A ‘James’ Story

There are many things that have now been referenced to as a ‘James’ – as though it were a verb instead of a noun.  For instance …. falling off of a chair just by sitting still, eating a yogurt and spilling the entire thing all over his clothes before his first bite, cutting his own hair just 3 days after a professional haircut, throwing a ball into the air to kick it only to have the ball hit him in the face (knocking him over) …. such things as those examples!  It’s become quite the ‘household’ name!

Recently, my hubby asked if I wouldn’t mind going to a parts supply store to pick up a part we had special ordered for our sink, a week prior.  Now – for you moms – you know, ‘wouldn’t mind’ has a completely NEW meaning when you know for a fact that you’ll be taking the kids wherever you ‘wouldn’t mind’ going!  That puts things under severe consideration in my house.  Mostly, because we are blessed with an obstacle, named James.  However hair pulling, mind blowing, jaw-drop-embarrassing things may get with him …. I look back over these kinds of posts – MUCH later – and laugh to tears!  It’s TOTALLY worth it in my book!  Anyhow, after much pleading threatening the children to PLEASE not touch ANYTHING ….. explaining to them that this is a ‘man store’ ….. all they sell is parts.  No toys.  I even described to them the smell which they will experience with a man-operated storehouse.  As we walked in, I instructed the kids to just sit quietly and wait while I pay for the part.  While the man is writing up my receipt, James puts both hands on the counter and tilts his head and says to him, “So, is it really true that ALL you guys sell here is BOY PARTS?”  Now, I’m not sure how ‘mans store’, ‘no toys’, ‘only parts’ and ‘bad smell’ turned into ‘they only sell boy parts’ …. but, it sure got the entire store into an uproar of laughter!

After 23 different shades of red, my face did eventually turn back to it’s normal-pasty-whiteness and we were ready to hit the road ….. but, not until James – in attempting to get off his seat – fell WITH the chair, tumbling himself and chair together in one fell swoop.  Instead of crying, being embarrassed, complaining of being hurt or turning around to PICK UP the chair …. James jumps to his feet (as though a sergeant had yelled, “Atten – tion!”) and quickly spits out, “That was an accident, right mom, right?  I won’t be in big trouble, right mom?  Because that was just an accident, right mom, right?”  My, oh my.  I have my hands full.  But, I sure love it!

Baby Bump

14 Weeks:

20 Weeks:Baby Boy #3

Baby Weldon #3

 

This is my 12 week baby bump ….. can’t believe I’m showing so soon! I guess that comes with baby #3!

 

This is our little Baby …… we don’t know a gender, yet – but we are thrilled either way!

Season of Change

I’m completely embarrassed of how long it’s been since I’ve posted an updated blog post.  Boy, oh boy.  It’s been quite a while.  To say that a lot has happened over the last few months would be the understatement of the year.  

 

   We had a wonderful Fall season, filled with business and events.  With both of my boys attending two different schools, in two different cities, has definitely had it’s challenges.  I took a new job position at a preschool, where James goes, and I work two full days there as music director.  But, that hasn’t stopped me from my first love – teaching piano.  I teach Monday, Thursday and Friday and work at the school Tuesday and Wednesday.  The boys are each involved in their own Awana’s group and enjoy learning new Bible verses each week.  It has been very good for both boys, but somewhat stretches them too, especially for Peter because he also learns Bible verses for school, once a week and most recently had a speech meet, where he learned and memorize poetry.  I was able to have my first official school-parade for my preschool kids.  They memorized many different (and new) songs about Fall, Halloween and other poems and got to march in their costumes and sing for their parents – it was, in one word, precious.  I really enjoy working there.  I have a wonderful, godly, boss who has really become a dear friend of mine.  Our oldest boys share the same class at Dayton Christian and are best buds.  It’s been one of the best experiences I’ve had in a long time!  It posses it’s challenges, though.  Memorizing 150 kids faces and able to put a name to that face has taken longer than I thought it would.  But, each class is so different and they really make me laugh! 

   Christmas was another really amazing season.  Tim’s brother (Pat) and wife (Catherine) flew here to Dayton to spend the holidays with us all.  We had a phenomenal time of doing absolutely nothing!  There were days that Catherine and I just grabbed our own big comfy blankets, grabbed some hot spiced tea and just watching HGTV or talked for hours.  It was a world of nothing to do and we loved every mili-second of it!  The boys loved playing in the snow with their Uncle Patrick and we ate at some pretty amazing places and laughed A LOT!  The boys built worlds of legos and train tracks around our living room floor and I believe, besides that, all we did was eat!

   Thanksgiving and Christmas were definitely not our ‘usual traditional holiday’s.  Not this year, anyhow.  At the end of November, we found out that we are expecting Weldon Baby #3!  We could NOT be more excited! The boys were so thrilled with the news, which we knew they would be.  But, it made it for a very different holiday season, as I had 24 hour ‘morning’ sickness.  I was put on Zofran, which helped with my all-day nausea, but surely didn’t ‘cure’ it by any means.  As you may have guessed, nausea = no appetite, so our usual holiday feasts were still feasts, but I didn’t gain my usual ‘holiday weight’ by a long hall.  (I guess that’s a good thing?)  So, here we are, preparing for, yet again, another great new chapter in our lives.  Our family missed out on a lot of traditions this year, because I didn’t feel well enough to do them, but the boys and Tim have all been incredibly understanding and flexible with all of this new stuff.  

   I will surely update more details, events and recent pictures that we have, in my next post!  Don’t want to leave anything out!

   

Peter: School Days

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd Grade

New Beginnings ….. [for my lil sis!]

Another Amazing, Sweet and Cuddly new beginning, that we all got to experience, was my little sister having her first baby!!!!!

Now, I’ve heard from Caralee that being an Aunt is such an incredible feeling.  She, herself, was in doubt and thought that her friends that were aunts were a little silly for pouring out so much ‘bragging rights’ about their own nieces and nephews, until I had Peter and James and then Caralee said she was immediately transformed into ‘crazy aunt mode’!  So I knew, slightly, what to expect.  However, even still, I surprised myself ….. I thought ‘how could I possibly love anyone equally, like I love my own children’?  But, I believe I do!!!

We got ‘the call’ around 5:00 AM, “Caralee is at the hospital and she’s contracting really close!” …. wahoo!!!  I immediately jumped up, got dressed, collected the things I wanted to take to the hospital, while awaiting this little sweet pea’s arrival … only to have been stopped by my husband’s question … “Exactly what do you plan on doing with our boys, who are still asleep?”.  Oh, yeah.  I have kids too, don’t I?

So, despite my alertness and quick emotional high, I had to pace around, practically leaving a ring in my carpet, awaiting for my own children to awake from their deep, (in my opinion, slightly unnecessary) slumber.  How dare they sleep!  Don’t they know my sister is having a BABY?!?!?  So, I waited, until about 6:20 – until I could wait no longer.  I woke up the boys with the good news, and they – as quickly as I did – jumped out of bed and got dressed.  I packed their book bags and made their lunches, and out the door we went.  Peter wanted to see his aunt before he went to school, so we stopped by the hospital on our way to Dayton Christian, and Peter got to see ‘Aunt Dee-Dee’s baby bump one last time.  He kissed his Aunt and then off to school we went.

 {we say morning prayers, every morning, on the way to school, so this particular morning was especially special because all of our prayers were for baby Owen and Aunt Dee-Dee.  Pete prayed that the Lord would be with her, help her to have a safe and quick delivery and that He would watch over them.  James ….. he prayed something to the effect of “I pray that Baby Owen is cute”…. thankfully, BOTH of their prayers were answered with ‘yes’!!}

Baby Owen Graham was born on September 4, weighing in at 7.6 pounds.  He is just the cutest!!!

 

 

 

Instantly in love with this little guy ….. how stinking cute is he?

 

Even though I would rather do so much more often, we are able to visit him at least once a week.  Peter and James just eat him up!  Tim loves holding him like he once held our own little babies – like a football, and I just enjoy kissing his little chubby cheeks and listening to him coo.

 

 

That’s our most funnest …. yes, I made that up …. news so far this year!  Being an aunt ROCKS!

 

New Beginnings

Although it would appear that we have disappeared off the face of the Earth ….. we have not.  We’re still here!!

Life has been full of so many, mostly wonderful, new things!

Peter is in 2nd grade and is learning all new things.  He is off the hook with his math skills and has recently had some struggles with spelling, but in the last 2 weeks – thanks to some hard work, patience and a new app on my phone – he has really excelled and is now getting excellent grades on his spelling tests!!!  We’re super proud of our big guy!  He also had surgery a few weeks ago – which has taken much of our focus – but came through it beautifully.  It was a ‘little boy’ problem, so it was quite interesting trying to figure out how he can best explain his operation to his friends at school.  We called it his ‘surgery below his tummy on a hernia’ ….. because, honestly ….. what 7 year old is going to know what a hernia is??  It seemed to have worked, too!  He had his post-op follow-up and we’re all ‘clear’ for normal activity and ‘back to normal’ life!!!  And, let me just say …. it was not easy for this active little dude to keep under the radar for 2 weeks.  He has been counting down the days until he can, once again, be completely active!  He’s back to swim classes too, and couldn’t be a happier boy!  He had some fun visitors in the hospital that helped (both him AND I!) and the spoilege continued for the next couple days.  My best friend not only visited us in the hospital but then she [completely out of the kindness of her heart and kitchen] made us a meal and dropped off some ‘get well’ cards that her boys had made for Pete!  He was on cloud 9!  Then, his little ‘crush’ [a lady from our church, married , whom he has been in love with since he was 4] visited him here at home and brought a whole bag of goodies and things to do while he was on bed rest.  It really was perfect timing, because later that same day he quickly became ill, due to the anesthesia.  And, having those distractions was a huge blessing!  He later received a ginormous basket full of sweets from our prior Shepherding Elder and his family.  They live an hour away and sent him this basket so that he could have something extra special to snack on during his recovery.  Thankfully ….. he shared some of his chocolate with his Momma!  We were covered in prayer, by so many precious friends and family members, it made things much easier for us to ‘handle’.  This was the first time we’ve had a child go under for surgery, so it was a whole new experience for us all.  We also had so many friends and family watch Peter at home, while he recovered so that James could go to school and Tim and I could go back to work.  It was a blessing for sure!  These days, he enjoys playing and building with legos, trio blocks and other ‘boy like’ toys.  He has lots of little buddies at school and loves having playdates with them!  He lost 4 teeth so far, and has – I might add – quite the lazy toothfairy.  She has forgotten his $ at least twice.  But, with his gentle forgiving spirit, he hasn’t held anything against her;)

   

James is loving his second year of preschool at Springboro Preschool of Discovery.  He is also on his second year of swimming lessons and has learned, not only to swim, but to jump into the water, without holding his nose and how to do the breast stroke and back stroke.  He can also float – his personal favorite!   He learned how to write his name this year – and even though he insists on putting the hook on the right side of his ‘J’, because he thinks it should go that way, he’s actually pretty good at it, for being only 4 years old!  James is in Awanas this year!  He is officially a Cubbie …. and learns at least 2 memory verses each week and is doing wonderfully!  He also has some close buds at school and enjoys having playdates with them.  This little guy of ours is our TALKER!  We have something in our home that we use, called a ‘talking time out’ …. it’s for those 5 minutes of quiet that Mommy needs during the day!  He is also very active!!  He is in gymnastics and really loves using his energy to spin and jump, hop and turn, flip and flop.  He’s quite the mover!  Next year, all things will change, as he’ll be in Kindergarten and attending Dayton Christian – full day, everyday.  He’s my snuggle-bug, so every morning he cuddles with me and covers me in hugs and kisses, and then does it again before bed.  He loves playing all things pirates!  He still loves his dinosaurs and his all time favorite animal is still the sheep (baa-baa) and sleeps with his baa-baa pillow every night.  He cracks me up!

   

….. more updates to come!!

Creamy Cheesy Broccoli Soup

 

This is the First (Official) Soup of the Season here in the Weldon Household!  Even though – technically – it’s ‘Summer’, and even though it may have been 86 degrees yesterday, and even though my husband refuses to eat hot soup on a day where you still need suntan lotion, and even though I’ve already pulled out my Christmas music selections (and added to them recently) – all those things aside …. it’s Fall in THIS house!

I used to be very by-the-book when it came to recipes.  Well, honestly, when I was first married, I didn’t think I needed to be … therefore lots of prepared meals flopped, badly, because I thought I knew what I was doing.  So … due to lots of life experience, and making 438,916 meals (slight exaggeration) I’m finally getting to that point where I can begin to create my own ‘versions’ of recipes.  I use cook books still, and for the most part, follow them ingredient by ingredient – but, have found myself improvising many of them.  Here’s a basic cheesy broccoli soup recipe that I added my own ‘flare’  to.

I, first, steamed 2 heads of broccoli and a half yellow pepper (chopped) and red pepper (chopped) in a half inch of water.  Once they were tender (to my liking) I removed them from the saucepan, and put them in another container to add back to the soup later. I rinsed out the same saucepan – mostly to save having to wash multiple dishes – and used about 1 1/2 – 2 cups of milk, a crushed garlic clove, 2 teaspoons of chicken flavoring and some seasoning salt and brought those to a low boil.  Added in a little less than a 1/4 cup flour (sifted) and stirred that until slightly thick. Flour is just one of those ingredients that you can add more of if you prefer your soups super thick, or less if you prefer it a little liquidy.  I added some cheese (add up to a cup for really cheesy soup), white pepper and fresh thyme.  After the cheese had started to melt, I added back in my steamed veggies and a splash of heavy cream.  I took it off the stove and immediately served it to my boys.  They ate it UP like there was no tomorrow!

I truly think you could add just about ANY vegetable to this – steamed – and have it be just as delicious.  I just happened to add what I already had laying around in my refrigerator.   It was yummy!!!

2 heads broccoli

1/2 peppers (yellow, orange, red or green)

1 1/2 – 2 c milk

1 clove garlic (minced or crushed)

2 t chicken flavoring

salt/pepper

cheddar cheese (about 1/2 – 1 cup)

1/4 c flour (sifted)

(optional : fresh thyme)

splash of heavy cream

 

All Things Fall

 

 

Fall, undoubtedly, is my absolute FAVORITE of all seasons.  Here’s a list of things that I look forward to every year (as well as my kids) – it’ll definitely put you in the mood for Autumn and all things Fall!  Enjoy!

Fall brings decorating Pumpkins, with good buddies:

Fall brings little boys dressed in strange characters:

Fall brings little brothers the chance to throw something and not get in trouble:

Fall Brings Back-To-School & New Teachers:

Fall brings First-Day-Of-School special lunch-outings!

Fall brings School Feasts & Programs:

 

Fall brings some of the Whitest Indians you’ll ever meet!!

Fall brings special Mommy/Daddy trips to a cabin far, far away:

Fall brings Hayrides:

Fall brings yummy recipes:

Fall brings the beauty of God’s Creation:

Positive Vision

I will go ahead and give a disclaimer – this is a post about something I’m really struggling with right now.  Positive vision.

The last few weeks, even months, have been full of disappointments.  Both personal and relational.  The older I become, the more I am aware of the sins of those around me, and the sins of myself.  This has made it hard for me to invest fully into the lives of those around me and the spiritual ‘mutualness’ of people – if that makes any sense.  In other words, I struggle with people who claim Christ as their Savior, yet live, intentionally, lives that say otherwise.  I quickly become the judge of their soul, rather than the friend to their heart.  This is something that I’ve wrestled with ever since my early teenage years.  Being raised in a godly Christian home, with the advantage of being homeschool for most of my life, I – even thought I don’t ‘regret’ it – was pretty sheltered from the realness of this world.  Once I saw things in this world that put a bad taste in my mouth, my conscience and my heart said to flee.  So, I would.  This is not so easy to do – nor should it always be the case, as an adult, however.   We are not asked, but TOLD in Scripture to BE the salt and light to this fallen and dark world.  How can one BE salt and light if one instead chooses to completely hide in the shadows of their comfort zone?  They can’t.  I can’t.

   This particular season of my life has brought much sadness.  Dear friends left our church, dear friends are getting ready to move half way across the USA, a dear friend had a miscarriage.   Family members are struggling, some family members are suffering.  I feel a somewhat ‘emotional persecution’ for simply not changing my mind, my actions or my beliefs for what I believe in, Truth.  It’s been a very whirling, tossing, nauseating last few months.  Months full of change of which I didn’t see coming, nor did I want. Today, I had a sudden epiphany, that I – ultimately – have NO control over life circumstances. Shocking, I know.  You would think that I would be grateful for this fact – that I would feel less ‘pressure’ or burden, but rather I get a sense of helplessness and uneasiness.

   This next season of my life brings many changes, as well.  Good changes – exciting changes!  I am getting ready to start a new job that has to do with my favorite age group (PreK) AND teaching music, James is going to 4-day Preschool, Peter is entering 2nd grade, I have a bunch of new students coming on board in the Fall, my Thursday morning Bible Study is beginning a new book (that’s big news for us …. we know how to extend just about anything!), our Youth Group will be gaining a few more new faces, my sister is going to have her FIRST baby, a little boy (Owen) in September – I’LL FINALLY BE AN AUNT!  Tim and I are talking house addition starting the beginning of next year.  Lots of new and exciting things.

   With all of the ‘good’ in my life, why do I allow the ‘bad’ things to completely overshadow the good?  I fear that even if there were only one or two things on the ‘bad’ list, and a dozen or more things on the ‘good’ list, I would still – somehow – focus merely on the bad.  Why do I do this?  Sin.  Plain and simple.  Worry is a good, close friend of mine.  Even when the situation may have absolutely NOTHING to do with me, personally, I make it a personal goal of mine to take on the responsibility of worrying for someone else’s sake.  I don’t know why.  I need worry to be an enemy.   I need to flee from that.  I need to hate it, badly.

Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.

I don’t.  Well, not all of the time.  (I’m not being a total debbi-downer and ‘woe-is-me-er’)   I talked to a friend about this today.  It was very assuring to know that I’m not the only one who has ever struggled with this and it is EXTREMELY comforting to have friends to go to who do not struggle with this as badly as I do.

Most everyone knows the verse ‘Rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say, rejoice!’ – but I LOVE the verses that follow it, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”

  I need to do this more often.  I need to get into the habit of rejoicing, not being anxious, praying more, not freighting, focusing on those things of for which I am undoubtably thankful for, not feeling bad for myself.  I could sure use some help with this.  That is why I serve a Mighty God, Who loves me and desires for me to seek Him.  He listens and He understands.  He cares and gives grace.  He allows me to go and grow through trials BECAUSE He loves me.   I serve a Great Savior!

So, with the help of my Lord and Savior, my Husband and my friends – I can have a positive view, a wonderful (freeing) attitude of thankfulness.  I bet I’ll be able to see things better, to sleep better and to have a better, more positive vision of everything and everyone around me.  Wouldn’t that be nice?!