meet Weston!

We would like to introduce you to a new name you’ll be seeing pop up on my blog in the next year, Weston!
Our favorite little childcare kid, Sam, is having a blast with his mom and new brother Jack. We were so sad our time with him ended and I really thought there was no way I’d ever find another single kid who only needed care for a few days a week.  And then God landed 2 potential jobs in my lap.

Someone posted on Chambana moms that they were looking for part-time care and people were posting suggestions for lots of centers.  I put my info out there saying if they were looking for in-home care, I’d love to chat.  Rachel emailed me quickly as did another family who saw the post.  We met with the other family who needed care for a 1 year old, 3 days a week.  While he was adorable and the mom and I had very similar styles of parenting, I was pretty nervous about his age.  And I really would prefer the majority of the school week be with my kids (3 days vs 2).  So I was thrilled that Rachel and her husband, Dane wanted to meet.They came over and Weston played with the kids and we all chatted about every issue under the sun.  Then on Thursday, Weston came over for a “trial run” while his mom worked in her classroom.  It couldn’t have gone better.  He played so well with Owen and Ellison and is such a sweetie. He loves a good art project like my kids. And who doesn’t love some outside play time? And the kid sleeps.  Hallelujah.All in all, it was a great first day.  We’ll be getting to hang out with this sweet little guy on Tuesdays and Fridays.  I’m so thankful I’ll be able to help add to our budget while still just hanging at home with my kiddos.
 

Thursday with Sam

We enjoyed a gorgeous day on Thursday with Sam.  What freak 80 degree weather after how we were dressed today.  But more on that later.  Here's a few pictures documenting our day.

playing on the stairs

shooting baskets in the basement

checking out our 2 frogs in the window well

can you spot them?

Ellie loves the swing!

Sam loved the new swing set too

checking out the frogs from above

counting their treasure finds

teaching Sam to climb the rocks

Ellie loved the sunshine too

then it was time for some sidewalk chalk

and some car driving

4 kids = birth control

Yesterday, we got to watch 2 adorable friends, Avery and Ryder.  Not gonna lie. . .having a 3, 2, 1, and 5 month old is not something I'd wish on anybody. :)  God bless you moms of multiples.  There were moments of sweetness.  And then there were moments of lots of crying and poop.  But Friday will go better I'm sure of it!

this was before he decided he didn't want to be here

trying to get one art project in

music time!

we need a fence :)

Ryder loving the swing!

Owen getting some alone time with a book

and then he took it up to his "fort"

    

Tuesday recap

What an amazing, packed day we had yesterday!  We had our first adventure of getting 3 kids out of the house before 8:30!   We headed off for the first Mom2Mom of the new year.  This is a ministry at the Vineyard for moms with at least one child under 5th grade.   We meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month.  If you’re a C/U mom, who wants to make some new friends and get some awesome support as a mother, you should join us!
Ellie wore her red because the small group I lead is the red group.  :)  The boys did great walking in together and did awesome in class! It was an amazing first meeting!  The room was packed with moms and there was so much energy.  Louise and Christine have worked their tails off and wow did it pay off!  My small group which was picked randomly is an wonderful mix of ladies combined with a fabulous mentor mom, Cathy! 

And then after an afternoon of cleaning and baking, we kicked off our first small group!  I must say this is going to be an awesome trimester for group.  We have a wonderful mix of couples and the first group couldn’t have gone better.  We did some ice breakers just to get to know each other a bit more and also talked about what we wanted out of small group this year.  Each week, we are going to have someone share their life story in 5-7 minutes, so I shared mine to give an example.  We are really praying that this group is a place where our members are FREE to be who God’s called them to be, even with all their “junk.”  Maybe I’ll write that story out someday for the blog. :)

So crazy busy day, but one that made me so excited what God has in store for us this fall!

Thursday with Sam

Today is Thursday which means our favorite little guy came over to play with us.  We colored and played with trucks for quite awhile.

 

Then we spent the rest of the morning outside.  We threw balls, wrote with sidewalk chalk, and "drove" the car.

We collected rocks and talked about the which ones were big and small:

 

Ellie liked sitting in her seat and watching the 2 crazy boys:

 

Owen was in desperate need of a bath but wouldn't go without Sam, so I stripped them both down and they had some fun in the tub!

 

 

All in all, a great day!  We get to hang out with Sam 3 times next week and we're excited!

Thursday with Sam

A little recap of our fun day with Sam, especially so his mommy and daddy can have a record. :)

It was a beautiful warm morning without being scalding hot.  So we stripped down the boys and played in the pool and water table.  Sam is such a water baby and Owen was a little more brave after seeing Sam dive in. Then we had some fun playing with sidewalk chalk.Sam wasn’t too sure about the sandbox as he doesn’t love to get dirty.  But Owen loves sand time. Then of course it was all about cars after we got cleaned up!It was a great day!  See you next week Sam!