Rewarding Good Behavior

Raising kids is not easy. No one ever said it was. It comes with a lot of trial and error. But, the rewards are eternal!

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

One things we've been trying lately is focusing on rewarding good behavior instead of bad behavior. We still discipline for bad behavior, but we are making much more of an effort to reward the good behavior.

It seems to be working.

The boys both have a sticker chart and they will get a sticker when they demonstrate a character trait that we are trying to instill in them.

They would get a very small, non purchased item at the end of each row and then when they finished their whole chart they could go out for ice cream.

Ice cream to these kids is why life exists.

Joseph hasn't filled his chart up yet, but he of course wants to go get ice cream too.

What reward systems seem to work for your family? I'd love to know.

G.Grandma and G.Grandpa Visit

My grandma and grandpa visited the first party of April on their way home from being in Florida for the winter.

They brought a present for each of us. It was so special. The boys are still obessed with all their treasures from GG!

The stay was not long, but it was so fantastic to be with them. I did a horrible job taking pictures. Our times together are so rare and I should have documented it much better.

They stayed at a hotel right down the street because it had a pool and they know how much our little fish love to swim.



I wish so much we lived closer. They are amazing people!

This is one of the woman that Annabelle gets her middle name 'Jane' from. My Dad's mom has the middle name of Jane too! How neat is that?!

It's Baseball Season!

The boys are so thrilled that the season is here. Over the winter, each and every Sunday as we drove by the field the boys commented about how no one was playing baseball that day. Then, they would ask when Spring is coming?

Well, it's finally arrived, and they couldn't be more excited.

We went to our first game last weekend and had a blast.

And yes, those are hot dogs the boys are eating!

Funny story: (We had gone to the games on Saturday). So, then the next day we drive by on our way home from church. Samuel asks if we can go to the baseball game that was playing. I said no, we needed to head on home for lunch. He said "well then, can we just stop by and have a hot dog for lunch and then go home?"

I've really gotten myself into trouble!

So, in the eyes of the Eckert boys I'm imagining that my blog post title should no longer be "it's baseball season" but "it's hot dog season"

Inevitable Change

Our den currently looks like this:

But in the eyes of these boys:

The junk needs to be cleared out and these need to go up, much sooner rather than later:

And eventually all this fabric that they picked out made into 2 quilts:

The beds totally took us off guard. Andy and I were just walking around an antique store on our way home from our anniversary get-a-way when we saw them. They were too good to pass up.

I was so against this idea for so long, but now that I've accepted all the change, I'm excited.

I spent so long setting up their current bedroom making it look just so. I was not ready for them to just move out of it onto bigger and better things. And, I also wanted to be able to design some new bedding and accessories just for Annabelle. But, I designed their room to be gender neutral just 'in case' we ever had a girl and wanted her to end up in there, we could arrange that without any changes. So, good thing it is not super boyish. I'm not going to change a thing. I might add a few girlie features, but that would be it. And, I get to figure out how to design the boys' new big boy room. How exciting!

The boys are going to be moving out of their current bedroom and will be moving into the room that is currently the den/sewing room (pictured above). And, now we will have permanent beds for our guests to sleep in (the boys' beds). A problem that we've been struggling with since we moved into this house.

So, after all the delaying of the inevitable, the boys are getting big boy beds, Annabelle is getting their old room and the den is no longer... It's exactly what we were avoiding, but it's the most obvious solution.

*******

As resistant as I was to giving up our den, the Lord was really able to work in my heart. Here I am complaining that we don't live in a bigger house and I can have the luxury of having an entire room to sew.

Here I am so excited about our next child, but not excited about what the presence of this next child in our home will look like and the sacrifices it will require of me.

How selfish of me.

We comment about how we'll have to move out of our house soon if we keep having kids. It just makes me realize how spoiled we are as Americans to think we need all of this space to live. Andy and I are probably some of the richest people in the world material wise and we complain about not having enough.

We sure do have enough, enough materials to keep our eyes focused on ourselves and off of the Lord who wants to be our true provider of happiness.

What we don't have enough of is faith. Faith that the Lord will meet all of our needs (not wants) and that he will grow us during these seasons where we feel as though we're being stretched beyond what we can bear.

I love it that we serve a God who cares about the little things and wants us to be happy, yes, but even more so, for us to be holy. And making us holy isn't always a fun process.

*And In case you're wondering, yes, I'm writing this post to avoid cleaning the den :)

Best Friends With Rings

On April 10th Andy and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. Wow. I can't believe it's been that long. I could not have imagined 6 years being filled with so much. Best years of my life, by far!

Andy's mom came to stay with the boys while we got away to our favorite place on earth. Yes, the Sugar Tree Inn. She gave Andy money for his birthday in January to go again since the last time we went wasn't so relaxing. We waited to use it for our anniversary since it would be our last chance to get away before Annabelle makes her grand entry.

It was phenominal.

My wedding boquet was white orchids so each year on our anniversary I try to get some orchids to celebrate. I found this stem at the Charlottesville City Market for THREE DOLLARS! I was so thrilled. It still looks like it did the day I got it (4/4).


We got home from our trip to these two little precious cut-outs of our boys telling us about their time with Gigi. They are still up on our walls and we laugh at them every time we pass.

Easter 2010

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating the resurrection of our King. Aunt Juju was here to make it extra special.

I found some great resurrection eggs that each had an object in them and then a story and questions to go along with them that told the death and resurrection of Jesus. I was so pleased with it. They went and searched for the eggs and then we gathered together and opened the correct egg as we got to it in the story.

Seeing such a miraculous story start to really make sense for them was such a joy. There is nothing that makes us happier than to see them start to understand Biblical concepts.

Samuel was so sweet. He made sure he and Joseph both had the same amount of eggs. He would find an egg and then go get Joseph to go and discover it so he could put it in his basket.



Here I was 30 weeks pregnant.

Okay, I just had to include this picture below. If you don't know Andy and his sister well, then here is a really good way to catch you up. This is what they do! But the funniest to them is for me to take pictures of them and then they look through them and completely crack up at themselves at how ridiculous they look.

Notice Samuel on the sidelines. Learning early.

32 Weeks

I simply cannot believe I only have 8 more weeks until my due date.

Here we are growing by the minute!

Recent Blankets for Uganda

Blankets, quilts whatever you want to call them, they are adding up for Uganda. I couldn't be more tickled. I have received some from others already and know of several more in the making.

God is doing something really neat through this.

We have no idea as of right now if our home will ever be graced with an Ugandan child, but we are certain that he is growing our love for them.

I want to encourage those of you who are sewing for these babies to keep it up! Together we are making a difference.

Here are the recent quilts/blankets made:

This one was is from a woman I do not even know. She is a friend of a friend. Check out her etsy shop here.


Below are my February and March blankets.


If you know of friends that sew, please pass along this cause. Together we can send 50 quilts to these precious children who are desperately in need.

*If this is the first time you're hearing about this on our blog please visit this post to learn about what I'm up to.

Kidisms

Both Samuel and Joseph have been saying the most hilarious/adorable things lately.

First, Joseph's vocabulary has gotten just too much. It's so cute. He now uses the word frustrated all the time. He either tells us how he's frustrated or is asking others if they are frustated. A few weeks ago it was 'rustrated' but now it's normal.

Some of his other words that I love to hear are:
be-pause : because
praw-bee-bee : probably
delicious, which he actually says correctly, but it's so cute coming from a 2 year old.

Andy was holding the boys on his lap and commented to me: "look at these people, where did they come from?" Joseph quickly responded "From mommy. From mommy's tummy. We popped out!"

Recently the boys have become obessed with our wedding rings. They want to see them all the time. Samuel said the other day: "Daddy has ring because he's pregnant to mommy!"

Sitting at the dinner table Samuel says: "Joe Joe, you are the cutest fellow I have never seen." Then Joseph says very forcefully: "NO, I am not a fellow I am a BOY!" Then Samuel responds: "NO, you are a fellow!" And then they continued back and forth for about 10 rotations until we changed the subject.

Another night at the dinner table Joseph says: "Ahh, it's too hot for babies. You blown on it?" Andy and I just crack up laughing. Then Joseph realizes that we're laughing starts cracking up too. Slamming his hand down on the table says: "It's so funny I say that word!"

Puddle Jumping

The boys celebrated the beginning of Spring puddle jumping:

Thankful Thursday

* We had a great time on our anniversary get-a-way.
* We found some big boy beds for the boys.
* The boys had such a wonderful time with their Gigi.
* Our taxes are done.
* The weather has been super.
* Annabelle is slowing down in her growth, wahooo!
* We've got 59 days until her official due date.
* A friend brought me dinner for tonight so I don't have to cook, just because.
* She also went grocery shopping for me!
* I have awesome friends :)

Thankful Thursday

1. Our A/C is working! It was 95 degrees here and broken. Ugg.
2. We are one more week closer to Annabelle arriving :)
3. Andy made me some shelves in our kitchen. They are so helpful for storage.
4. We got the paint for Annabelle's room and we'll be painting it this month.
5. My grandparents stopped in for a day on their way home to New York. It was so wonderful to see them.
6. Our 6 year anniversary is this Saturday and we're going to be going away.
7. These guys:

The Funny Side of Parenting

The Nation Center for Biblical Parenting is an excellent resource for Christian parents who want to thrive at raising their children. We actually just went to a conference a few weeks back that was so helpful. I am so thankful that there are such good resources out there to assist us in parenting.

They send out about 2 emails a week on various tips revolving around raising kids. This is the email I got today. Too cute to not post.

The Funny Side of Parenting

Parenting often contains surprises, some delightful and others, well... How many of the following might you be able to relate to? Hint, if you smile at any one, it's probably because you've experienced it in your home.

1. The later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the next morning.

2. For a child to become clean, something else must become dirty.

3. Toys multiply to fill any space available.

4. The longer it takes you to make a meal, the less your child will like it.

5. Yours is always the only child who doesn't behave.

6. If the shoe fits...it's expensive.

7. The surest way to get something done is to tell a child not to do it.

8. The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet.

9. Backing the car out of the driveway causes your child to have to go to the bathroom.

10. The more challenging the child, the more rewarding it is to be a parent...but you usually have to work overtime to get that reward.

How many of you have experienced some of these??? I know I have! Oh the joys of parenting. The best job in the world :)

First Spring Hike

We celebrated the beginning of Spring with a family hike. It felt so good to get out on the trails again. It had been quite awhile since we've all been out there together. I didn't realize how much I missed hiking.

Spring is so full of hope. I love it that Easter is in the beginning of Spring. I could not think of a better way to begin a season of new life than with the resurrection of our KING!

It's also a great season to have a baby :)

Handmade Gifts for All Ages

Making gifts is something I love to do. There are so many reasons why:

1). It's usually less expensive than buying something already made.
2). It gives you the opportunity to make it more personable.
3). You can create it exactly how you want it.
4). It usually means a lot more to the receiver that you put so much thought and energy into the gift.

I've been able to make several gifts lately that I've wanted to document on here and also to share them with you in case you'd like to try some of them.

For Joseph's birthday I made him a birthday crown that I discovered through SouleMama and then researched several other people's designs on the web to come up with my own version seen below.

Also for Joseph's birthday I made him a matching set of oven mitts and an apron. I originally found the oven mitt pattern here and the apron pattern here.



For Christmas I made the same kind of birds seen below but out of Christmas fabric with a loop in the back to hang as an ornament. The pattern can be found here. Really simple but is a great gift.

And of course the car caddies. I made these for the boys for Christmas. The pattern can be found here.

Then with all of my friends that are having babies I decided to make them all taggie blankets. I didn't follow a pattern, but if you're interested in making them you could find one online somewhere. These are very easy to make, and are super gifts, especially if you don't have much money to spend.

And here are the boys' capes I made them for Christmas. They have turned out to be big hits. Don't take their faces as proof :)



And then the last thing that I wanted to share was these silhouettes. I don't have a picture of mine, but go look at them to see. They were given as gifts for Christmas and everyone loved them. I am currently working on a set of our whole family that I will be putting up in our home. It's a great way to document the kids as they grow. And you can really tell them apart even if it's just their shadows.

I can't wait to share all of my next projects. I'm nesting like crazy so the creative juices are flowin'. If you have something that you'd like to share, pass it along :) I'm always looking for a new project to try!

Third Trimester

March 21st I completed my 28th week of being pregnant. And for most calculations out there, that is officially the third trimester. It also was the 2nd day of Spring. How fitting.

With the combination of nesting and Spring fever I have reached a new level of list making. Andy has been such a servant during this time. He's been working so hard to meet my self impossed deadlines with a smile. I realize that life is not about finishing tasks, but right now I'm convinced it will make my life easier come mid-June.

Even though there are blossoms abounding everywhere and the temperatures are reaching new highs, my heart is still hesitant to welcome Spring with open arms. I'm still waiting on that last huge snow storm for some reason. Fear? I don't know.

Now that the calendar reads April I am now allowing myself to get the Summer jitters! I can without a doubt say that Annabelle will be here in 2 months. We're in April and then comes May and the next month is JUNE!!!

If we're going off of the same mentality as we did with Joseph, she could completely surprise us and come in a totally different month than what we were expecting. (He was due mid-March, but came in February).

But, unlike with the second birth, 3 just seems a little terrifying to me. Transitioning to one was easy and two wasn't bad either, but THREE!!! That's a whole new ball game for me. We'll be outnumbered! I'm starting to think that this child is where I'm really going to be challenged. And knowing she's a girl, I'm almost convinced that this one will be the one. Not to say she'll be the last (we really hope that's not the case) but the one where the Lord finally is able to break me of myself and bring me to my knees like I've never been brought before.

I'm excited for the challenge to say the least. My heart's cry is to welcome anything that will bring my heart closer to the Lord's. Having children is definitely how I see God doing that in my life. I couldn't think of a more challenging yet rewarding experience.

Thankful Thursday

*We had an appointment for Annabelle on Tuesday and she is doing well. She seems to be slowing down in her growth, praise the Lord! Maybe she won't be a mammoth child like I had feared. As frightened as I am to give birth again I am coming to have more peace about this birth. I got a ton of supplies from my midwife at my last visit and we're doing well in our progress of getting her things together.

*Andy's mom just left today from coming to visit. I got errands done that have been on my list for months. She brought me some flowers to plant and even planted them for me, made meals, cleaned up, you name it... I was spoiled. And now she's gone :( But good news is that my mom is planning on coming soon! Having two moms is really helpful! I just wish they didn't live so far away!