that was a pleasant surprise!). I just had to call ahead of time so they could order enough. Just another reason why that's my favorite store (besides WallyWorld, of course!).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBR1izSlo7DPyzOv9LXvNgkHIZaITlXxF7aCKWLMDxOBpXm8-56spDnCjXkb5UzvpR2eDIQ4N8Wq3mhHEW2foYdAGC-j1mHlwdQu2pcc4S5ILI1PeCTD8O8miGWmzZJslEcT2EqLdUSo/s1600/Construction+Party+favors+montage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBR1izSlo7DPyzOv9LXvNgkHIZaITlXxF7aCKWLMDxOBpXm8-56spDnCjXkb5UzvpR2eDIQ4N8Wq3mhHEW2foYdAGC-j1mHlwdQu2pcc4S5ILI1PeCTD8O8miGWmzZJslEcT2EqLdUSo/s320/Construction+Party+favors+montage.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgug4_deRSWBzubcOd4QK3Ukecv2GBtBNusajfOK336AlCk8_UGnnzGRYTT4mHpAJC4a-ramkm_1Orixn3bojPLwMoCWBNsBI7_jh3EvFPz5tgAgobnfneKG2o9Y04i2CRzJDV3HSCEU7A/s1600/Construction+Party+favors+montage+kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgug4_deRSWBzubcOd4QK3Ukecv2GBtBNusajfOK336AlCk8_UGnnzGRYTT4mHpAJC4a-ramkm_1Orixn3bojPLwMoCWBNsBI7_jh3EvFPz5tgAgobnfneKG2o9Y04i2CRzJDV3HSCEU7A/s320/Construction+Party+favors+montage+kids.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It was so cute to see all the kids having fun with their "tools"!</div>
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Pinterest was so helpful/annoying at providing tons of great ideas from party decorations other moms came up with. I ended up finding these <a href="http://www.birthdayexpress.com/Construction-Sign-Cutouts/22168/PartyItemDetail.aspx?gcsct=0ChMI4Krbs537twIV4yNECh3dOgAAEAE">"Detour" signs at Birthday Express</a>, where I found the cone cups. We bought inexpensive stakes at Home Depot, and then Jim had the idea (miraculous rarity--decorating is not something he enjoys!) to string caution tape (we already had a roll, but you can find it at Home Depot) between the stakes and along the fence. Nice idea, babe! That made a perfect detour away from our front door to the gate to the back yard. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxJwoODU_kPK-dQ6x6QJQBCfhR53OPpsbKj1JGm-qN8reNrBxHOnMmiNfJeyhXel_ATVavRJTqBY50MZhmvIIeLyA0VnSGOuc7bOouXPrIQGU_y07BTlmlE8MI18daXPxFjasYAEJl9o/s1600/4B+Construction+Party+entrance.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxJwoODU_kPK-dQ6x6QJQBCfhR53OPpsbKj1JGm-qN8reNrBxHOnMmiNfJeyhXel_ATVavRJTqBY50MZhmvIIeLyA0VnSGOuc7bOouXPrIQGU_y07BTlmlE8MI18daXPxFjasYAEJl9o/s320/4B+Construction+Party+entrance.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
We already had a helium tank from a previous party to inflate yellow, orange, and brown balloons. Then we hung the aprons from the fence with signs that said "party area ahead: hard hats required" (didn't get a good picture of that) and "hard hat area."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzkrsC757ITOiC_-QmrfTri8d_n4bqvNSLManExUyUzwGONd0YqqDECR-vJMtWA-Nm0WLmyXeJJt1Fb23_LCTPVwHb3d7-bpHp77FB7ImfSrzUMxbSg7ecDzGL0_7_sb4aslkRQOIzvzs/s1600/4C+Construction+Party+entrance.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzkrsC757ITOiC_-QmrfTri8d_n4bqvNSLManExUyUzwGONd0YqqDECR-vJMtWA-Nm0WLmyXeJJt1Fb23_LCTPVwHb3d7-bpHp77FB7ImfSrzUMxbSg7ecDzGL0_7_sb4aslkRQOIzvzs/s320/4C+Construction+Party+entrance.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQCZffcr5aoJnP6WKowcE27THLdl5_j1wanQ1nRwoIk8OmIE_v39OJfSW-qstVB2q-804nlIXAkCyUXGY8pgKcccs9QQGYi42PuzdQIqnSKE8Ok-50AcaM8ehaOfMXlVrlVrHZDkQ_R2E/s1600/4E+construction+party+entrance.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQCZffcr5aoJnP6WKowcE27THLdl5_j1wanQ1nRwoIk8OmIE_v39OJfSW-qstVB2q-804nlIXAkCyUXGY8pgKcccs9QQGYi42PuzdQIqnSKE8Ok-50AcaM8ehaOfMXlVrlVrHZDkQ_R2E/s320/4E+construction+party+entrance.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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My favorite sign I got from someone else's party. Ha!:<br />
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I made all the signs on Photoshop, although Publisher would work just as well. I considered printing them somewhere else so as not to be limited to 8" because of paper size (12" would have been so much cooler!)...but printing them at home was so much more cost effective.</div>
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And of course, the piece de resistance, was my dad's tractor, which set the scene perfectly...and was fun for kids to climb around on. Great timing on that big purchase, dad! </div>
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I did splurge on the big "Jadon's Birthday Construction Zone" sign. I "designed" it (simply!) in Photoshop on a 20"x 30" canvas, then saved it as a jpeg and had it printed up at Costco for $8.99 (and this month's coupon book conveniently had a $1 off coupon for photo poster prints, yay!). Then I glued it to a basic foam core poster board from Walmart. The whole project came to just over $10.</div>
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I had a lot of fun with food ideas, again, all copied from others' parties posted on Pinterest. Most of the foods were Jadon's favorites, along with a few things that were just too cute to ignore.</div>
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Drink station:<br />
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Utensils as "tools" in a cute tool tote Austin had made me in a woodshop class.<br />
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For "substantial food," we ordered to sandwich trays from Costco (so good, and so easy!). Carrots and ranch dressing were "bricks and mortar." Mini oranges were "wrecking balls."<br />
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Wheat Thins and cheese slices were "pavers."<br />
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Cheez-its were "Builders' Squares."<br />
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And stick pretzels were "lumber."<br />
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The sweets side was my favorite. (of course!) My favorite of the favorites was the chocolate-dipped rice krispy treat "paint brushes." So cute! (Oh, and I discovered a handy product made by Wilton specifically for tinting candy coating/chocolate that doesn't change its consistency. Definitely worth it!) We made "soil" out of pudding cups topped with Oreo crumbs and a gummy worm...and a little "dig in" topper on a toothpick. I bought peach licorice for orange "rope" (it was cute, but not as tasty as I'd hoped) and rootbeer stick "beams" (which, if I had it to do over again, I would have called "rebar"). When I ordered the rootbeer sticks, the company accidentally sent me rootbeer rock candy on a stick, so I put those out, too, but couldn't think of anything clever to call them. Another one of my favorite ideas that I gleaned off of Pinterest was chocolate donut "spare tires." Ha. So cute! And then I found these gummy tools at Oriental Trading Company, too. I was going to put them in the pinata, but then I ran out of room, so I put them on the food table...but I think they would have gone better in the pinata. </div>
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My favorite part of the party was the activities. For some reason, I didn't find as many (easy) entertaining "construction" activities for toddlers to do as I expected, so I had to adapt a little, but I think everyone ended up having fun.</div>
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Knowing my child, and his "proclivity" toward lack of structure, I tried to think of activities that could be as spontaneous and free as possible. I grouped them in stations that kids could wander between as they wished. Here was our "construction zone" that included building blocks my dad had made (a couple of years ago) out of scrap 2x4s that he cut down and sanded smooth (great <i>free</i> toy for active boys, although the sanding does require time and patience!). The other activity was a "nailing station" using an old styrofoam icechest (I had seen one where each kid was given an individual block of styrofoam, but that was way too pricey for me...especially when Jadon found the old ice chest in our garage!), a cheap bag of golf tees, and a couple of 99c store rubber mallets (which Jadon LOVES to use around the house as hammers, anyway...I figure the rubber is a little safer than a metal hammer...)</div>
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Good thing Jadon was the birthday boy, because he had far too much fun running up out of nowhere and knocking over other peoples' towers (as seen in the last picture!). We are working on that, but he's on a slow learning curve!</div>
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Also thanks to Jadon's destructo-man tendencies, you can see the sad state of the icechest by the end of the afternoon! But even the debris proved salvageable. The kids loved hammering tees into the styrofoam way more than I'd anticipated!<br />
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I also turned a little inflatable pool and 2 orange table covers into a color-coordinated sandbox, that was a non-stop hit all day.<br />
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Jadon's trampoline was also a fun hit. We filled it with orange, yellow, and brown balloons to start, but those quickly popped and/or floated out. But the kids still enjoyed it. My favorite part was toward the end when only a few kids remained, and Jadon convinced them all to play "shark" with him, using their flashlights as guns.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicV7YGsBiLEVBJJcvqgGgzgGYXfJo0jLuou2nQlvSoZ3tgkZUBM929xIi9MNwl6dGcy6G1P417UK-X8sYPhDOzUfTFPCyKXwSl8tngzc7DZ-oYpYh5sqTWga5Z7vQtBA7qPBI-mU8MhR0/s1600/8A+construction+party+activities+trampoline+montage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicV7YGsBiLEVBJJcvqgGgzgGYXfJo0jLuou2nQlvSoZ3tgkZUBM929xIi9MNwl6dGcy6G1P417UK-X8sYPhDOzUfTFPCyKXwSl8tngzc7DZ-oYpYh5sqTWga5Z7vQtBA7qPBI-mU8MhR0/s400/8A+construction+party+activities+trampoline+montage.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The activity I was most uncertain about was painting. It just seemed like it had the potential to become a huge chaotic mess. On Pinterest, I had found several parties where they painted giant houses made out of cardboard boxes, but that required too much work for me after I discovered these cute little birdhouses in the dollar bin at Joann's Fabrics. I bought a pack of Crayola washable paints, some brushes, and a roll of 13-gal. garbage bags to use as smocks...and then put out the trays of paint with trepidation and apologies to the parents...and I couldn't believe how smoothly--and successfully!--it went. Even the older kids and some of the parents got into it. And Jadon! (Instead of painting a house of his own, I think he just added personal touches to everyone else's!)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRbljX9-TQOqt3BP0KIUraerMcJBxKejrT1EGDCSIjFbxkwIdCmDePdoN6tSFesQ4dkFE4gD5M8uZ6gg5knGLlPTab7Tx7Io3VfOO5Ro1AgdQGlp8hLzStnbs448pZwlsdUykttPZp4Fc/s1600/7M+construction+party+activities+paint+houses.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRbljX9-TQOqt3BP0KIUraerMcJBxKejrT1EGDCSIjFbxkwIdCmDePdoN6tSFesQ4dkFE4gD5M8uZ6gg5knGLlPTab7Tx7Io3VfOO5Ro1AgdQGlp8hLzStnbs448pZwlsdUykttPZp4Fc/s320/7M+construction+party+activities+paint+houses.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The only activity we had to "orchestrate" then was the pinata. I had seen this great tutorial for a construction cone pinata...and then personalized it to make my own...and was thrilled with the results. Knowing how rough my child can be, I made it extra durable (with extra layers), but the rope still broke out of the top hole, so if I had it to do over, I would probably lower the rope hole and beef that section up even more. Even so, all the little kids got a chance to swing at it, and even some of the bigger kids...and everyone had fun charging for the loot. (Here's my <a href="http://brittsadventureride.blogspot.com/2013/06/construction-cone-pinata-tutorial.html">tutorial for how I made it</a>.)</div>
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All that was left after the pinata was the cake...a birthday staple that I have relied on Albertson's bakery for the last 2 years but decided to do it myself this year. I bought this super cool pan at Bed Bath & Beyond that allows you to make any letter or number, so I had to make a "3," and then, thanks again to ideas from Pinterest, I decided to turn it into a road. My dad helped to frost it (he used to decorate all of ours growing up...all 6'5" scruff of him!), and I think he did a great job.</div>
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Because I wasn't sure how many people the cake would feed, I also made cupcakes. Oh! Great cake trick I discovered/attempted for the first time. I'd always heard that you could substitute apple sauce for the oil, but I was always skeptical. Great news: it works! The cakes turned out even more moist than usual, and I think they just tasted better. I also attempted my own buttercream frosting, but it got way too melty way too quickly, so I will definitely be experimenting with some more options there...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCiMM9C7cIN1vt-fKTVXY1I9n-YPPEdOgpb1PbEQKlufFcLWglUJEqfSJD5z90Sjdh1-SsXyoU8nG5dZhn-QdAIR09Bu_RGl9LJTq7ZC1EdTJjj7i1y25uXIObEInwFFaNwxLh0upt4o/s1600/JADON-304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDCiMM9C7cIN1vt-fKTVXY1I9n-YPPEdOgpb1PbEQKlufFcLWglUJEqfSJD5z90Sjdh1-SsXyoU8nG5dZhn-QdAIR09Bu_RGl9LJTq7ZC1EdTJjj7i1y25uXIObEInwFFaNwxLh0upt4o/s320/JADON-304.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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Jadon couldn't wait to blow out his candles...but then the wind did it for him. Bummer! But he didn't let it phase him, and instead decided to claim the whole cake quickly for himself...along with a couple of cupcakes! (Don't worry, he didn't finish more than a couple of bites!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimxZA0UJpzNamMO0wNkgV_a_OpRQHHt0qp-xcRgcEalnioAgT246HIYkYJlsgNDVgiRCoiga3GRM3KCwLPLjqr3mYmPoca1qh-OxUDbxXae3EyzFwatiH_0HwZcRD_a3pDNtpJewtEaAA/s1600/JADON-306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimxZA0UJpzNamMO0wNkgV_a_OpRQHHt0qp-xcRgcEalnioAgT246HIYkYJlsgNDVgiRCoiga3GRM3KCwLPLjqr3mYmPoca1qh-OxUDbxXae3EyzFwatiH_0HwZcRD_a3pDNtpJewtEaAA/s320/JADON-306.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFAn_GoeMrP9yc5m_SHz18M05bf9j0sUTmTEyKuFiuL0c2yIo1l9vBF6gODKVLnA4BB1IZZgh8KUAY-ZbwHyg91uYykpj_JWu31uIi-xmcA95MqogWnEDb2afZOix4UpfmmrcJ9r2h-iw/s1600/JADON-313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFAn_GoeMrP9yc5m_SHz18M05bf9j0sUTmTEyKuFiuL0c2yIo1l9vBF6gODKVLnA4BB1IZZgh8KUAY-ZbwHyg91uYykpj_JWu31uIi-xmcA95MqogWnEDb2afZOix4UpfmmrcJ9r2h-iw/s320/JADON-313.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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All in all, I think everyone enjoyed the party, especially Jadon. And I had a ton of fun putting it together.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYaplY2i7fWbBDlJvigIo2sNGX3ZBreyLI9XouFhzi26mVD4SLghbOz_zVeJ2YKjdpg4oEl0HVpI40-HUifsRyJP2rPZHS382DrrHMa4j3XmVjttlYHju1m2tdgxqOl1-VsWN6dnMHThA/s1600/JADON-45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYaplY2i7fWbBDlJvigIo2sNGX3ZBreyLI9XouFhzi26mVD4SLghbOz_zVeJ2YKjdpg4oEl0HVpI40-HUifsRyJP2rPZHS382DrrHMa4j3XmVjttlYHju1m2tdgxqOl1-VsWN6dnMHThA/s320/JADON-45.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDNN-sedh9Vjv90oQuHA8OWfvhMxTFsxcFW5wZtPIqGtZL3m0vp9ckfD1zYaUgjrjoNVlzTk0FRUrP_NLKGW_cbvdPqN7UcHv4PWWVjclgrEFBDxLyfwPXn8D2nnS_3QSOd7HmRqwIaw8/s1600/JADON-52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDNN-sedh9Vjv90oQuHA8OWfvhMxTFsxcFW5wZtPIqGtZL3m0vp9ckfD1zYaUgjrjoNVlzTk0FRUrP_NLKGW_cbvdPqN7UcHv4PWWVjclgrEFBDxLyfwPXn8D2nnS_3QSOd7HmRqwIaw8/s320/JADON-52.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Special thanks to </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Samantha-Jeet/210603918952157?ref=ts&fref=ts" style="text-align: left;">Sam Jeet</a><span style="text-align: left;">, who photographed the event! Even though I still had to play with my new camera, it was nice to be able to relax knowing that someone else was there to capture key moments. If you live in the San Diego area, I would highly recommend her services.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_rTPsBvJFGWo_qPboUlkFKocy4ta-0rboZ6r-rVR5Z-SOQU1rUPCv6-PpqMWoq4-aB87dhbZXYDWQ544-0MkUHqOzF-ai-Pq1AtTJSptod7XvqFKab7hrKG5Mc8rGHxjPShTs1qyepKI/s1600/JADON-300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_rTPsBvJFGWo_qPboUlkFKocy4ta-0rboZ6r-rVR5Z-SOQU1rUPCv6-PpqMWoq4-aB87dhbZXYDWQ544-0MkUHqOzF-ai-Pq1AtTJSptod7XvqFKab7hrKG5Mc8rGHxjPShTs1qyepKI/s320/JADON-300.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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Oh, and besides having a ton of fun, we raised almost $100 for Jadon's World Vision sponsored kid, Misael. People tended to ignore the suggestion to not bring Jadon any gifts, but they were more-than-generous with both boys. It will take a few months for World Vision to tell us how specifically the money will be used, but it will definitely be a blessing to Misael, his family, and his community!</div>
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Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-19493207193399695562013-06-21T16:42:00.000-07:002013-06-23T16:47:23.050-07:00Construction Cone Pinata TutorialOne of the first construction parties I found on Pinterest included this awesome <a href="http://thedomesticnotebook.blogspot.jp/2009/10/construction-themed-birthday-party_15.html">DIY construction cone pinata</a>. I remember making pinatas with my mom for our parties when we were kids, and I thought this would be a perfect project to do with Jadon. In hindsight, he might still be a little on the young side, but nap times provided just enough extra time to fix the things that he wasn't so great at. :)<br />
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Materials Needed:<br />
balloons, cardboard and/or items to create pinata form<br />
newspaper (we used almost an entire Wednesday paper)<br />
flour/water/salt<br />
orange paint<br />
black construction paper<br />
glue<br />
orange streamer<br />
scissors<br />
drill<br />
rope<br />
candy/toys/filler<br />
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To start out, we made the papier mache paste. I used <a href="http://familycrafts.about.com/od/papermache/a/cookpmpaste.htm">this recipe found on About.com</a>. It uses 1 part flour to 5 parts water, and cooks it (like gravy) for extra strength. (I also added a tablespoon of salt to prevent mold, just in case.) (We ended up using a double batch, i.e. 2 c. flour and 10 c. water! It sounds like a lot, but we used up every single drop.)<br />
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Thanks to Jadon's eager dumping, the flour clumped up, so our paste was pretty lumpy. And then it was boiling hot, so we had to stick it in the fridge to cool it down enough to use...which did not happen very quickly! (Should have made it the day before!)</div>
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In hindsight, I'm not sure that I would have bothered with the cooking. I'm not sure that we needed the extra strength (I added extra layers to be safe, and the pinata ended up never breaking, ha!). And the inconvenience of the hot paste wasn't worth it.</div>
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But while we were waiting for it to cool, we built our form. Usually you would use balloons so that you can pop them when the pinata is closed up and dry. But since our construction cone would be open anyway, I scavenged around the house for items that would help me shape it. </div>
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In case you're wondering, the top and bottom are two parts of Jadon's portable potty seat. Ha! They worked perfectly. Then I wrapped the form with newspaper, and whala! There is the cone shape.</div>
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Since the paste mixture took so long to cool, we then got ahead of cutting up strips of newspaper. I think that was Jadon's favorite part.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOmjee6XpIWUIzAT4mZcCJs2Jwz6kYP4KUvMB3Wq6wKW9EL0S3d_t86qWYkmnNz3EMwPGF5HrxdCQkb2CrQLr5XUk9uxaGVcgkIiR_mGmW5-RfZV5iHSkRN0O9Koo4wgrngPXS1rzh378/s1600/IMG_0526.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOmjee6XpIWUIzAT4mZcCJs2Jwz6kYP4KUvMB3Wq6wKW9EL0S3d_t86qWYkmnNz3EMwPGF5HrxdCQkb2CrQLr5XUk9uxaGVcgkIiR_mGmW5-RfZV5iHSkRN0O9Koo4wgrngPXS1rzh378/s320/IMG_0526.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The paste was still hot, but Jadon and I were both getting impatient, so we forged ahead. Usually you would dip the strips into the paste and drip as much excess off as possible. Jadon didn't think that was nearly as fun, though, as globbing it on.</div>
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Let's just say, it's a good thing I added the optional salt, because our little cone was soaked by the end!</div>
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During nap time, I took the opportunity to add a few more (drier) layers, and then on a whim, made a big giant layer with complete newspaper pages to smooth it all out.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuVeDCViaXLzOaWe3Erjll5HSjo1G2ib6hf08fXQfgDcdrLgB1HM-B5c-dwaCGC2c9GU2flkpHD0gn4zj6aJzIfWX4Fh9QSUk63fEtbiz-ThIKfLtI6cxmGAnoDt7_hYJY9TYwsEYSaNc/s1600/IMG_0549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuVeDCViaXLzOaWe3Erjll5HSjo1G2ib6hf08fXQfgDcdrLgB1HM-B5c-dwaCGC2c9GU2flkpHD0gn4zj6aJzIfWX4Fh9QSUk63fEtbiz-ThIKfLtI6cxmGAnoDt7_hYJY9TYwsEYSaNc/s320/IMG_0549.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Then, I decided to get ahead and put on the base of the cone (a giant square of cardboard cut from a spare box).</div>
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Everything was looking good until I realized...oh shoot! I didn't use balloons...I have to take the form out before sealing it up with the base.</div>
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Oops!</div>
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So, I peeled off the base again, and then decided to fortify the top with extra layers, since that's where the rope would be going through and it would be getting a lot of stress. (In hindsight, I should have added even more, because that's the only part that ended up ripping in the whole pinata.)</div>
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Then I added a few more vertical strips since it was still looking a little lopsided and saggy. (I'm pretty sure pinata making is more of a trial and error art form rather than an exact science!) Then I brought it outside into the sunshine to help it dry (which ended up taking almost 2 days!) (That's not usual...but considering how much paste Jadon used, I wasn't surprised!)</div>
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A couple days later, we were finally ready to take the form out, and add the base for real.</div>
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The next day, after that dried, was Jadon's other favorite part: painting it orange. (Actually, he painted it a lot of colors, and then I came back during naptime to cover it all up with more orange :))</div>
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After the paint was dry, we glued black construction paper onto the bottom. (Now that I think of it, it probably would have been just as easy, and just as nice, to just paint it black.)</div>
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And then came the really tedious, pain-in-the-hand part: cutting little "ruffles" into the orange crepe paper. Jadon wanted to/tried to help, but that ended up being really inconvenient, so I waited for another nap for this part. I took turns cutting slits 3/4 of the way through the streamer paper, and then running a bead of glue down the un-slit part, and then wrapping it around the cone, and then cutting some more, etc...<br />
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Along the top, I just glued down a length of the streamer on either side of the opening.<br />
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The next part, Jadon was more than happy to help with after his nap.<br />
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(Again, in hindsight, I would have added more layers to the top...and I think I would have drilled the holes further down to give the top of the pinata more strength.)<br />
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Then we filled the pinata with Jadon's favorite candy (lollipops) and toy tractors and tractor stickers (from Party City). Having Jadon help only cost me one lollipop and one tractor, which was better than I expected :)<br />
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And there it is, our semi-concave masterpiece:<br />
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Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-41657502200107425192013-06-16T21:33:00.000-07:002013-06-16T21:45:05.989-07:00Celebrating...Jadon!Jadon turned 3 on Saturday, June 8. Three years before, we had no clue that he even existed. But when we met him 16 days later, it was love at first sight, and we couldn't imagine life without him. We named him Jadon because he is our proof that "God has heard" all of our prayers. He is the perfect kid for us and we are SO grateful for the past three years that we have had with him...and God-willing, we look forward to many, many more!<br />
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Jadon's birthday kicked off a week of fun in his honor.<br />
Actually, the fun started the day before on his last day being 2. Wrestling with the decision of whether or not to go back to work next year, I decided to make it a "good mom day"--which is what I call days when I put aside my never-ending to-do lists and multi-tasking attempts and focus all my attention on Jadon and whatever he wants to do. (Sad to say, I don't have nearly enough of these. :( )<br />
So, when Jadon discovered an old can of purple paint (it used to be indigo blue)...and started body painting himself...my gut reaction was to stop him, until I realized that the only harm being done was either washable or in an area of our side yard that never sees anyone anyway. And so the painting continued. By the end he was a ridiculous mess...and a very happy boy! AND, this paint fun captivated him for nearly an hour! (Unless he's watching a favorite movie, Jadon's attention span NEVER lasts longer than maybe 15 minutes.) (If only I could discover more activities like this...that don't make quite as big of a mess! Too bad regular painting doesn't cut it.)<br />
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Besides old bikes/basketball hoops/concrete, the only real casualty of this fun was a pair of hand-me-down underwear (don't judge--they were bleached clean, and are perfect for this potty training stage!) :)<br />
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...and his hair. Apparently, while latex paint washes beautifully off of skin, it doesn't come out of kinky hair so well. But as much as I loved his beautiful curls, we were already planning on giving him a summer haircut, so this was the perfect excuse for all of our friends who begged us not to :).<br />
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The next morning, Jadon woke up to a bunch of balloons (be-yoons!!!) and a couple of small gifts, and then we made his favorite breakfast, waffles. <br />
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And then came the gift he had been longing/asking/begging/praying for for the past few months: Legoland tickets! And not just for one day...but for the whole year!<br />
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We finally broke down an splurged on the annual Merlin pass, which includes admission not only to Legoland but also SeaLife Aquarium and the WaterPark...and the best part ever, free parking! (At $15 a pop, that part is worth its weight in gold!) Usually the passes are $179/person (I know, ouch!), but military personnel are allowed to buy passes (for friends and family, too) for $137. Woohoo! Obviously, they still aren't giving them away, but I'll take the $40/person savings!<br />
Our friend Kristen decided to renew her pass that day so she and Molly could celebrate with us (her husband George was in the field), and she had 2 guest passes that were going to expire that day, so we invited Jon (Lindsey had to take her sister to the airport) and daughter Emma...so we ended up having a little party together.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqerxPLQjF_7-sWxjchCHeKlIaQyUMCbnjrLzv5WSfC35npuWkbVqrtdlnSVee9WnREcsBSaIM5voWKxfwZ0_fQGhELOuj8JqpN7GZ4ffoedvke_RofwcVSya4VEgbVtLR1zmDrZzJn8s/s1600/100_8776.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqerxPLQjF_7-sWxjchCHeKlIaQyUMCbnjrLzv5WSfC35npuWkbVqrtdlnSVee9WnREcsBSaIM5voWKxfwZ0_fQGhELOuj8JqpN7GZ4ffoedvke_RofwcVSya4VEgbVtLR1zmDrZzJn8s/s320/100_8776.JPG" width="320" /></a>Jadon didn't really care about the rides (being a Saturday, the lines were too long!), and just wanted to spend all his time at the dinosaur dig sand pit, the splash pads, and the parks.<br />
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Then we stopped for lunch (he got french fries and soda, his favorites), and we had cake balls with his friends (I wasn't going to do a cake, but decided to do cake balls at the last minute, just for fun).<br />
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We ended the day discovering a whole new splash pad with its own mini water park on our way out--and almost never made it out as Jadon discovered a whole new second wind. After Jim retrieved him without getting <i>completely</i> soaked, we promised him to come back soon (since we have passes now!), and Jadon conked out before we even made it through the exit. <span style="text-align: center;"> </span><br />
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<i>Unfortunately</i>, he woke up as soon as we made it to the car, and remained awake throughout the rest of the day, including another birthday dinner for a friend...at a nice-ish restaurant. That was exciting. (Thank goodness for Curious George episodes on YouTube...and Jim's phone that is finally cool enough to make use of such luxuries!)</div>
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As if that wasn't enough excitement, the next day after church, we headed to our county fair--the big Del Mar Fair--with a bunch of families from our small group. Jadon had a ton of fun on the kiddie rides (he seemed to gravitate toward the fun-house type attractions and "scarier" rides than his friends...), and then he conked out while we ate dinner and started going through the Expo (while Jim "generously" offered to hang out with him in front of the jumbotron screen broadcasting the NBA game). We pigged out on cotton candy and kettle corn and corn dogs, but refrained from buying thousand-dollar cookware sets (it was <i>so </i>awesome, though!) and frivolous manicure sets. We had a ton of fun with friends, and left exhausted but happy.<br />
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And then, as if <i>that</i> wasn't enough excitement, this last week we spent gearing up for Jadon's birthday party this weekend. I'll do a whole blog post on it when I get the good pictures from our friend who photographed the dat, but I'll just say, I had so.much.fun planning it, and I think Jadon had just as much fun enjoying it. We decided on a construction theme in honor of Jadon's affinity to all things tools/tractors/destruction :), and I'll just end with one picture from the entrance to the party:<br />
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Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-23809780420197081742013-06-10T22:06:00.000-07:002013-06-10T22:06:56.619-07:00Solidarity with the PoorToday marked the end of a 40-day journey Jim and I went on "in solidarity with the poor." At the same conference that Jim got the <i>Decisive</i> book, he also picked up a book called <i>A Place at the Table</i> by Chris Seay.<br />
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The book is more of a guide on this 40 day journey, with daily readings designed to help you explore the deeper issues behind our indulgence and to pray for those with less.<br />
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When Jim presented me with the idea that we go on this 40-day fast back at the end of April, I'll admit, I was in a bad mood. I didn't want to fast, especially as our 2-month celebration season was about to begin. But how could I say, <i>no thanks, I don't really care that much about the poor. I'd rather feed my fat face!</i>? So at Jim's encouragement, I read the introductory chapters, and God softened my heart.<br />
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This book doesn't encourage a complete 40-day fast (whew!), but rather a fast from indulgences, similar to what a kid in a third world country might eat. So we decided to imitate a diet similar to our Compassion and World Vision kids who live in different areas of Africa and Mexico. That left us with rice, beans, and (thank goodness for Mexico!) tortillas, along with basic fruits and vegetables. We intentionally eliminated meats and sweets, and I cut out any unnecessary and unplanned spending. (Only went to Walmart twice during this time to help me avoid temptation!) However, the fast also included feast days on Sundays (woohoo!), which frequently coincided with our celebrations. Even when they didn't, however, the fast was designed to be a beneficial tool, not a legalistic hindrance, and so we decided to allow for deviations when we were hanging out with others or celebrating something special.<br />
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All in all, it was a great experience. Toward the end, especially, we had a lot of <strike>cheating</strike> deviations, and to be honest, we only made it to day 20 of the readings (the readings were good but didn't particularly inspire us, perhaps in large part because we read them together before bed, and with our hectic schedule, it was often all we could do to keep our eyelids open).<br />
Yesterday was day 40, so today we were free, but we decided to do it again after all our celebrations and vacations are over in August, but only a week at a time. We will finish the readings! :) For dinner, we celebrated with BBQ chicken and our first al fresco dining of the year.<br />
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As hard as the rice and beans diet got by the end, it was a great exercise in self discipline and tempering our desires, and it made me far more thoughtful of the plight of starving kids around the world, which is a key theme of our next movie, Prom Dare. It was also a great thing to do together with Jim, and it got us back in the habit of praying together every night (hopefully, that habit will continue to stick!).Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-54817662555633482802013-06-10T16:03:00.001-07:002013-06-10T16:03:28.929-07:00DecisiveI would NEVER use the word "decisive" to describe myself. "Indecisive" hits the nail squarely on the head. But I have come out of my little 3-day <a href="http://brittsadventureride.blogspot.com/2013/06/valley-of-decision.html">Valley of Decision</a> quite well, thanks to this book that Jim's mom recommended to me called (ha!) <i>Decisive</i>, by Chip and Dan Heath.<br />
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Jim and his dad both got it at the Catalyst conference they attended in April, and it has been sitting on our bookshelf unread and unnoticed until Jim's mom suggested that it was amazing and it my help with my decision of "to teach or not to teach." Seeing as how Saturday was Jadon's birthday and Sunday we went to the fair with our small group after church, I didn't have much time to read an entire book (I haven't found time for that for over a year!), but at her suggestion, I skimmed it until I found a section that seemed especially interesting, and then--wonder of wonders!--my <a href="http://brittsadventureride.blogspot.com/2013/06/sleepless-inoceanside.html">Mr. Sleepless</a> actually slept in until almost 9 am on Sunday, which gave me time to actually read said section. (A full day at Legoland with only a 5 minute nap may have contributed a little to this little miracle, but such exhausting days rarely phase my little guy, so I think this was definitely God showering favor on me!)<br />
In the book, the Heath brothers use the acronym WRAP to guide you in a better decision-making process than simply listing pros and cons.<br />
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W= Widen your Options</div>
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R= Reality-Test Your Assumptions</div>
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A= Attain Distance Before Deciding</div>
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P= Prepare to Be Wrong</div>
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The principles covered in the A section grabbed my attention, so I skipped to those chapters...and they were great! SO helpful!</div>
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10-10-10: Ask yourself how you would feel after making a certain choice in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. I easily acknowledged that if I decided to accept the job, in 10 minutes I would feel stressed and overwhelmed. (In fact, just<i> thinking </i>about taking it almost ruined my summer as I became overwhelmed with everything I would need to do!) 10 months from now (right around Spring Break), I would likely feel exhausted, stressed, discouraged, bummed out at all I was missing, feel like I was failing as a wife and mother, and straining just to survive until the looming finish line. Of course, I <i>would</i> probably be driving a new car, which would be great, but in light of all the other negative feelings, it didn't even seem that wonderful. 10 years from now, I figured, I'd probably long be over this year...unless of course I made some major mistakes that ultimately scarred Jadon or my marriage. Then I would still be regretting the decision.</div>
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On the flip side, I quickly surmised that the instant I said "no" to the job, I would probably feel an immense sense of relief, and a renewed joy for all the plans and adventures I had for this summer and this next year. In 10 months, I will probably still be driving my old car--and probably complaining about it some--but I love my current life and I'm sure I will continue to love it throughout this next year. I am excited about Jadon being in preschool 2 mornings a week, freeing up just a couple of hours for me to get "stuff" done--including some Pinterest-y type projects. I am excited about making the most of our new Legoland passes and renewed zoo passes, and using them with friends. I am excited about hanging out with Jim's sister and our nieces more, now that they moved down to San Clemente. I am excited about joining Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesday mornings, and Jadon getting to be a part of the amazing kids' program. I am excited about some changes to my role in ministry, including a few potential major shifts. I am hoping that God will open up a door with our next movie (Prom Dare) and my role with that...Bottom line, I have a TON of stuff I am excited about for this next year--and a full-time job wouldn't fit with any of it! And finally, in 10 years, I am pretty sure I will have a new car by then (which will still be somewhat new if I have to wait longer to get it, ha!), and various house projects will probably be accomplished (just on a slower time table as we save money gradually). And I know I will have zero regrets about not taking the job.</div>
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SOOOOO, the 10-10-10 principle definitely pointed me in the direction of not taking the job.</div>
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But I kept on reading, and was struck by the next principle:</div>
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What would you tell your best friend to do:</div>
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This was easy. If any of my closest friends came to me with the question of whether or not to take the job, I would be supportive and see the value of either decision, but I would advise them that the job wasn't worth it. Their kids would only be young once, and they have many years ahead of them to work full time. Even though this job was easy, they would be more than capable of getting another job later, when the time was better.</div>
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Hm! What a concept! And as I thought about it, I realized that in the midst of all the advice I was getting, this was exactly what my closest friends were telling me. My decision was getting clearer...</div>
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And then Jadon kept sleeping, so I kept reading, and LOVED the next principle:</div>
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Honor your core priorities:</div>
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Oh man! Of course! So, one of my core priorities in life is to stay out of debt, and this job would definitely help me do that. But....I could also honor that priority <i>without </i>taking the job--by simply being content with what I already have, including my 16-year-old car. As long as it's running, I can live with it while we save up again for my new one. And, worst case scenario, it breaks down, I <i>can</i> get a small car loan that I can pay off quickly. And knowing how God works, I wouldn't be surprised if he keeps my car running long past when it should, just to keep teaching me about contentment!</div>
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AND...even more important than my priority to stay out of debt is my priority to be the best wife and mother that I can be (which is second only to being the best child of God that I can be...and even that order sometimes gets skewed!). And taking this job would definitely NOT help me do that. No matter how hard I tried, I would be making sacrifices of Jim and Jadon. And that is not worth it to me.</div>
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At about this point, Jadon woke up, and since then, I have only managed to skim a few more chapters of the book--which have only served to back up these three deciding principles.</div>
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SOOOO, this morning (after working my last sub job of the year!) I called the district office and declined the job. Fortunately, it was a voice mail, so I didn't even have to explain my reasons to a person. After hanging up, I felt light and relieved, and Jim, Jadon, and I went out and did yard work together. </div>
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For the first time in my life, I am a Stay-At-Home-Mom by choice (up until now it was "forced" upon my by way of lay-off). And I am thrilled. I have a great life, and I am content just the way it is for now! I look forward to seeing what adventures God brings my way this year, and I am excited that I will be free enough to able to jump into them with reckless abandon!</div>
Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-19793188638417713652013-06-07T17:01:00.002-07:002013-06-07T17:01:39.278-07:00Valley of DecisionI have wanted to be (and planned on being) a stay-at-home mom for as long as I can remember. But I've also always wanted to be a teacher (when my sister was like 4 or 5 and I was 9 or 10 I used to type up math worksheets for her to do and loved grading them with a red pen! No wonder she ended up being Valedictorian!)<br />
So I have often told people that getting laid off 3 years ago--after 11 years of teaching!-- 2 weeks before we got Jadon was such a blessing from God, because He knew how hard it would've been for me to actually give up my job.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">For the past three years I have been fortunate to get to stay home with Jadon. Money has been tight, but we have done great, and I wouldn't trade it for anything...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">And then I got a phone call yesterday...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">Just as the time I'm on the lay-off call-back list expires, I got offered a temporary contract to teach English at El Camino High School next year. ECHS isn't my original school, but it's the one right down the street from our church and the one most of our students go to.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">In the past 24 hours, Jim and I have adamantly decided both ways were the way to go. And our loved ones have agreed wholeheartedly--on both sides. I am SO torn!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">On the one hand, the part of me that's a teacher has been awakened and is being pulled back into that roll. And the ministry opportunities are great. And not to mention how nice the paycheck would be! (This past year we invested my car fund in our next movie Prom Dare...which took a turn for the worst and is now lost until God sees fit to open some new doors...And my 16 year old, 200K+mi. Saturn is definitely showing it's age...)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">On the other hand, I only have 2 years left with Jadon before he starts school, and I know they're going to fly by. (Just went to our first of many yearly graduations last night, and I remember when this girl was in elementary school. How is she grown up now?!!) And I know I, personally, will not be as good of a mom if I'm pouring my life into 200 other teenagers each day.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">There are a ton of other factors that weigh into this decision (like, if I turn this job down, I am permanently off of the call back list and I lose all of my accrued sick time...And my mom would love to stay down here and watch Jadon--and she is WAY better than me at engaging preschool-aged kids at imaginative and educational play, and Jadon loves her and would have a ball hanging out at my parents place each day...And Jadon was going to start preschool 2 days a week this year anyways...But I was going to start BSF this year, and we just invested in Legoland and zoo passes...And...)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">I can't tell you how many times I've made up my mind today...only to change it a minute later.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">I have to decide by Monday...We shall see...</span>Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-63245522609010161562013-06-07T16:56:00.002-07:002013-06-07T16:56:59.532-07:00Sleepless In...OceansideOkay, I don't know what's up with my kiddo, but he DEFINITELY isn't sleeping as much as {I think} he should! He has never been a great sleeper, but had arrived at the point of sleeping about 11 hours at night (from 9pm to 8am) and almost 2 hour nap each day. During what must have been a growth spurt (judging by the enormous intake of food and the shortening of his jeans!) that got even better.<br />
But that growth spurt is definitely over!<br />
Now, he barely eats...and his sleeping is even less. We're talking *maybe* asleep by 10pm, and up by 6 (I need more sleep than that at night, so i can't win!) and then *maybe* a 1 1/2 hour nap if I'm lucky. So. Not. Cool. Then, about once a week (totally unpredictably...and, may I add at the most inconvenient times!) he gets a mini reset and naps for closer to three hours. And then we're back to the squeeze-every-second-out-of-every-day routine. Ugh, crazy kid!<br />
I'm sure this is just a phase, but we are already in week 6 of the phase, and I'm really over it.<br />
Is this normal?<br />
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(before the lack-of-sleep bug hit...</div>
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btw, his blue lips are from the lollipop he got for going poopoo in the potty :))</div>
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<br />Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-45727098919941493642013-06-06T21:40:00.000-07:002013-06-10T21:42:05.832-07:00"Somebody's moving closer!"For the past month, Jadon has been excitedly declaring "Somebody's moving closer!" frequently at random times throughout the day. He has been so excited for his cousin Kylie (and cousin Evie, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Becky) to move from Torrance down to San Clemente. This relocation shortens the distance between us from nearly 2 hours to less than 45 minutes, and we are all looking forward hanging out with them more!<br />
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Moving day was Tuesday, June 4, so to help out a bit, we took the girls while the movers moved everything into their new house. The cousins had tons of fun playing in the water and on the trampoline and at the park. Jim came home from work early, and then after dinner, we all went to youth group at church before taking the girls back to their house.<br />
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Now, Jadon keeps saying "Somebody's moving closer!" but I think it's his way of saying "Somebody <i>moved</i> closer and I can't wait to see her again!"<br />
<br />Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-81251089075788332022013-06-04T17:12:00.000-07:002013-06-10T17:21:18.792-07:0011June 1st marked our 11th wedding anniversary. But thanks to ministry scheduling, that significant day coincided with our Senior Weekend at church, where our graduating seniors run the adult services with worship, drama, testimonies, and sermons. All 4 services are different, with different speakers, and as usual, this year was great. In fact, I think this was one of our best years yet. We've had a few solid graduating classes, but this one I think is our largest solid class. One small evidence of that is the sheer number of students actually moving on to a 4-year university. Usually, most end up at our local community colleges, but this year close to 75% of the students involved in the service are moving away to college. That's pretty impressive here in Oceanside. And most of them are doing pretty well spiritually. The crazy thing is that 18 months ago, we weren't sure who would be here. It's all testimony to the amazing life change God can do in a short period of time.<br />
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Anyways, after all was said and done on Sunday, Jadon went down for his nap, my mom came over to watch him, and we loaded up the Jeep for our traditional outing to the drive-in theater down in Imperial Beach (right across from the Mexican border). We got there around 4, early enough to check into our budget Days Inn and watch a couple episodes of Law & Order before heading to Pizza Hut for our customary dinner and Jack In The Box for our necessary Oreo Shakes (which was our first "unofficial" date over 16 years ago).<br />
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Then we thoroughly enjoyed watching Now You See Me and Iron Man 3<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ug5cqF5k04EtHewixaUOdmi_fDoJMykfBfTXyl9Kjp2LytEI4Fqv2xHAwo9FplqN5jJ738RMfZxW8A5oyBs8HcUnKpNGHGmFnYb268sxsD3UsZnKTDrcQOt6_Lrt4NHX9TG3xhVkstM/s1600/now-you-see-me-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ug5cqF5k04EtHewixaUOdmi_fDoJMykfBfTXyl9Kjp2LytEI4Fqv2xHAwo9FplqN5jJ738RMfZxW8A5oyBs8HcUnKpNGHGmFnYb268sxsD3UsZnKTDrcQOt6_Lrt4NHX9TG3xhVkstM/s320/now-you-see-me-poster.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzk4VG85OqExMNkwNHLZVsDAotu-fJO9cLjUCJMSb2CWubcWLh4BQ2wvVuxxjK1Hf3bNx_PgDM3M_M6Sw13B9Qb_0qe9j_Osh7eOD7tkAAvboYZo1bxG5QIiBgDXCGYXUOTORIIKpnZY8/s1600/iron_man_3_poster__fanmade__by_oakanshield-d5xsvp8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzk4VG85OqExMNkwNHLZVsDAotu-fJO9cLjUCJMSb2CWubcWLh4BQ2wvVuxxjK1Hf3bNx_PgDM3M_M6Sw13B9Qb_0qe9j_Osh7eOD7tkAAvboYZo1bxG5QIiBgDXCGYXUOTORIIKpnZY8/s320/iron_man_3_poster__fanmade__by_oakanshield-d5xsvp8.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
(actually, Jim slept through that one entirely but it was to be expected with the busy weekend he'd had!)...and then we drove across the street to our little hotel and got to sleep in until 8:30 (!!!) (Luxury when you have a toddler!) and eat our little free continental breakfast, and then we checked out and headed to a Starbucks and worked on our Prom Dare movie script for five hours before heading home to Jadon. (So far we have no real promising leads for movie funding, but we figure we want to do everything in our power to be ready for success to enable God to do everything in his power to grant us success.)<br />
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It was a wonderfully refreshing little budget get away, and a perfect snapshot of the things we're enjoying in our life right now.Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-37167019488026034692013-05-31T16:47:00.000-07:002013-06-10T16:49:49.022-07:00May DaysAfter my birthday weekend and Mothers' Day, our celebrations just kept rolling. The weekend of the 18-19th, Jim's mom came for a visit.<br />
On Saturday, we headed to the San Diego Safari Park. It's a lot more wide open than the zoo, so you don't end up seeing as many animals, but I love all the lush trees and bushes and nature all around you.<br />
I took my nifty new camera our for a test drive, and even though Jim made fun of my touristy appearance, I had fun snapping lots of shots. I'm not sure they ended up any better than my little Kodak point and shoot, but I had fun feeling like they were better! :)<br />
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(Jadon's favorite animal, the lion, aka "rawr" aka "Simba". It was so cool how close you could get to them behind the glass!)</div>
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(Last time I had come to the Safari Park, the splash pad hadn't been open. Note to self: next time bring a change of clothes! Jadon LOVES water and WILL get wet!)</div>
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On Sunday, we did the normal church routine, and then in the evening, Sue encouraged us to go out on a date while she bonded with Jadon. They had fun going to the park and stuff, and we went to see The Great Gatsby (Jim's choice!). Baz Luhrmann did a great job of recreating Fitzgerald's classic story, even if it wasn't purely tied to the text, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Thank you Grandma B!</div>
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The next weekend was Memorial Day, which we celebrated on Monday by going to the zoo with friends from our small group, George, Kristen, and Molly, and Jon, Lindsey, Emma, and Jeremiah and Lindsey's sister Bethany. Now that we all have passes, we moms look forward to many more of these trips...and the guys were sure troopers along for the ride.</div>
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Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-56751326341108485342013-05-15T17:10:00.000-07:002013-06-10T15:02:05.925-07:00Celebrating...Me!The month of May begins a 2-month long string of parties for the Britts household. (Seriously, Jim counted, and 7 out of 8 weekends we are celebrating something. And the one weekend without a celebration, Jim's mom is coming down for a visit. So we'll call that a celebration, too!) Our schedule of Festivities this year looks like this:<br />
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Sunday, May 5: My birthday</div>
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Sunday, May 12: Mothers' Day</div>
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[Sat/Sun, May 18-19: Jim's mom visits]</div>
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Monday, May 27: Memorial Day (yay for long weekends, although for a pastor's family where Monday is Jim's usual day off, I guess they don't really mean that much, ha!)</div>
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Saturday, June 1: Our 11th anniversary</div>
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(Sat/Sun, June 1-2: Senior Weekend at church, meaning Jim will be there ALL WEEKEND helping our graduating seniors put on an awesome service for the whole church.) (No, he didn't forget that this was our anniversary weekend.) </div>
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Saturday, June 8: Jadon's 3rd birthday (we're going to the county fair with friends)</div>
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Saturday, June 15: Jadon's birthday party (we postponed it so that my parents could come.) (Spoiler alert: it's a tractor/construction theme, and my dad just bought a tractor...)</div>
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Sunday, June 16: Father's Day</div>
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Sunday, June 23: Jim's birthday</div>
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Whew! Nothing like packing it in!</div>
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For my sister's and posterity's sake, I'll try to keep the blog updated with pictures (those are really the only 2 reasons I even try!) :)</div>
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Here are some pictures from our first two weekends, the ones celebrating me :)</div>
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Since becoming a mom, something has kind switched in my brain, and now my idea of a great celebration in my honor is simply a fun day with my boys (as long as Jim takes care of all the discipline and poopy diaper issues, ha!). I guess I waited for motherhood for so long that whenever I think about it, Jadon is the best gift I want. </div>
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Of course, this year, I did want another big gift...and since I still don't have a new car because we invested my car fund in hiring a script writer that Sony wanted and then Sony turned us down anyway (no, I'm not bitter!), Jim was very accommodating. So, a month before my birthday, I ordered my beautiful Canon T4i camera, and I love it! (That doesn't mean I totally know how to work it yet--still trying to figure out how to use flash!--but I'm learning...)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLO021sj_lUImTDEBEEP0uNYfQjYlUzUyp3a1Lho3K6LCoBbFccGD5fZd_Vz1AngALyI_MFES9xtM_-6qritGi5qf0eGsjzd32N99Eg2YrZ7gFZkp2R7DI2g7bArHlHO4R4LxwiMpVKiA/s1600/canon+t5i.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLO021sj_lUImTDEBEEP0uNYfQjYlUzUyp3a1Lho3K6LCoBbFccGD5fZd_Vz1AngALyI_MFES9xtM_-6qritGi5qf0eGsjzd32N99Eg2YrZ7gFZkp2R7DI2g7bArHlHO4R4LxwiMpVKiA/s320/canon+t5i.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then, for my actual birthday, I got a bunch more super special treats (on the more sentimental side). Jadon slept the entire night in his own bed (1st time in months...which he then followed up with 3 more in the past 2 weeks!). That means he ended up waking up really early, so then Jim "helped" him make me breakfast in bed. (Jadon was SO excited about the eggs he made!) Then, we all got to go to church as a family (1st time in years?) because Jim was preaching at a little church plant that our church has helped. That was great! Then, per my request, we had Pizza Hut for lunch (a very special treat when you're trying to eat healthy!) and brownies and ice cream that Jim and Jadon had made for me the day before when I was out at a bridal shower. And as if all that wasn't enough, then Jim gave me a card and an inflatable inner tube, with the note that he is finally acquiescing to my <strike>nagging</strike> hinting that we should look into putting a small pool in our back yard. Wahoo! You have no idea how long I've been working on that one!!! (The only catch is, he said "when we have more money"...which at our rate might be awhile. But I am NOT letting that deter me!) :) </div>
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Then we went over to my parents' house to feed the turtles, and it started raining. And while I am usually a solar-powered person who hates cloudy, gray days, the damp weather did not dampen my spirits at all. I had a perfect day with my wonderful family, and I felt SO blessed.<br />
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So much so that it felt weird to get celebrated again a mere 7 days later. Once more, Jadon slept straight through the night in his own bed (I have to admit, I miss the cuddles!)...which meant he was up at the crack of dawn (and tired later!)...but I seized the moment and we made <a href="http://brittsadventureride.blogspot.com/2013/03/banana-pancakes.html">banana pancakes</a> and a new cookie recipe before church (Jim was back to his normal at-church-before-7am mode). Then Jadon crashed for an early nap, and then we went to the beach with my parents. While it was sunny and hot at our house, a mere 7 miles west at the beach it was cool and foggy, but we still had a great time. </div>
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Then we came back and I took a bubble bath...with Jadon :)<br />
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while my dad barbecued filet mignon steaks. Mmmmm...It was a laid back day that was another perfect way to not only celebrate me but also my own mom.</div>
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Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-19791627523124924432013-04-25T16:26:00.000-07:002013-04-25T17:04:07.400-07:00RAGNARly!So, after a ridiculously fun experience last year, Jim and I decided to run the SoCal Ragnar again this year. In case you missed it, Ragnar is a 12-person relay over 200 miles from Huntington Beach down to the San Diego Harbor. (I admit it, we runners are crazy: We pay $120 to run miles with no sleep and surround ourselves with sweaty, smelly friends, all for the "free" t-shirt and post-race snacks...and we call it fun! Twisted, I know.)<br />
Our original plan was to wrangle a bunch of our former Biola cross-country teammates and make it into a reunion of sorts. But after a lot of initial interest, when push came to shove and it was time to collect the moolah, go figure, not everyone finds what I described above as unmissable fun. So we ended up with Jim, me, and Trevor (who lives here in Vista and runs with Jim every Thursday at 5am) (Yes, even in the cold, dark winter. They're super crazy!). That left 9 more spots, which we somehow filled with other crazies like us. A few from church, a few friends of friends, etc...(BTW, several from our team from last year stepped up the craziness and formed their own Ultra team--6 people running the same distance instead of 12! We graciously declined on that foolishness ;)).<br />
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Along with finding 12 crazy runners, we also had to find 3 volunteers to help at the race and 2 drivers to drive us around between legs. All in all, that's a lot of crazy (and perhaps somewhat naive/not-fully-informed-of-the-craziness-of-it-all) people...Which is a huge part of what makes this whole experience so fun. It was such a bonding experience, and I feel like not only did we have fun but we also came away with deeper friendships. And I am especially grateful that I got to do it with Jim. Jim is leagues ahead of me in running--or anything athletic or competitive for that matter!--but it was so great to be able to work together as teammates. In fact, we had such a great time, that we are contemplating maybe even doing another Ragnar (like the Las Vegas one perhaps?) later this year...<br />
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Jim and I ended up in Van 1, along with George and Jake (from our small group, their wives are my good friends Kristen and Sarah, and their kids are Jadon's good friends Molly and Andrew), Matt (George's acquaintance from the Marines who we all barely met on Friday morning before the race), and Jeff (a former student Jim helped to coach at El Camino High School like 6 years ago). We also had Jake's wife Sarah as our driver for legs 1 and 2, which was really nice, because that meant I got to hang out with one of my best friends all day--without our kids! For leg 3, Jim's dad joined us as driver (he was in town for a conference...and Sarah needed to get home to her kiddos).<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">("The difference between us and you: We make this look good!") </span></div>
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<span style="color: orange;">(Our team name was "The Good Looking Team." Obviously, we meant it as a joke, but the announcer at the start line said, "Well, with a name like that, you guys better put up or shut up!" Little did we know what was to come...)</span></div>
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Van 2 was Trevor, Scott (the brother of our Biola teammate Steve who couldn't make it out from DC for the race), Brittany (friend from church who didn't get to run Ragnar last year but really wanted to), Molly (friend of Brittany), Lauren (friend of friend), and Jerame (last minute sub in and friend of Lauren). </div>
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It is so amazing--and cool!--how running can bring perfect strangers together and by the end we felt like best buds.<br />
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Approximately 650 teams started Ragnar SoCal. To spread things out, 20-30 teams start every 15-30 minutes from 5am to 2pm on Friday. We had a 9am start time...<br />
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Matt led us out like a champ, coming through the checkpoint in 2nd for our heat...<br />
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He passed off to Jim, who proceeded to pass 6 runners from the previous heat (called "roadkill") before passing off to Jeff, who passed like 10 more before passing of to Jake, who passed some more before passing off to me...who passed 4 (woohoo!) before passing off to George, who passed like 10-20 more.<br />
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<span style="color: orange;">(This is Jim before his first leg. Notice his shirt: "When you see me, yell, 'Go Jim, Go Jim!'")</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCuDSYxgfPPvlWeBhyphenhyphenwyq71OpHNr_hIYnfDRiIANLac9HdrjqHn4HOKx-HBEfMv0ZX3GDpA026xuD0rLgQdpFezqAY0QVDkPw4zmLoK92NOg0qOjptnUwcePPphM_5E1fxWVUCDwJ32Mw/s1600/20130419_111642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCuDSYxgfPPvlWeBhyphenhyphenwyq71OpHNr_hIYnfDRiIANLac9HdrjqHn4HOKx-HBEfMv0ZX3GDpA026xuD0rLgQdpFezqAY0QVDkPw4zmLoK92NOg0qOjptnUwcePPphM_5E1fxWVUCDwJ32Mw/s320/20130419_111642.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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At that point we passed off to Van 2 at Yorba Linda Regional Park around noon, and it was starting to get broiling hot!!! The park looks cool and refreshing, but the moment you stepped out from the shade, you were being cooked alive. It was fun to see 2 of our volunteers there, Kristen (George's wife) and one of our collective favorite babysitters, Allison, who graduated from our youth ministry (not sure how she got suckered into this...except that Jim is very persuasive, and she is very awesome!). They got stuck making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for like 5 hours, lucky them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivMFiiVy_rdr09solAjPsOac_neajQ77gi6nR2YiQ9ZxURjz-o84_hBaQtcc535Q9mwiIEiviBua9ussTY-Rv3KFFMqMaMOfJYNokRkf-Dq9YoamBcRUd-DrLjbj8WAUNTQc_L6-scDos/s1600/IMG_0066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivMFiiVy_rdr09solAjPsOac_neajQ77gi6nR2YiQ9ZxURjz-o84_hBaQtcc535Q9mwiIEiviBua9ussTY-Rv3KFFMqMaMOfJYNokRkf-Dq9YoamBcRUd-DrLjbj8WAUNTQc_L6-scDos/s320/IMG_0066.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL7AzM4JEzILmLS7lOFJhaqjLkAOqGhjpxfyAqKTkQtIO0kwBZfzGueZMG2_8563d4S5Mt2vCtAoDyAc4jTdIWA80X-q7CpQneRORr2yk8Sgtg3sHcP8-mhKtVdeM-2r_BOaDxanep2oM/s1600/IMG_0065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL7AzM4JEzILmLS7lOFJhaqjLkAOqGhjpxfyAqKTkQtIO0kwBZfzGueZMG2_8563d4S5Mt2vCtAoDyAc4jTdIWA80X-q7CpQneRORr2yk8Sgtg3sHcP8-mhKtVdeM-2r_BOaDxanep2oM/s320/IMG_0065.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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After hanging out with them for awhile, we headed down the road toward our next big exchange and stopped at Jake's uncle's house at Lake Elsinore. The thermometer read 90 in the shade, but it was so pleasant eating Subway on his deck overlooking a little inlet...much better than running in the scorching heat like our teammates!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisnkjxuNt5jyDXfS7EaDqIA5UlvBBdQtIxlqXJLm4R1VKrPWAgKQ1vDYLdNt_QU8V371NCBikmAmeNIxH0EOUn6sivV-RJfuX9omXBq2LmthbrMn-me2EHTqKnizrxSujNlZiF9kelskU/s1600/IMG_0071.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisnkjxuNt5jyDXfS7EaDqIA5UlvBBdQtIxlqXJLm4R1VKrPWAgKQ1vDYLdNt_QU8V371NCBikmAmeNIxH0EOUn6sivV-RJfuX9omXBq2LmthbrMn-me2EHTqKnizrxSujNlZiF9kelskU/s320/IMG_0071.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Oh yeah, that's also where we got tattoo'd!<br />
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We were expecting to be there for awhile as the heat slowed them down, but based on their updates we discovered they only slowed down 10 minutes off of their projected pace over their 40 or so miles...and they had tracked down A TON more roadkill (Scott alone passed 60 people on his leg...and then literally puked his guts out. Crazy runners.)<br />
So before we knew it, we were up and running again, from Lake Elsinore down the 15 to the Fallbrook area just east of our house.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKOeqgjS_LcUzSLZ_m2fIaUkz28KKa_t4VyxRB4ZiPUIEeCizmVvels4F1pOhjRN6GqcHeeKzB2Zklw8ii1Ix9sI9SZbdTnxqLQnrweL-TXn-wdkFyhFmeRmj_DkWhQ1HoQqRNULDAto/s1600/IMG_0086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiKOeqgjS_LcUzSLZ_m2fIaUkz28KKa_t4VyxRB4ZiPUIEeCizmVvels4F1pOhjRN6GqcHeeKzB2Zklw8ii1Ix9sI9SZbdTnxqLQnrweL-TXn-wdkFyhFmeRmj_DkWhQ1HoQqRNULDAto/s320/IMG_0086.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
That second leg was my favorite. Whereas my other 2 legs were each half uphill, this one was 7.8 miles of continuous gradual decline. Running that at 11pm was a sweet, surreal experience!<br />
As we continued to pass more and more people (and not BE passed by anyone), Jim's competitive juices started flowing, and we started doing some math. We estimated that maybe 250 teams had started ahead of us, and we had already passed about 150-200 runners, and the crowd was definitely starting to thin out...so at each exchange, Jim started asking the volunteers how many teams had passed by so far. By 10pm, there were 55 teams in front of us...and we kept picking more off. The guys especially were going crazy!<br />
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After finishing our second legs, we stopped by our house to get a quick shower and an hour or two of sleep. But then at 1:05 am, Jim got the call that Van 2's last runner had just started their leg and we needed to get to Carlsbad fast. We had assumed they might slow down a little bit, since they had pushed so hard through the heat...but no! They had picked up the pace...and passed a ton more runners! So we all jumped into action (as much as half-asleep tired bodies can "jump") (BTW, try waking up an exhausted Marine who's come back from Iraq...it's a wee bit scary, let me say!), and we dropped Matt off at the exchange mere seconds before Scott came in. </div>
The third leg is notoriously the most difficult (my words were carefully chosen there--you wouldn't believe how many teams embraced awkward slogans about how hard "it" is...), since your body is going into shutdown mode from exhaustion, but by the time we finished just as the sun was rising on the coast, we were in tenth place...as in, we had passed everyone but 10 teams who had started up to 4 hours ahead of us--and NO ONE had passed us! I'm not that competitive, and even I was excited. No pressure on Van 2 or anything, but we were gunning for the front!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5cSAL0kPSqUCPaesCUktISv6WGR7bqlDeVUDE5ndNkX0MK8wiQdqnm-gpg_N0_m_OshkR0IuNvDzZNP6R8pf4Rp93QAubXtcY3bkSPpSEksWRB6B97DKRX7M78yf1d8iY9oBwfaiEf7w/s1600/IMG_0126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5cSAL0kPSqUCPaesCUktISv6WGR7bqlDeVUDE5ndNkX0MK8wiQdqnm-gpg_N0_m_OshkR0IuNvDzZNP6R8pf4Rp93QAubXtcY3bkSPpSEksWRB6B97DKRX7M78yf1d8iY9oBwfaiEf7w/s320/IMG_0126.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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So while they held up their pace, we celebrated with free Starbucks on the cliffs, </div>
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a free sunrise massage,<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfmU4hbPdGAantSKBzRgoGcumUVL8WFcAAvTBoMpm9Edlo66y-qSDMQc8afVdi9JHB3DMbLnpH0Eu7uunsUW_u2scLqtrINjwzPWBd5J1bJzQDIHzu566qS2IQqCr9EVFeOahQq5mT7UE/s1600/IMG_0156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfmU4hbPdGAantSKBzRgoGcumUVL8WFcAAvTBoMpm9Edlo66y-qSDMQc8afVdi9JHB3DMbLnpH0Eu7uunsUW_u2scLqtrINjwzPWBd5J1bJzQDIHzu566qS2IQqCr9EVFeOahQq5mT7UE/s320/IMG_0156.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
and an indulgent breakfast at Denny's before making our way to the Harbor finish line. That's probably the best part of being in Van 1: getting to finish early and eat anything you want and just relax as you wait for the other team.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rFDk1uzAIYxM6IA43OaU_d9HA7whyphenhyphene2YJmDku92Y9tHj_j1tJpcJwTpDBw4-bckPomaRuvbZSPbOcP7UaEYIP715LXw3s_GDZ0-p8ZSjC8GCV_MI5VRZG0-7oKfxtxsSG95xiOSQueI/s1600/IMG_0175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rFDk1uzAIYxM6IA43OaU_d9HA7whyphenhyphene2YJmDku92Y9tHj_j1tJpcJwTpDBw4-bckPomaRuvbZSPbOcP7UaEYIP715LXw3s_GDZ0-p8ZSjC8GCV_MI5VRZG0-7oKfxtxsSG95xiOSQueI/s320/IMG_0175.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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And they did not make us wait long. At 11:02 am, we joined Scott in crossing the finish line, a mere 26 hours after starting this grueling race, and only 3 teams crossing that line before us. It was SO exhilarating!<br />
(When all was said and done, we found out that our finishing time put us in 2nd place for our division, which was actually MEN'S Open since we didn't have enough females to be counted as a mixed team...and 13th place overall out of 650 teams!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX0sD8x8W4y487hzcPGNM71Dxg48xTbl6tA30NOpXwkZI7MNpOrTTMip68CoslCvtPeVGYYRFEin6KaW9Z4jKse7eEy928yeKuZ1YdOW7iBSjULO3ga3GsfeCkZ7qhvP5kPE38kvqbq9I/s1600/IMG_0216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX0sD8x8W4y487hzcPGNM71Dxg48xTbl6tA30NOpXwkZI7MNpOrTTMip68CoslCvtPeVGYYRFEin6KaW9Z4jKse7eEy928yeKuZ1YdOW7iBSjULO3ga3GsfeCkZ7qhvP5kPE38kvqbq9I/s320/IMG_0216.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Of course, while we're all celebrating and bragging to ourselves about how awesome we are, we suddenly realized we had no idea where Scott had gone...until we found him practically passed out in the First Aid tent.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRWCsGZHUhyphenhyphenmg_dhcihi2sm392cnQGE48qhit2Zr0acgwdQtHlMbPqMyPfpZRKoC_Fw3iUq9MYlNL0H5-FnkM6JR3kq00HX6C7kJIzwWT5jzep_qDu18M3mnWGVILEmV1vDjnJj3cnOY/s1600/IMG_0199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwRWCsGZHUhyphenhyphenmg_dhcihi2sm392cnQGE48qhit2Zr0acgwdQtHlMbPqMyPfpZRKoC_Fw3iUq9MYlNL0H5-FnkM6JR3kq00HX6C7kJIzwWT5jzep_qDu18M3mnWGVILEmV1vDjnJj3cnOY/s320/IMG_0199.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqB9f5y2slnyOMWLbzp_fxxXi1IaYfsYD-6-Y8LlI4SyYfeOS3-u30u7LDHCy30Zd1vcV2vlFVhx5Cnp-zfrx1zm-PJPycyI1VAhlQct4Eexx6z1Ou28cbjVyqdfaW0d3nB0dpIftpXA/s1600/IMG_0200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqB9f5y2slnyOMWLbzp_fxxXi1IaYfsYD-6-Y8LlI4SyYfeOS3-u30u7LDHCy30Zd1vcV2vlFVhx5Cnp-zfrx1zm-PJPycyI1VAhlQct4Eexx6z1Ou28cbjVyqdfaW0d3nB0dpIftpXA/s320/IMG_0200.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
That was what I loved about our team this year. We aren't a bunch of running elites. Shoot, for that matter, half of our team hasn't even been running for very long. Lauren has had a foot injury and hadn't run at all for the previous 5 weeks. Jake started running last year and his leg broke mysteriously on mile 22 of his first marathon. Matt and George are Marines who were deployed last year. Bottom line...it's not like we really, truly trained for this. We're just a little bit crazy enough to find enjoyment in running...and even more enjoyment in competing.<br />
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And the craziest part...<br />
I think most of us are crazy enough to do it again!Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-63574405906070947632013-04-25T14:00:00.000-07:002013-04-25T16:45:58.546-07:00Oh [shoot]!Jadon passed a major milestone last night.<br />
Apparently, he said his first bad word.<br />
bummer.<br />
Perfect time and place, too: at our small group Bible study.<br />
Great.<br />
I actually didn't hear it. He was playing with Molly's Disney princess castle, and pushed it off the table just as one of the guys was walking by toward the bathroom, and he's pretty sure he heard Jadon declare, "Oh [shoot]."<br />
Yikes.<br />
No one else was around to verify, so I'm still hoping our friend misheard Jadon. I've heard Jadon say plenty of things, but never that. But I think I know where he might have picked it up from. If it truly is in his little head, I'm sure it will come out again sooner or later, and then I get the fun task of teaching him that there are words we shouldn't use. I guess this time was going to come sooner or later. I just wish it would have been later.Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-13526144602305799862013-04-22T22:32:00.000-07:002013-04-22T22:38:29.969-07:00March and April MadnessToday is the first day in at least 6 weeks that I haven't had some enormous impending project or event hanging over my head...and I feel great!!! I even dusted all my ceiling fans this morning! And now that Jadon is down for his nap, I might as well catch up on blogging since it's one of many items on my catch-up to-do list.<br />
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*Sleep training has officially become a success. Jadon "easily" falls asleep by himself every nap and night, minus a few crazy days.<br />
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He still insists, however, that we leave his and our bedroom doors open a crack, a sad reminder to me of when we had to "lock" him in his bedroom those two times. It hurts me that we scarred him in this way, and I wish I could've figured out another way to do it. Several times since then he has accidentally closed the door on himself at the doctor's office and other random public places, and it always ends up with him in hysterical tears, sobbing in my arms that "you locked me!" *sigh*<br />
However, one of the good things that has stuck with him from that same traumatic period is that Jesus is with him "in his heart." Maybe not theologically correct, yet, but I love that he's thinking that way. Now, whenever he sees anyone sad or lonely for any reason, whether at the store or in a movie or at church or at the park or wherever, he will either tell them or me, "It's okay, Jesus in your heart." It is SO cute. I love that in his own way, Jadon is already telling people about Jesus! On our GOAL mission trip with the youth group, we watched Wreck It Ralph one night, and when Ralph was sad and lonely, Jadon yelled it out to him. Our teenagers thought it was hilarious. We are starting to tell Jadon that not everyone does have Jesus in their heart, but are treading lightly on that theological detail. :)<br />
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*Sarah and Greg's visit!<br />
One of the most exciting parts of March was the arrival of my sister and her husband for a 2 week visit. It was so amazing to see her growing baby bump and to be able to include them in a ton of our family festivities. We all were crazy busy, but it was such a blessing to be with them.<br />
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*Passover<br />
Within days of Sarah and Greg's arrival, we celebrated Passover. I can't remember if this was our 5th or 6th year in a row hosting it, but this year we had another 75 people celebrate a Passover Seder dinner with us at church the Thursday before Easter. It is such a great way to enter the Good Friday/Resurrection Sunday weekend, observing the "Last Supper" the way Jesus did with his disciples. The traditions Jews have been following for years are so rich with symbolism pointing to Jesus, it just puts a smile on my face to go through them, and I love being able to share them with others. This year, as always, was stressful and hectic and exhausting, but it was my most enjoyable one yet, thanks to delegating more of the food prep to friends and the leading of the Seder to my sister and Greg.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Setting up for 100 people, using all the table cloths and dishes from my sister's wedding)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Greg and Sarah explaining the significance of Passover</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">We grew Jadon's hair for this event ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Fallon lights the candles at our table, using a napkin and a sweater as a makeshift scarf :), while Pastor Hal and Amy encourage her</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">My sister prepares to say the blessing over the lighted candles. Her Hebrew is so great! I am so proud of her!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">Jadon did great, but he could only take so much of the sitting down...and the curls</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Probably my favorite part is bringing all the kids up to "experience" the 10 plagues. They got to throw "lice" confetti on the adults, stick sticker "boils" on them, throw pompom "hail" at them, and wear sunglasses for the darkness, among other things...We thought it wise to skip the 10th plague, however. How do you make "death of the firstborn" fun?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">And then there was the cleanup...Ugh!</span></div>
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*Easter<br />
Of course, when your husband is a pastor, Easter is inevitably a busy, hectic time of year. We had an early Easter service/kids' carnival on Wednesday night, the Seder dinner on Thursday night, an Easter party with my MOPS group on Friday morning, Good Friday service on Friday night, Easter service on Saturday night, and three services on Sunday.<br />
THEN we finally got to do the family stuff Sunday afternoon and evening.<br />
Jadon is definitely getting to a fun age with holiday traditions...and it was even more fun to have my sister and Greg join in on the festivities.<br />
In Jadon's Easter basket, among other things he (and Jim) got awesome remote controlled cars that twist and spin and light up...and rarely get stuck. So.much.fun!<br />
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Jadon also got a pretty awesome basketball bunny. Unlike 98% of humans who go for the ears first, Jadon went for the nose...the basketball...the tail...the feet...and THEN the ears. He was pretty stoked to get so much candy, but was surprisingly disciplined. After a few bites of the chocolate, he'd give it back to me to save until later. He definitely doesn't take after his mama on that!</div>
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I know Easter egg hunts come from pagan fertility rituals...but Jadon loves looking for treasures, so we did one anyway. As he gets older, I'll try to weave in the story of Jesus better, but for this year, I just filled the eggs with candy and cars and coins...and playdoh. Jim and Sarah and Greg got in on the action, too, and it was so cute to see Jadon trying to help them and share with them as much as they were trying to help him. It made me really happy to see that Jadon wasn't at all greedy. After a few eggs he was content...and couldn't wait to get to the treats inside!<br />
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After all this fun, my parents cooked an amazing prime rib roast dinner. I think this was my favorite adult Easter so far, and it gave me hope that in spite of being in ministry, we can still carve out time for our own family traditions. </div>
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It was also exciting to see Jadon just starting to get the concept of Jesus dying on the cross for him. We bought two simple books telling the story and read them almost every night in March, and Jadon totally seemed to connect when I explained the pictures of the "mean" men who were "pushing" and "hitting" Jesus. He still doesn't seem to comprehend death...or crucifixion for that matter!...but now, every time he sees a cross anywhere, he says, "That's where Jesus born!" Not quite...but that's what Jesus was born for, after all!</div>
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*Sarah's shower</div>
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The weekend after Easter, I cohosted a baby shower for my sister up in Orange County with her dear friend Janna. We spent the morning at Sarah's messianic fellowship Adat HaMashiach, where Jadon got to try out Israeli dance worship and Greg gave the sermon. </div>
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Then we had a fun time celebrating Wee Williams. Sarah has a ton of wonderful friends who came and showered her with love, but I was especially grateful for my friend Kristen coming up from Oceanside.</div>
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*GOAL Missions Trip<br />
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Before the dishes were all washed and put away from the Seder and Easter and shower, it was time to gear up for our annual youth missions trip. For the past several years we have forgone trips to Mexico in exchange for a trip with more tangible and long-lasting impact to our military base next door, Camp Pendleton. Without a language barrier and long distance, our teens are able to do the same Kids' Camp and service project ministry that they would do in Mexico...but better. Several families started coming to New Song as a result of their kids' lives being impacted by our teens, and it really teaches our students the lifelong lesson of evangelism and outreach WHEREVER life takes them. Also, it costs a lot less, so we are then able to send the surplus money to Children's Hunger Fund, an amazing ministry that conscientiously works through local churches in impoverished communities around the world to feed the hungry physically AND spiritually.<br />
My roll on this trip for the past few years has been cook, and as usual, it was absolutely exhausting! (as evidenced by this horrific picture Jim got of me!)<br />
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$2,000 in groceries and my dad's full truck later, my living room was full of a week's worth of food for 75. That chaos eventually settled into about 20-25 labeled boxes, and another truckload of ice chests and tables and propane griddle and huge pots and pans and water coolers, etc. My brain was spinning for days trying to get it all organized!<br />
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BUT, thanks to simplified meals and preplanned menus and shopping lists, it definitely is getting "easier." I even had time to go for a run three days during the week!<br />
And...for the second year, we were able to borrow an AMAZING RV from our AMAZING friends the Walkers. Seriously, this thing is almost nicer than my house...and it even has Direct TV! I gotta admit, I definitely appreciated the Disney channel when I was trying to get dinner ready. That and the blow-up pool were lifesavers!<br />
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(Jadon watching Cars with a friend)</div>
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That was another thing that made it easier this year: Jadon hung out with our students a ton. They loved taking him to the park (they weren't allowed to go unless they had him with them) and playing with him and watching movies with them, etc...and he had a blast being the center of their attention.<br />
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It was cute watching him get involved at the different kids' camps, too. He thinks he's one of the teenagers, and he loves getting on stage and leading the scream-team (worship) with them, or getting right in the mix during game time.</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxMadgpVfDq53U_GBWh9EjY9hoXRGl1ubwdBDrSTmQZQKBitfayXVY5HdtDO2EPMhzqDnnnbqXHkBD42qgYoQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
All in all, the week was a huge success, with a lot of significant spiritual moments for our students. I never look forward to the week, but I'm always glad I was part of it.<br />
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*Austin:<br />
After GOAL, Austin went back to live with his mom, who is currently living in a good apartment and seems to be pretty stable. Please pray for this transition for him. We think it is for the best, but change is never fun, and sometimes "the best" isn't necessarily the easiest.<br />
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*Ragnar:<br />
After Austin moved out, I had a few days to deep clean the house, put away all the Seder/Easter/Shower/GOAL stuff, and get ready for Ragnar So Cal (this past weekend). Let's just say that in a week where I should have been getting as much rest as I could, I ended up with 3-5 hours a night...But more on Ragnar in my next post...Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-67896771483500476522013-03-02T22:23:00.000-08:002013-03-02T22:23:10.047-08:00Banana "Pancakes"Do you ever feel like you spend too much time pinning great ideas on Pinterest...and never getting around to doing them? I do.<br />
So I was super proud of myself for finally trying something...thanks to one of my MOPS friends.<br />
And just because I felt like it, I took pictures of each step, so I could write my own tutorial (so many bloggers do such cool tutorials, so this is my feeble attempt to mimic them ;))...<br />
Okay, this is a super easy, pretty healthy (especially for kids!) recipe. It only requires bananas, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.<br />
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Start with 1 or more banana (over ripe ones are great!). Stick them in a ziplock bag.<br />
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Mash the bananas with a rolling pin.<br />
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Add eggs in a 2:1 ratio (2 eggs for each banana). Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla to taste.<br />
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Mush it all up, then clip off a tiny corner of the bag.<br />
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Preheat a griddle or a skillet, and grease with nonstick spray or butter. Carefully squirt small globs of "batter" onto the cook surface. When they get all bubbly, flip.<br />
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Whala! Nutritious breakfast that's pretty tasty and fairly easy. Try it and let me know what you think!Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-26723653628999076052013-03-02T22:11:00.000-08:002013-03-02T22:12:51.473-08:00February Catch-Up!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Besides sleep training, February has been full of other fun stuff, too! (I just can't believe it's March already... in spite of the weather we're having down here in So Cal making it feel like summer already!)</div>
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Jadon's acrobatic skills continue to improve. I really need to enroll him in our local gymnastics program...but we have yet to have 6 weeks in a row that would work out. My next goal is in May. Until then, he continues to find plenty of practice on his trampoline (still don't have a good picture of that)...and other apparatus in our house:</div>
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Jadon's imagination is also growing in leaps and bounds, which I love. He loves the Toy Story trilogy, and I think the creative Andy is starting to rub off on him. It isn't the tea parties and orphanages that I remember playing as a little kid, but it is still so cute to play with him as we fight dragons and sharks and "mean fish"! Oh, and Jadon likes to go through the nighttime routine with me in his bed, where he asks me if I want to cuddle with monkeys and then warns me, "Don't get out of bed or I lock the door!" (Hey, we never really locked it...we just told him we would...) This afternoon, as he was closing the door, I said I was lonely, and he told me, "Jesus in your heart." Awww! I'm glad that part sunk in, too! :) </div>
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One of Jadon's favorite imagination stations is our queen bed. Most mornings start off with some sort of battle, usually with Jim leading the way. I love my boys!</div>
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For Valentines' Day, I took my first crack at letting Jadon paint with "real" paints (in contrast with the Color Wonder ones that we usually use). I had some fun ideas for making valentines for his MOPS teachers and the grandparents, but Jadon very quickly decided that he much preferred to paint on the newspaper rather than the cute pink paper. Oh well. I think his creativity ended up better than mine!</div>
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We have been getting a TON of use out of our 3-month Legoland passes (which expire in a week...sad day!). Earlier in the month, we went with our family friends, the Coddingtons. Jadon LOVES their 2 boys, and they are so great with him...<br />
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We went again with my parents on Valentines' Day, and spent a bit of time at the aquarium. I think my dad was more into it than Jadon was, but he did enjoy seeing the Mr. Potato Head (filled with shrimp) dropped into the tank for the octopus feeding. (Unfortunately, the octopus wasn't hungry that morning...I wonder if that had anything to do with Jadon tapping the glass before we could stop him?...)<br />
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In addition to frequent Legoland visits, we also discovered a new place called Kidsville thanks to a great deal on Living Social. It's basically an indoor play gym/park, with lots of trampolines and gymnastics equipment and a castle/slide and rope swings and train tables and a princess playhouse with costumes and kitchen and a boys workshop with costumes and tools...and basically a ton of fun stuff to let Jadon run around on. We went with Kristen and Molly, and the kids had a blast.<br />
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(In this picture, we thought Jadon and Molly were playing so well together...until I realized that, in typical fashion, Jadon had made a gun out of the duplo blocks and was shooting Molly. She thought it was hilarious. We thought it was something we could work on later... :))</div>
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Jadon went to his first hip-hop concert when our friend Nomis performed as a fundraiser at church. All of my pictures of him dancing in the crowd turned out to dark and blurry, but he did like the beats.<br />
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I just think this is a cute picture of my boys: :) </div>
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And finally, Jim convinced me to give Jadon a haircut. I love him with short hair, but his little curls were getting so cute!</div>
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(Mom! No more pictures!!!)</div>
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Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-35353302371245158122013-02-26T08:07:00.000-08:002013-02-26T08:07:45.974-08:00Woohoo! (aka Attachment Parenting Sleep Training, Part 3)We did it! 10 days of the hard part (plus the 3 weeks before) later...and Jadon successfully went to bed by himself last night!!! Yay!!! We did our normal 20-ish minute routine, including 2 stories, prayer, 3 songs, and a minute or 2 of cuddling...and then I was done before 9:45! No escape attempts, no tears. Jadon just stayed in his bed. This is a huge milestone for us, and we are thrilled.<br />
Way to go, Jadon! You are such a big boy and we are SO proud of you!Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-45268357777782427502013-02-24T23:42:00.001-08:002013-02-24T23:44:43.360-08:00Baby Steps (aka Attachment Parenting Sleep Training Part 2)It has been a rough week in the sleep training realm...but the fact that I'm writing this before 11pm is evidence that things are improving. After 3 weeks of gradually distancing ourselves from Jadon during the final stage of the bedtime routine, I finally took the plunge last Saturday night to move from comfy chair in his room to leaving the room completely. It was an unplanned step stemming from Jim needing to go to bed because of his early morning preaching at church the next day and my being in the middle of taxes and really, really wanting to get them done.<br />
So I tucked Jadon in and told him I would be right down stairs and then left the room (conceding to light on and door open). This actually went a little easier than I expected, with Jadon only coming out to check on me three times...and finally falling asleep by 11:30 pm (and yes, I did finish my taxes...at 2 am...which wasn't so bad because we actually got a refund this year, woohoo!).<br />
Since i made the plunge, I knew I needed to stick with it, and the next night went similarly--about 3 escapes and asleep by 11:30. (nap time went even better, because I was able to exhaust him completely beforehand!). I was considering this fairly successful, because his resistance level was minimal...but the 11:30 time definitely needed improvement.<br />
So night 3 I started setting more boundaries/consequences...which is when things started getting rather horrible with my little strong-willed child. We spent the next 3 nights with an hour and a half of tears and still no sleep before 11. It was heartbreaking! And again, I don't feel like most of the tears were manipulative, rather a little boy's earnest pleas for comfort. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">So just like when weaning him from the bottle, I tried to figure out how to tailor the cry-it-out approach to my own comfort level. It was still agonizing, but I stayed in the doorway of my room, speaking encouragement and praise to him, occasionally going into his room to retuck him in or soothe his tears momentarily or reassure him how much I love him and how proud I am of him and how much I can't wait to cuddle with him in the morning. Ugh! I hated it. (This totally reassured me that the cry-it-out method wouldn't have worked for jadon when he was an infant...unless I was okay with 2 hours of screaming for a week, which i wasn't...and which most books don't even advocate.)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">It's amazing how self-aware Jadon has been throughout all of this. The first night of tears, toward the end, he finally sobbed, "I can't fall asleep! I need help!" At first I thought this might be a ploy, but then, as I watched him laying there trying to keep his eyes closed, I realized that he really hasn't figured it out yet. It is so hard for him to sit still, and laying still enough to fall asleep is even worse. Which is why he will go, go, go like the energizer bunny without seeming at all tired...until I strap him into his car seat and he passes out within seconds. That's why it has always been so much easier for us to cuddle him to sleep, where our arms can gently help him calm down. So as I was watching him try that night, he sat up and said, "mommy, I need *hugging his arms to his chest and bopping his shoulders up and down*" Again, at first I just thought he was being silly, but then after he repeated it, I realized he wanted me to bop him to sleep, something we haven't done for probably over a year! Amazing how he remembered that as one of our go-to sleep solutions for him! (and again making me glad I hadn't made him cry it out and letting him have that as his memory!!) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">The next night, he asked for help again in falling asleep, this time following the request with "mommy, sh!" Seeing as I hadn't been talking anyway, I remained quiet, at which he kept repeating, with increasing urgency and tears, "mommy, shhhh! Mommy, shhhh!" I finally realized he was asking me to shush him to sleep, another one of our go-to's. Fortunately, for this request, we have a little stuffed monkey that a friend gave us that has three sound settings, including one that sounds like a waterfall...or shushing! It's not as good as mom, but jadon is getting used to it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">The next couple nights were Jim's turn, and jadon was asleep by 10:30...with no tears...but Jim stayed in his room until Jadon was almost out (cheater!) and Jadon was exhausted from minuscule naps...but regardless of the reasons, I appreciated the break. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">Tonight--day 8--went hugely better, with only two excursions to our room and one whimper. As I tucked jadon in the second time...with basketball monkey blanket hugging him under his other covers, and garbanzo the giant gorilla hugging him, and sound monkey shushing him...Jadon put on his brave face and closed his eyes tightly and said, "Jesus in my heart," which is what I told him a few nights ago in the midst of the heart-wrenching tears. It might not be theologically correct (yet!) but I had comforted him that Jesus was in his heart so he didn't need to feel lonely or scared. He could feel his heart beating and know that Jesus was with him. And apparently it stuck! And that warms my heart beyond words!</span>Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-63408675839097455752013-02-06T16:59:00.000-08:002013-02-06T16:59:09.698-08:00Cuddle Cuddle (a.k.a Attachment Parenting Sleep Training)Since before I was even a parent, I've always had a strong aversion to the cry-it-out sleep training method. No offense to those of you who use it (I know I'm in the minority here!), but it just seems cruel to me. And adopting after years of infertility only drove my convictions deeper--after years of longing to hold a child in my arms, I couldn't think of doing anything BUT swoop him up in my arms whenever his tiny cries rang out.<br />
Which they did often.<br />
It turns out, out little guy LOVES to be held. Before he learned to crawl, he was usually only happy if he was being held...but then he was the happiest kid around. So we made great use of the sling and the Baby Bjorn. And I really didn't mind. Sure, I got tired...and I definitely lamented the days when I was able to just get stuff done. But like I said, I was ecstatic just to finally have a child of my own to hold.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1AZd5x8SI1g4honpjiQ6Vuk0GMHrv30TI-oaIVv8VAb3Zal9KtRN4163IbKzYvjwibVfCkOAAcOaSPfXSNKzpzvzqOLmsNcqh_MGgDtV2MCFMRxVuuf-dyqlHrLSic_yt_VAZ1061ug/s1600/100_2156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1AZd5x8SI1g4honpjiQ6Vuk0GMHrv30TI-oaIVv8VAb3Zal9KtRN4163IbKzYvjwibVfCkOAAcOaSPfXSNKzpzvzqOLmsNcqh_MGgDtV2MCFMRxVuuf-dyqlHrLSic_yt_VAZ1061ug/s320/100_2156.JPG" width="213" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIOoS6K_beI7M6Phz2SnntDYoyFPAzKpQMLrFBqOk11tWtnV7sGDUeQOrAoLwsMdfaBczPdEldCoS9oLRCLgbL020oXZhUi1KvkcEJBzJYRNUryyFBDk3Fa5Eg_qPQIPA9ozBNP7PSWk/s1600/100_3702.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIOoS6K_beI7M6Phz2SnntDYoyFPAzKpQMLrFBqOk11tWtnV7sGDUeQOrAoLwsMdfaBczPdEldCoS9oLRCLgbL020oXZhUi1KvkcEJBzJYRNUryyFBDk3Fa5Eg_qPQIPA9ozBNP7PSWk/s320/100_3702.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTtKdtcGwfJH7xq9HfMsVQCDjnNot8rknEnh-0Gql8ikRjND1rj2tDl-u-KcZHddiol0hsxWpr7pI6vGMOwZg_nTaQ_Qvd9tnUDZ-rQBdOLzzl3RRnlxWygu_dM2RkTm4AI9a92ATP5A/s1600/100_3513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTtKdtcGwfJH7xq9HfMsVQCDjnNot8rknEnh-0Gql8ikRjND1rj2tDl-u-KcZHddiol0hsxWpr7pI6vGMOwZg_nTaQ_Qvd9tnUDZ-rQBdOLzzl3RRnlxWygu_dM2RkTm4AI9a92ATP5A/s320/100_3513.JPG" width="221" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrubwCz4bPlPvzGlSAZoHoD7sfDcmvwvvtQZm1vEFl6J4H5XIXczhsbfdyOP2esLeLjorymS6Dt8jG32DwNxwJIa-TIPiuUkMihZ9xijl9FG-0pIsCZLG539wVDnWzNSuk0AlSWQaiBoM/s1600/100_2301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrubwCz4bPlPvzGlSAZoHoD7sfDcmvwvvtQZm1vEFl6J4H5XIXczhsbfdyOP2esLeLjorymS6Dt8jG32DwNxwJIa-TIPiuUkMihZ9xijl9FG-0pIsCZLG539wVDnWzNSuk0AlSWQaiBoM/s320/100_2301.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAqMR4O0ko9ZGhr81zc0JUOI7c4i1PzEloxKUn80V_MTP5jgIBzAbVQybQp-qpTScb_S1UCKoygecSwDSr_DGkNhDWpXfGH6-R3bEwAUkPBJKOcHfbC8jJCPh5c1n5uQTNkxtV7WWCyY/s1600/100_4246.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkAqMR4O0ko9ZGhr81zc0JUOI7c4i1PzEloxKUn80V_MTP5jgIBzAbVQybQp-qpTScb_S1UCKoygecSwDSr_DGkNhDWpXfGH6-R3bEwAUkPBJKOcHfbC8jJCPh5c1n5uQTNkxtV7WWCyY/s320/100_4246.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Jadon started crawling right on schedule, and immediately that opened up a whole new world. There were times when he still wanted to be held, but far more often, he wanted the freedom to explore. Crawling turned to climbing turned to walking turned to running, and I must say, in spite of his earlier need to be held constantly (and contrary to the frequent warnings you often hear with a child like that!), he has blossomed into a VERY (maybe TOO!) independent little guy with virtually no fear or timidity about ANYTHING.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB6mWyFTlVM8g5y4yjPG_Vj0HrNHOTy5T8-We3sxNZZ6auXMmlJSyH1k1vGMbFTz-EWwPaRZ_b_Db6zJr9VYMpGkIY6n-9wgipz7qLeABX8JqC-ir8U9K1Ke8kvmAwmmRaVog4FiWfvIU/s1600/100_3879.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB6mWyFTlVM8g5y4yjPG_Vj0HrNHOTy5T8-We3sxNZZ6auXMmlJSyH1k1vGMbFTz-EWwPaRZ_b_Db6zJr9VYMpGkIY6n-9wgipz7qLeABX8JqC-ir8U9K1Ke8kvmAwmmRaVog4FiWfvIU/s320/100_3879.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRgywrJAo2gV_6ib4HdvmwP-vpqTx_AOb34VZFv9ma6KqJxpQj7_14R4fQkkgJNtbhpl8pLyHuFfTCBaUrBV3L0PN5n9kcpjrCVdcQepZ_MMOX-EZjROVMqiIbqYIwgM1b3Cg0MtnQ3E/s1600/100_4038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKRgywrJAo2gV_6ib4HdvmwP-vpqTx_AOb34VZFv9ma6KqJxpQj7_14R4fQkkgJNtbhpl8pLyHuFfTCBaUrBV3L0PN5n9kcpjrCVdcQepZ_MMOX-EZjROVMqiIbqYIwgM1b3Cg0MtnQ3E/s200/100_4038.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcQ0vyGDRbxSA0Jg00Iz0T8OKre17_xwSycCptpcwziRoL39To45mXaxpOD0PIWL1m0W7KFLdqhPL_c9veKfTkbTqj48qLGHNGb8JU-_iYPIHP9BpWJpNRrEpjCF1PTCBufmp3Nl_kiM/s1600/100_3900.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcQ0vyGDRbxSA0Jg00Iz0T8OKre17_xwSycCptpcwziRoL39To45mXaxpOD0PIWL1m0W7KFLdqhPL_c9veKfTkbTqj48qLGHNGb8JU-_iYPIHP9BpWJpNRrEpjCF1PTCBufmp3Nl_kiM/s320/100_3900.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA53X9hxUrG8PytITB3VqPiPRIi16k0JR2kFLBTWQJUeEHqT8GAbiIuV9ES8J448998PTPD8-T5Oaha_BD29PD7qtpk7ZGWnsv3Uy0VL3cKCM9EgHADaAwGR7Y6XpV9VyWizs0Y24nlJ0/s1600/100_4224.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA53X9hxUrG8PytITB3VqPiPRIi16k0JR2kFLBTWQJUeEHqT8GAbiIuV9ES8J448998PTPD8-T5Oaha_BD29PD7qtpk7ZGWnsv3Uy0VL3cKCM9EgHADaAwGR7Y6XpV9VyWizs0Y24nlJ0/s320/100_4224.JPG" width="193" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjNOteAiKZoyP3-l0mFABrh2CrdOft0KQNHl0_YorX3TTt1rj8cO3IoTiQ7O1IDclUyaIlkEZmciW-dAniXHuiBz3GgUNAaBRIFLMVC-iY8pYsBoEgeE4z-05Nf6NajynEuak0RBXLRk/s1600/100_4680.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjNOteAiKZoyP3-l0mFABrh2CrdOft0KQNHl0_YorX3TTt1rj8cO3IoTiQ7O1IDclUyaIlkEZmciW-dAniXHuiBz3GgUNAaBRIFLMVC-iY8pYsBoEgeE4z-05Nf6NajynEuak0RBXLRk/s320/100_4680.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
He still loves to cuddle, though.<br />
And his nighttime routine still hasn't seen the fruits of that independence.<br />
Around 6 months, we started another habit that most "experts" warn severely against: co-sleeping. Mind you, this wasn't a well-studied, intentional parenting choice, but rather a moment of weakness in our overly-prolonged state of exhaustion. No surprise, Jadon loved it. He slept amazingly better...which meant that so did we. What started as a short-term reprieve from sleeplessness turned into long-term convenience which we kept intending to break but never got around to it. In hindsight, I discovered that we were/are classic Attachment Parenting parents, and there's actually a slew of research to back up the merits of our accidental behavior. Whew!<br />
At 11 months, we finally decided enough was enough on the middle-of-the-night bottle feedings, though, and so I did my hybrid version of the cry-it-out method. I cuddled and soothed Jadon like there was no tomorrow while offering him a bottle of water instead of formula. It took 2 nights of 5 [HORRIBLE] minutes of crying, and he was cured...He was officially sleeping through the night! Yay! (Next child, I will definitely try that one earlier!) Of course, he was still sleeping in our bed, but that didn't seem like much of a problem when we were getting a full 8 hours of shut eye!<br />
Our goal, however, was to transition him back into his crib after he turned 1.<br />
In order to make this transition (sans tears), we went back to "bopping" him to sleep. Normal rocking never worked with him, but "Happiest Baby on the Block" sideways swinging jiggling had always been a miracle worker.<br />
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So we would do that every night until he fell asleep (sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes an hour or more), and then we would lay him in his crib and we were free. Sure, we tried other methods, including Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution, but none of them worked for us (Pantley's especially was just too exhausting to keep up).<br />
Of course, that only lasted for a few hours. Inevitably, at some point in the wee hours of the morning, Jadon would wake up alone, and since he clearly had never learned to self-soothe, he needed one of us. Initially, we would just bop him back to sleep, and that would usually work until morning, but that only lasted so long until we rationalized that at least he was <i>starting </i>in his own bed. Was it really so bad if he ended up in ours? Considering the extra sleep it afforded us, we didn't think so, and so we were back to part-time co-sleeping. It's hard to resist not waking up to this cutie:<br />
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Around this time (18 months), Jadon learned how to climb out of his crib.<br />
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Many parents dread this day, but we actually liked it. Now when he woke up in the middle of the night, instead of waking us up, he would just run (more like a full-steam sprint judging by the sound of the rapid footsteps!) into our room and climb into bed with us. It simplified everything. AND, since we immediately transitioned to the toddler bed form of his crib, that meant that we could just cuddle him to sleep in his bed instead of bopping him to sleep in our arms, which was getting increasingly difficult as he grew bigger.<br />
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This worked well for us for the next 6 months, although we kept talking about needing to get him to learn to fall asleep by himself, especially since the cuddling sessions were taking longer and longer for him to fall asleep (seriously, some nights he remained awake until after 11pm...This kid is NOT a sleeper!) (And yes, we have a pretty good nighttime ritual to help him wind down!)<br />
He turned 2 in June, and we decided to buy him his big boy bed.<br />
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With high hopes from others' stories, we thought maybe this is what he needed to be okay with sleeping by himself...Well, I'm not so sure it's what he needed, but it sure made our cuddling job easier. With a full twin-sized mattress to stretch out on, Jim and I took turns cuddling Jadon to sleep...which usually meant we fell asleep before he did, often not waking up until almost midnight. Let's just say, that's not so good for a marriage, ha!<br />
So on Sunday night, January 20th, we finally started our toddler sleep training! After scouring the internet for advice for those of us non-cry-it-outers, I found little that really fit our situation, so I kind of tried to conglomerate it all into something that works for us. This is a long term plan, definitely not a quick-fix approach. Two-and-a-half weeks later, we can definitely see improvement, but we don't anticipate crossing the finish line soon. For anyone like me who needs some help in getting your toddler to sleep without cuddling..or crying..., here is what we are doing:<br />
On the 2 or 3 days leading up to launch night, we started excitedly explaining to Jadon that soon he would be learning to fall asleep by himself without needing us to cuddle him, like a big boy (note to self...the "big boy" approach definitely didn't work with him. In the last couple weeks during play times, he has repeatedly wanted to pretend to be my baby and cheerfully told me "I a baby!" I think this is part of the reason potty training failed, too, since that is another activity for "big boys"...After we realized this, we stopped referring to it as something big boys do!).<br />
On launch night, we brought our big comfy papasan chair into his room right next to his bed. (Any chair would work, we just wanted to be as comfortable as possible...and be able to fall asleep comfortably should too much time elapse!) We went through our normal routine, and then sat in the chair holding his hand while singing our usual 2 songs. It actually didn't go so bad, according to Jim. Jim did the first 2 nights, and Jadon was pretty exhausted thanks to a full fun weekend, so he fell asleep pretty quickly.<br />
Then I had night #3 and got to experience it first hand. Oh my goodness, the look in Jadon's eyes when I tucked him in and kissed him goodnight almost broke my heart. His face was smiley as ever, but his eyes exuded this almost-fearful sadness as he accepted the fact that we couldn't cuddle. Seriously, it was one of the saddest moments of my parenting experiences thus far. But I stuck to my guns, and again, he fell asleep holding my hand.<br />
Since that was going so well, the next night we decided to move the chair across the room. And that's where we still are. In the 2 weeks of this stage, we have had some struggles, but we are fine-tuning our approach, and I think it's working. Several nights we were back to the 90 min+ adventure, with Jadon trying to sneak out of bed or jumping around or tossing and turning or talking, etc...A couple of times, after warnings, we had to leave the room and hold the door shut until he laid down quietly in bed. As hard as that has been, the tearful pleas when I've done that are more than enough to keep me firm in my beliefs that I am doing the right thing by not succumbing to the ever-popular cry-it-out method. I can only handle a minute or two of the "Mommy, peeeeeeease! Peeeeeeeease don't lock the door!" Many would call it manipulation, and in some ways, I know it is. But I also know my kid, and I can hear the utter remorse and regret of his actions in his voice. And I am so glad that my method allows me to then walk back into his room, give him kisses and hugs as I tuck him in again, and answer his request to "sit with me" with an okay. And I think he's getting it. The last two nights, although still met with the same heart-breaking sad eyes after his denied request for "mommy, sleep with me," have seen him submissively rolling over and going to sleep rather quickly. He still begs for us to sit with him and not to shut the door, but that is a battle for next week, perhaps.<br />
And for the time being, we are okay with him pitter-pattering into our room in the middle of the night (I actually look forward to that adorable sound!). The cuddle time it ensures is his due reward that we promise him every night now that we aren't cuddling him to sleep. And it seems to be naturally improving. Whereas before, the average time for his middle of the night sprint to our room was between 1 and 2am, the last couple nights it's been after 3 or 4, including two mornings ago when he didn't come over until 5:45, long after Jim was already up. So, I'm thinking that issue might just take care of itself eventually.<br />
And even if it doesn't for awhile, I'm okay with that.<br />
The other morning while we were cuddling and playing "cave" under the sheets after he woke up, he wrapped his squishy arms around my neck and told me, "tuddle, tuddle, tuddle...I happy!" I told him I was happy to cuddle him now, too, and I was so proud of him for learning how to fall asleep without cuddling at night, at which his eyes fell and his lip pouted out and he said softly, "I sad." Ugh, another break your heart moment. But it's way better (in my book) than how sad he would be if we were forcing him to cry it out!<br />
I hope our experiences help some of you other softies out there!Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-55811056114022922712013-02-01T15:54:00.000-08:002013-02-01T15:54:07.876-08:00Growing up too fast?So, last night, Jadon was invited to his first high school party...without us!<br />
Yikes! I thought I still had a few years before dealing with that issue!<br />
One of Austin's friends was having a birthday party, and her mom specifically asked if Jadon could come, too. To be honest, I was shocked that Austin didn't mind bringing him...let's just say, Jadon has the tendency to be an attention hog. But then again, for a teenage guy going to a party with lots of girls, yeah, Jadon is kind of a good source of attention. :)<br />
So, after a stern lecture about the perils of teenage partying *wink*, we let him go for an hour. Austin was great, carrying his backpack and walking him down the street on his own, and based on Jadon's exuberance when he returned home at 9pm, Jadon had a great time, if not a little too much sugar.<br />
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Kind of like his first day of school, I had to get a photo documenting this first party:<br />
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Jadon practicing his cool look before the party (he discovered his pockets and has the funniest little pose!):<br />
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Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-88160347156189465332013-02-01T15:39:00.002-08:002013-02-01T15:44:02.084-08:00Accepting Defeat (a.k.a. Adventures in Potty Training Part 2)Well, it's official.<br />
After 6 days of concerted effort, I have conceded my potty training activities for the time being.<br />
And I must say, both jadon and I seem a lot happier.<br />
We truly gave it our best shot, but apparently the window I was afraid of missing was never open to begin with. And I am totally okay with that. It sure didn't help that Day 2 (Saturday) Jadon woke up with a nasty cold and was a never-ending snot faucet for the next 36 hours. He obviously didn't feel very good, and who wants to learn something new when you feel sick? I sure don't. He survived that day with a few successes, and then Sunday morning my mom stayed home with him from church and introduced lollipops into the mix, and that was a huge game changer, but he was getting more stressed the more days went by.<br />
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Then Jim was gone for a pastors' retreat Tuesday and Wednesday, and after nap on Wednesday, I just couldn't bring myself to take off the diaper. Mind you, Jadon had had zero accidents that morning, but neither had he drank much, and I was concerned he was getting dehydrated. So after nap, I didn't mention diaper or potty, and he started drinking more, and seeming less irritable. We had Bible study that night, so a diaper made sense again since I just didn't have the energy to keep doing the potty reminders on my own. Good thing, too, because in the course of the next 2 hours, he had 3 (!) poops, and if that would have happened in underwear, I'm pretty sure I would have dissolved into a puddle of tears at that point. Then Thursday, we went to Legoland, and that is definitely not a fun place to potty train.<br />
So, yeah, I'm done... for now at least. Maybe I'll try again in a couple more weeks, maybe a couple more months. For me, diapers are much more convenient anyway, so I'm in no rush. And the more I tell people, the more I'm discovering that I'm not the only parent who fails at the 3-day method. :)<br />
And in celebration of that glorious fact, here are some pictures from our very enjoyable diapered day at Legoland...<br />
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And isn't this seriously the cutest picture of Jadon and Molly! </div>
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Kristen and I ran around the corner trying to keep up, and this is what we found. Fortunately, she was quick enough to capture it on camera. :) Jadon slowed down long enough to walk with Molly for almost a full 30 seconds, which is like an eternity in his book, ha!</div>
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<br />Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-60829576664010551592013-02-01T15:20:00.000-08:002013-02-01T15:42:26.348-08:00A Little Christmas in January...Who's with me that the Christmas season is just a little too hectic?<br />
It's such a fun time with so many opportunities for fun activities, but there are still only 24 hours in the day, and plenty of mundane activities like laundry and cooking dinner to occupy them. Therefore, there are many fun activities left undone in our household. Like the gingerbread house kit a friend gave us.<br />
Fast forward to this week. Trying to think of some fun things to do with Jadon to promote bonding in the midst of all the potty training stress, my eyes alighted on the gingerbread kit still sitting on our kitchen counter. Perfect! (Little did I know that it required an entire day between building the house and decorating it. Urg! But I guess that just gave us TWO days of quality time!)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7fiPl7BcHC0pCoGBS7R1z3A-ClTH6PE-aLFCkax3dF5UuTJbRlxL5LNTLX_yjbKHvye_897HV9slQ2qpNcJG3VHkHpwRXk9sIAwhkjlkcm8syZSw_Ccc5Cl4X3FNpnqTbtqqCNdahBc/s1600/109_7786.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig7fiPl7BcHC0pCoGBS7R1z3A-ClTH6PE-aLFCkax3dF5UuTJbRlxL5LNTLX_yjbKHvye_897HV9slQ2qpNcJG3VHkHpwRXk9sIAwhkjlkcm8syZSw_Ccc5Cl4X3FNpnqTbtqqCNdahBc/s320/109_7786.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji4ydW3JkfzhNGHYn7tlAguBwlfFYkTMn9xolBP7M8G-PHKQWa_aiTZAnUR4bvX80YwAhGuN4NRlXD6PJWuHx4i2J9OMJnu0PQ_sAA7E6g9XWLk61b1J48V_1D49F1v_ch0fVEgmuXy2Q/s1600/109_7791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji4ydW3JkfzhNGHYn7tlAguBwlfFYkTMn9xolBP7M8G-PHKQWa_aiTZAnUR4bvX80YwAhGuN4NRlXD6PJWuHx4i2J9OMJnu0PQ_sAA7E6g9XWLk61b1J48V_1D49F1v_ch0fVEgmuXy2Q/s320/109_7791.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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Before and during the project, I had to keep reminding myself that this was about quality time, NOT a designer showpiece. Maybe that's easy for some of you guys, but for me, it was quite a challenge. But I think Jadon still managed to have fun. And the house still came out pretty decent in spite of me relinquishing some control. It turns out, Jadon's favorite part was just "painting" the house with watered down icing (he's been painting a bunch at my parents' new (old!) house).<br />
Can you tell whose side is who's? (ooh, English teacher moment...I can't remember if it's"whose" or "who's." Ack!)<br />
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<br />Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4303406623691501700.post-20488672463047989052013-01-26T00:30:00.000-08:002013-02-01T15:43:33.000-08:00Adventures in Potty Training, Day 1So today was it. D-Day. I told tons of people about it, just so I couldn't chicken out. And this morning I started the task I've feared since before I was even a parent...potty training! (duh duh dunnnnnh!!!)<br />
Jadon is 2 1/2. Apparently, to some that is old, to some it is young to start this dreaded process. To be honest, I wanted to wait longer, but he showed such interest in sitting on the potty, actually going when he felt like it, and always, always watching us go--and insisting on flushing!--that I feared my desire for convenience might make me miss the perfect window...so I decided to take the plunge.<br />
In preparation, I read the book my mom had used with us, Potty Train in Less Than a Day. I think it's just the overachiever's version to the now-popular 3-Day Method, which I also researched thoroughly on the internet. Feeling fairly well-versed in the techniques and definitely well-armed with snacks and rewards and other supplies, I nervously set out on my endeavor at 10:30 this morning after breakfast.<br />
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We "trained" Jadon's Elmo potty doll, celebrated Jadon's new big-boy underwear, downed several choice beverages, and made the every-15-minutes trips to the potty. We were doing great...except that he had yet to actually go potty in the potty (something that he has done with no problem--when he wants to--for quite some time). I figured he just hadn't had enough liquids, but seriously?! After 4 cycles, I could tell (by his enlarging belly and other appendages), that he was just holding it for some reason. What?! The book definitely did not prepare me for this!!!<br />
Finally, finally, he went a tiny little tinkle in the potty, and we celebrated with the best of them...and then he promptly ran out into the garage and peed all over the floor. Urg!!!<br />
Over the next hour or so, that scenario repeated itself two more times. He'd go a little tinkle in the potty, and then within moments, pee somewhere else. In the event of accidents, the 1-day book instructed that the child should clean up the mess and then do 10 cheerful practice runs before changing into new undies. I couldn't stomach doing 10 myself, so we did 3. But by the second accident, though, Jadon was clearly getting frustrated with even that many, so much so that at one point he firmly planted himself and cried/yelled, "I don't want to go potty!"<br />
Immediately I knew this day was heading toward failure. Apparently my child is that one rare exception the methods all momentarily acknowledged and then moved on. Knowing my strong-willed, independent little man, why was I surprised?<br />
Finally, with Austin's amazing help (he was SO great!), we finally made it to nap time...and I was finally, legally, allowed to put Jadon back into a diaper. Ahhh, it felt so great. Up until that point, we really had had zero successful potty attempts and four accidents. I wanted to quit, but I had already committed to keep going until tomorrow night.<br />
Relishing what I hoped would be an hour and a half of peaceful alone time, Austin suddenly informed me that he had gotten his basketball game time wrong and that he actually needed to be there like five minutes ago. Ugggh...<br />
I successfully transferred sleeping Jadon into the car and made the 30 minute drive out to his game, and then of course, on the 30 minute drive back, Jadon woke up, alert and ready to run. So much for regrouping time! I dreaded the minutes until Jim would come home to relieve me.<br />
Back in the house, I took Jadon's diaper off to put him back in underwear...and much to my pleasant surprise...it was DRY!!! We celebrated and ate chocolate (yes, I deserved a snack, too!), and then ran to the potty...and Jadon went...a lot!!! Oh, sweet success.<br />
And that was the turning point. We never had another accident. Jadon still didn't go in the potty very often, but I stopped pestering him so much, and he even managed a poop. Once Jim got home, we even ventured out to a family-style baby shower at church tonight, armed with a potty seat and several changes of clothes. We used the potty seat several times, including for another poop, but never needed the change of clothes. Woo hoo!<br />
As a reward--for all of us!--Jadon is sleeping with us in our bed tonight (it's a reward for us, because we were too exhausted to go through our extensive cuddling-to-sleep routine (another activity we are working on, which I will probably talk about extensively in another post!)). And tomorrow is another day. I'm still not looking forward to continuing the potty training, but I'm a whole lot more hopeful than I was before nap time!<br />
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(One of Jadon's favorite salty snacks is popcorn, so we had several batches today!)</div>
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<br />Brittshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07988209989541968262noreply@blogger.com4