the Art of Play

A wise woman once told me that there is an art to playing and that there are some people that never learn how. WHAT? I thought that everyone knew how to play. I think part of my mis-understanding is that we are surrounded by SO SO many people that are just plain good at playing. Other parents, college students, newly married folks, many adults...they know how to join in with pretend play and engage children in really fun ways. I think about this 'art' almost every day. I want to be good at playing with the girls. Good at jumping into their world and talking with them about all sorts of things and for sure pretending to be "Princess Mommy Belle" at various times throughout the day. I enjoy being with them...though exhausting at times...I really really love that I get to be a mom. I want to do it well.

And so it begins here in the Lee Home...we are beginning a journey of schooling that requires a lot from me...playing, planning, teaching and flexing. Yep...we are starting to home school Jada this year as a part of a school called "Classical Conversations". We think that homeschooling is the only way that Christians should educate their children....KIDDING. Seriously, there seems to be so so many strong opinions about schooling in many circles. We really think that there is absolutely no right or wrong way. I think Jesus knows our kids so well and knows what they need...and we, as their parents, get to seek God's direction for them. We really just feel peaceful that this is the route for us, so here we go! We will continue to re-evaluate as the girls grow up and hold our hands open to the Holy Spirit's direction. Many people in our community are a part of "Classical Conversations" and it is exciting to think about our children growing up together in this way. At Jada's age, almost 4, the year's goals are writing, reading and calculus. Kidding about the calculus. So far we have begun the "Handwriting Without Tears" part of her learning. These are some pics from her first time with the wood pieces...she is like a little sponge, I love watching her little mind work wonders as she creates. I showed her how to create her name with the wooden pieces and she is a pro at that already. So fun. And of course she created a little person named Kiva too.

As we move forward in our home schooling ventures, I will keep you updated. She begins tomorrow with her class that is once a week. It should be fun. My friend, Amy, is the director of the school and has done a fabulous job getting it started...and it is fun to get Jada started in the school's beginning. Here is Jada at the orientation day.How is Kiva? Well, she is quite the bruiser lately. She has been pulling up...and what goes up must come down...which has left her with many little marks on her sweet little body to prove it. But how precious is this little proud girl?

your love is in the little things

The title is a little board book I have read to Jada and now to Kiva. This has resounded to me over the past week. I have literally felt the Lord's love towards me in the "little things" and I have recognized how much the Lord wants me to love Him and others in the "little things."

So, a little background: Brian and I have been learning a lot about each other and our marriage over the past month and a half or so....more than usual I should say. It all comes down to the garden. Yep. Way back then. You see, Brian and I have been married for 8 1/2 wonderful years. We've known each other for 12 years. We have admittedly had a really GREAT partnership. I love him so much. He loves me too. We know that. We are glad about that. BUT our marriage is not at it's best yet.

We have recently recognized that Brian RESPECTS me a whole lot in his actions towards me...and I LOVE Brian a whole lot in my actions towards him. Sounds good until we step back and see that we are giving what we want to receive the most. Make sense? So, back to the garden...Brian should be the loving boss of me and I should be the respectful helper to him. We have known that we want to live in this since before marriage...and in many ways we have...but there are ways that the Lord is pointing out that He wants us to grow in!

All this to say, we have been learning how to love each other in the little things. Redefining our roles in daily things. It is good.

On another topic: I have been reading a book called "Relentless Generational Blessing" by Arthur Burk. ALL OF YOU SHOULD READ IT! Seriously. But more than that, my world has totally been rocked in so many ways. He unpacks the scriptures in beautiful ways and the Lord has used this book to stir my soul in a fresh way towards Him, towards loving Christ in a fresh way, towards Holiness, and towards investing in our children in eternal ways that I just didn't know possible! So...check it out!

And no blog post would be complete without a new pic of the girls :) Matching shirts...

I really really enjoy these people!

I have stopped everything. Well, what I mean is I have been intentionally staying home with the girls and just enjoying them without anyone else. It has been needed. It is like I have stopped spinning and my feet have landed! So, I have been able to really enjoy the girls without something that I "have" to get ready for or somewhere to go. And wow, I just really really like my girls! They are both so fun! There have been so many sweet moments in the past few days...they are really interacting sweetly together (of course with some training moments throughout our days:). Jada really serves Kiva in some sweet sister ways and Kiva absolutely LOVES her big sis. They are fun to watch together. Here is a scene that has happened a few times...

• Jada is laying down reading or playing something

• Kiva crawls over to Jada

• She crawls right over to Jada's face and then releases herself to her tummy

• ....they butt heads!

• Jada cries as though she has been seriously wounded

• Kiva smiles...and even chuckles.

Oh my...these girls are so funny and oh so different. I really love how different they already are. They are both teaching me a lot about myself.

Anyway, the light was coming in Kiva's window beautifully today and I caught some super fun pics of her.

a little blurry but I loved Jada's sweet face in this one...she enjoys Kiva so much!

And as promised...some photos from our fun with all sorts of people. Unfortunately I got behind on our blog so I am not going to write about all that we were able to experience during out time with our family and friends...but here are some photos! We will start with some fun one's from the Lee's

Some Grammy love :)

that's right folks...THE Big Red Car from the Wiggles!
They went to Fiesta Texas and Jada had a blast!
Jada and Cousin Madyson The Burdettes Kiddos during snack time

The Breed Kiddos and ours! What a crew!

where is everybody?

Tonight as I was bathing Kiva, Jada asked "where is everybody?" Brian and I laughed out loud and Brian said "so telling." We have been spinning a bit...lots of traveling and house guests/friends and not much simple family time. We enjoy it all...but it is nice to be just us tonight. Really nice. Pictures of the "spinning" fun that we've been having to come! For now...ahhhh, a quiet house!

a doodle doo...

No kidding, this is what was on our front porch this morning

this was the rooster walking back to his home...

and this was him posing for the camera one last time I guess

For some of you that live on lots of land or on a farm, this may not be a strange thing...but we live in a subdivision....a neighborhood with dogs and cats and hermit crabs...not roosters!

We have some new neighbors that are great...but they definitely have this rooster that is usually in their backyard. We know this because we hear him "cock-a-doodle-doing" in the back yard every morning. We don't really mind, our bedroom is on the other side of the house, but surely the neighbors that live behind them mind quite a bit. Not sure if someone has called our HOA yet, but we won't...we think it is kinda funny. And besides that Jada said tonight, and I quote, "wasn't that rooster just adorable?"

one knee...one hand...almost!

Kiva is 9 months old!!! And she is just so close to crawling...today she crawled once...meaning one knee and one hand and then flopped onto her belly and did the good arch stretch. Crawling is just around the corner for this household! And we have had an enjoyable last week being home...I love Brian being home from work for the summer! It is such a gift! So, here are some fun pics of some of the fun we've been having!

at the children's museum

painting the car at the museum

Jada and Piper at the children's museum playing dress up

Kiva is really good at looking at the camera and smiling...which has been fun!
Daddy took this one...I like it.My mom reconnected with our neighbor when I was 18 months old until 4th grade...Gayla. It has been fun to catch up with her...thanks to facebook :)

Right now the Hollands are here visiting...we love them...proof, when they were almost here Jada went and got one of her chairs and looked out the window saying "Faith, Jacob...Faith, Jacob..." over and over in a sing-song style. She was giddy when they arrived.

And a little movie before bed time last night. Tonight, the three oldest are having a 'sleepover' in Jada's room...and are sleeping soundly. Precious.

Some Jada Quotes over the past 24 hours...

You are such a gift to me daddy.”

“You are the best daddy in the whole wide world.”

“I love you the most as you love me.”
“You are so fun to me daddy.”

“You’re the greatest.”

“How did God make you so hansom?”

When asked, “why are you saying all these sweet things to me?” She replied
“Because I love you.”& “Because I am a nice girl”

"Mommy, You are a gift to me."
"You are a great great mommy in the whole world."

Really precious thoughts from our sweet sweet 3 1/2 year old...and we agree, she is a nice girl! We love her a lot too :)

Answered prayer!

As we were having dinner with some friends, we realized that we really needed to document the ways the Lord has been answering our prayers in regards to Jada...so here goes!

Last spring, Jada was really sick all of the sudden. She was throwing up and screaming in pain. It was scary. We took her to one of the smaller emergency rooms in the area since our regular family doc was out of town. When we arrived, it was so so sad. She was really hurting and about every two minutes she would scream out in pain and had some bouts of vomiting. The docs could not identify the cause and told us that it would probably keep going and spread to Kiva for days before it was all over. All of this happened to be on a Wednesday night (our regular small group meeting night) so they met at another place and really spent time praying, and really asking the Lord to relieve her from pain and heal her. They texted us when they were praying and no kidding, 10 minutes later she was pain free, laughing and wanting a happy meal :) WHAT? Seriously, it was done. And Kiva never got it. Our small group was so encouraged and so were we! Jada totally knows that God healed her.

Last week when we were on vacation with my family, we switched condos in the middle and I accidentally left Jada's special night light that is a moon and sun. By the way, this is one of the coolest things ever to train your children to stay in bed until the "sun" comes up. It is called the "Good Nite Lite" if you want to know about it :). ANYWAY...so the next day in our new condo we were trying to figure out how we could get this special night light back. We knocked on the door to the old condo in hopes that the new guests would just hand over the night light...however, no answer three different times. Jada cried, really grieved her night light, not like throwing a fit, but really sad and asked Brian to please pray that God would give the night light back to her. Precious prayer. SO of course we really wanted that for her....and Brian was fully prepared to get online and order another one soon. The next morning on our way to the pool, Brian knocked on the old condo door and the new guests handed over...you guessed it...Jada's night light!!! Jada was so thrilled and squealed and said God answered our prayers! She then was giddy with delight holding her sun/moon. About a minute later I asked "Are you so happy that God answered our prayers?" and she said "YES, and I think God is happy too." Amen.

And two nights ago Jada had this huge fever blister on her top lip. It looked like it really hurt, and anyone who knows Jada knows that she was letting us know with crying and being a bit overdramatic. She couldn't eat or drink easily and was truly in pain. That evening we were able to pray and Jada asked the Lord to heal her lip. The next morning Jada had her bowl of cereal in front of her morning sprout show while Brian, Kiva and I were in the kitchen. A couple of minutes later we hear Jada shout "My lip is healed!" "What did she say?"...we asked eachother. I said "I think she said that her lip pealed." So we asked again..."MY LIP IS HEALED!" She was right, it was gone.

She has seen God answer prayer in beautiful ways and so have we. Thank you Lord for building our faith through our children!

what day is it again?

I really thought today was Monday...all day. I love that! I have taken off of work for two weeks now and we just returned from a family vacation with no phones and computers! Sigh...deep breath...and I am definitely on the computer in the moment trying to organize all of our pictures over the past few weeks. There are a whole lot of photos...prepare yourself!...

two sunsets...seriously beautiful view from our condo!

moody gardens...jada was inside a caterpillar cocoon!

penguins at moody gardens

jada loves mimi loves jada loves mimi...you get the point

some chill time at the condo

kiva bear with daddy getting ready for our moody gardens adventure

the following photos are from some of my favorite times during our trip. One morning Jada wanted to play dress up and dance...so we did. Jada and I danced while Kiva wore a tutu and watched with joy! Daddy had some fun too :)

Kiva is so close to crawling!

our jenga games got serious!

jada resting in our "cozy bed"

Jada is really becoming a good little swimmer

Kiva's first time in the sand and ocean was a success!

how precious is this!...little polka dot outfits...

too fun!

Uncle Jason and Aunt Shannon!

Kiva's room was our closet...and here is Jada feeding her teddy bear in the closet about to put her to bed :)fun times

family pic.kiva's first cupcake...we had a little celebration for Jada's friend Ella before we left for vacation..Kiva LOVED the rainbow cupcakes :)

Brian's cousin Sarah came and visited...Jada had a blast!

Brian's Aunt Jennifer also came in...it was fun

4th of July...Jada watching her first fireworks!

Can you just sense the delight from Kiva in the "fun basket"?...they both did great in HEB together!