MOPS Friday

MOPS Friday

Today was another MOPS day. It was fun to get out and see the other moms. The speaker today was great. It was all about keeping your toddler busy and thus keeping yourself sane! Ha ha! A lot of this I have heard before, but a refresher course in keeping kids happy is always welcome.

We have a fun night planned. We are going to start having Friday nights be game nights. We will break out the Sorry, Operation, and any other games the kids want to play. It is a nice way to wind down the week. Now I have to get back to cleaning so things are calm for the start of the weekend.

TGIF!

MOPS Friday and horrible thoughts.

The boys and I had MOPS this morning. It was OK. One of the pastors talked about inspiring our children using the Bible. At times he was funny but a lecture is still a lecture. I am used to people just getting up and talking to us at MOPS. This was very dry and I was just not in the mood. I walked away with the message he was attempting to convey: actions speak louder than words, but as he talked I daydreamed....about a nightmare.

***

There was a report on the news last night about a 5 year old little boy who was kidnapped yesterday morning. He was in his car with his mother and his sister getting ready to drive to school. The kidnapper opened the door to his sister's side, climbed over the sister and took this little boy.

They just took him.

The mom and the sister fought for him, but there were two men, and they were too strong.

They just took him.

As I was watching this on the news all sorts of horrible thoughts went through my mind with my little Prince in this little boy's place.

I was physically shaking - with anger, fear, and more anger.

How can a person do that? What kind of sadistic madman could take a child from his mother? My heart went out to the mother. She was there when it happened and she could not stop it. As moms we are supposed to be able to protect our kids. She was there. In my mind last night, she was me. Can you imagine fighting for your child and losing. My God what is this world coming to?

My mind raced to all of the horrible places they could be taking this child. What they would do to him? Was he even still in the country? Why did they want him?

He is only 5 years old.

There were stories on the news all day yesterday. They called them updates, but there was nothing new to report. The boy was missing and no one knew where he was.

Then, around 10:00 last night, a miracle happened. The little boy wandered over to someone's house. The man recognized his face from the news and the Amber Alerts.

He was safe.

I just cried. I cried for this little boy. I cried for his mother. I cried for his distraught big sister who had pleaded to the camera for the people who took her brother to not kill him. I cried for myself and my precious, precious children. I cried for this world where someone could take a 5 year old from his mother's car, climbing over his big sister to do it.

But he is safe. His mother was able to tuck him into his own bed last night - another miracle. Or maybe she held him in her arms all night long. That is what I would have done.

I hope they catch ^$!%ing @$$holes. Throw the book at them. Get them the hell away from our children.

It was premeditated. The big sister had seen these men stalking her and her little brother. She told the school. They normally walk to school. That is why the mother had been driving them yesterday.

But he is safe.....

TGIF!

The boys and I just got back from MOPS. It was a wonderful time as usual. The boys were really good and after the meeting we met MomOf2Boys outside for a picnic lunch. It was nice and relatively cool in the shade. The boys had fun playing and we had fun chatting. We don't got to Lifetime Fitness on Fridays. One week from today my Mom will be in town and we are counting the days! Princess will be home in about a half and hour so I better get back to getting the house in shape for the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, we have been invited to play cards over at another family's house. We get together with them every once and a while. They have a daughter a couple of years older that Princess and a son who is a freshman in high school. The boys just adore him! Pitch is usually the name of the game but sometimes we can talk them into playing euchre, a game near and dear to my heart because we play it every time we go home.

Have a great weekend!

MOPS

I feel like I am back in the land of the living after taking a week or so off. And that was a week I will not be eager to repeat any time soon, although I am sure I will someday.

Of the 7 nights during that week, I was up for 4 of them either being sick myself or helping a sick child. And let me tell you - I would much rather be sick myself than watch one of my little trio be sick. They were all very brave for me though....

After being in La La Land for a week, I felt much better on Friday, and we went to MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schooler).

I was so glad that we went. I always am. Sometimes it is difficult to get us all out the door and to the church on time, but once we are there, it is simply an amazing experience!

MOPS is such a wonderfully uplifting 4 hours. We are all moms, mostly married, some single. Some are first time moms and some are old pros like me. There are moms in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s! It is Christian based but not "preachy", if you know what I mean.

MOPS is meant to meet every mother where she is spiritually.

MOPS is meant to get moms together to share their experiences with each other.

Women have a tendency to not always be willing to share life experiences with each other. I am not talking about the every day, trivial things. (We are good at that!) I am talking about the big ones like what it feels like to go through a miscarriage, how to deal with a marriage that is suffering because everyone in the family is exhausted, and things like that.

In MOPS, we are all able to help and encourage each other because more likely than not, one of us has been there, done that.

Sometimes moms don't feel like they do anything worth sharing because they are just moms.

Can you believe that?

Mothers of Pre-Schoolers are in the trenches of life, and those trenches are filled with poop and puke and tears as well as hugs and kisses and smiles!

We have to be "on" all of the time whether we are helping a sick child in the middle of the night or being up bright and early the very next day taking care of two well children ready and raring to go in addition to that sick child.

There are no sick days for moms.

We have to be able to explain the world to our kids in words that they will understand and then explain it again to someone who is two years older who has bigger, tougher questions. And then maybe we even have to explain it again to someone who is two years older than that who is asking questions about death and life and sadness and broken hearts.

There are daily pop quizzes....and sometimes we don't know the answers.

And we have to admit that to ourselves and our kids.

And that's OK because that's life.

But it is sure nice to know that there are other moms in the trenches too!

A Nice, Normal Day!

We just had a nice, normal day today. I originally planned to not go to Lifetime Fitness because I wanted to have lunch with the Princess. It turned out that DadOf3 had lunch plans so he could not come home and watch the boys. We will plan another day. The pastor of the church where I attend MOPS invited all of the Steering members to an Appreciation Lunch today. From what I understand, it is quite unusual for a church to be so supportive of the MOPS ministry. We are so very lucky though. The church takes care of paying the childcare workers and this very needed ministry has its own budget through the church. They boys had fun playing with some other kids and (I think) were glad to get out of the house. I know I was glad to do something different that sitting around being sick! Here are some pictures of the boys!

Moppets teacher

Do you ever feel like you have bitten off more than you can chew?

I have, but usually it is because I have volunteered for something big without a clue as to how I am going to get it done. It is a big, overwhelming feeling of "What the **** did I get myself into??" After the initial panic, I usually figure out a way to get whatever it is done.

This time is different.

This time I have taken too many little bites! I am juggling

1. being the MOPS secretary,
   
2. being Princess's room parent,
   
3. being Festival Liaison for Princess's school,
   
4. working out at Lifetime fitness, and
   
5. working for the other MOPS group Moppets.

Each of these is manageable individually, but when I put them all together, I am choking!

When I toy with the idea of quitting something, I feel like, well, a quitter, because I should be able to get all of them done.

I think I am still just tired after staying up all night with my sick little Knight on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. He is MUCH better today, thank goodness!

One bite at a time.....One bite at a time....

The Flu Bug strikes again...

It has been a crazy few weeks for us since school started. And the saga continues...

I am on my MOPS steering committee and I had a 3 1/2 hour meeting last night. I am not sure why it took so long. Looking back at the notes there were not many things to decide. I called DadOf3 around 10:30 as I was leaving. Not more than 5 minutes after DadOf3 hung up the phone, my little Knight started getting sick. Poor kiddo covered all of his sheets, blankets, and himself with barf. By the time I got home, DadOf3 had thrown him in the bathtub to get cleaned up. I found DadOf3 snuggling him on the couch when I opened the door. Around midnight, I sent DadOf3 to bed. The Knight was throwing up about every half hour, the poor kiddo. He stopped around 3:00 or so but I was up until after 4:00 waiting for it to start again.

This morning he seems fine - and even a little ornery! He ate some chicken pot pie for lunch and drank the 7-Up I gave him. He was chasing Miney and Moe all over the place.

The Prince has been a darling boy helping me take care of the Knight.

MOPS Retreat

I had a great time this weekend, although it was a lot busier than I prefer my weekends to be!

Friday, DadOf3 and the kids drove me to another MOPS mom's house and we carpooled together with another gal to a lake house where we met with 14 other women to plan our upcoming year in MOPS. We stayed overnight at the lake house and had lots of time to bond with the rest of the MOPS leaders for the new year.

MOPS is a wonderful organization for moms. Its official mission is this: MOPS International exists to encourage, equip and develop every mother of preschoolers to realize her potential as a woman, mother and leader in the name of Jesus Christ.

This wonderful organization is for every mother of a pre-schooler. It provides a low-key, conversation-filled morning where pre-schoolers are watched by loving childcare workers. That of course means that each mother gets a break, gets time to eat breakfast without helping anybody else, and gets to congregate with other mothers in the same season of life.

This will be my 5th year in MOPS. I wish I would have found it sooner! I look forward to being on the leadership team for our branch of MOPS. There are MOPS organizations all over the world. If you are interested click here for more information for finding a MOPS near you!

I Finished the Book!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was wonderful! JK Rowling has not disappointed! That is all I will say about that - I don't want to spoil it for anyone!

The kids and I went to my last Bible study this morning. It was a good study and I met some really neat women.

This weekend I have a MOPS (Mother's Of Pre-Schoolers) retreat Friday night to Saturday afternoon. I am secretary for our MOPS group so that means I am on the planning team. We are all spending the night at a lake house one of the church members owns. It should be a great way for this group to bond and plan all at the same time. I am really looking forward to it, although I do wish that it would have happened a little later in the summer since I just got back from Iowa. My husband has been very giving of his time to me lately!

Back to making supper!

Fun with Arboretum Cows, Ducks, and Ice Cream!

Whew! What a fun morning. I took the boys to a little park in our Arboretum area. We met my MOPS group, played with the cow statues, played in and around several fountains, fed the ducks, geese, and turtles, had a picnic, and ate ice cream. The Prince did a great job of listening and I moved him to SUPER STAR when we got home. He listened and stayed near me. The Knight's behavior was another story. He was everywhere! My goodness. I put 8000 steps on my pedometer just chasing him around the park. Thank goodness the Prince was good! There were three other Moms there with their kids. They brought 2 kids each so there were 8 little "rug rats" running around the park. It always amazes me how quietly other people's kids play. Not mine! Mine talk and yell and run and jump and are just very active. Wow! There were two other 2-year-old boys there today. They both sat so nicely and didn't run away from their moms. The Knight ran away several times and he is getting fast! It is a good thing that there were stairs to slow him down! When I yell at him to stop, he just starts to giggle and runs faster. I will add some pictures. I am not sure why the pictures started posting smaller. I choose "medium" size or "large" size and yet the pictures post small. I re-booted, so let's see if that helps. :) Yippee! It looks like re-booting worked. You might be asking why the Knight was not as well represented in these pictures as the Prince. Well, it was because I was either carrying him or holding his hand while snapping the pictures. I took lots of photos today. I think the day is documented well enough! The Princess will be home from school in about 10 minutes. When DadOf3 gets home, it will officially be the weekend. Thank goodness. I am ready for a nice nap with the kids tomorrow afternoon.

MOPS and the Lady Bug Picnic

Hello again! We have had a busy morning. The Prince, the Knight, and I went to MOPS this morning. We saw MomOf2Boys there. We were only able to chat for a few minutes but it was nice to see her nonetheless! Today was MOPS Tea and Treasures. Three women got up and talked about their walk as Christians. It was very moving. I am always awed by the struggles some people have to face in their lives. That they came through it so well speaks volumes for them. The Prince and the Knight had fun at MOPPETTS. This is where the kids go while their Mommies go to MOPS. When the Prince was little he would scream and cry for almost the entire 4 hours we were there. I would send MomOf2Boys down to check on him. The Knight fussed a lot earlier this year but then when he turned 2 something just seemed to click in him. Both at MOPS and at Sunday School it was as if he realized that he was just going to play for a while and then we would come back for him. He went right in today. Niether boy cried or fussed and a good time was had by all! DadOf3 is coming home today to watch the boys while I go to the Princess's Ladybug Picnic. It should be fun! I will come back with pictures and stories I am sure!

TGIF

Friday at last! Thank goodness! We are ready for a nice, long weekend around here. The Prince, the Knight, and I have MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) this morning. It is a nice break for me since they get to play with their friends at Moppetts from about 9:00 until noon. I get some adult face time and they get to play. A win-win situation if I have ever seen one. The Prince has been up for almost 2 hours, but I need to go and wake up the Knight so I can feed him before we leave for MOPS. More later!