I guess you know which stocking is mine.

This might have been the easiest Christmas in 14 years of April and Alan family Christmases. We only had to travel two hours, and we woke up on Christmas morning IN OUR OWN HOUSE. Have you ever??? I mean, we had almost never!! Do you do this? Do other people do this every year??  It was so nice!

I mean have you read my other Christmas stories???

Our Nightmare Before Christmas

The Funeral, Christmas Trip

New Years in San Francisco

Well, I’m happy to tell you this is NOT one of those stories. We did go and see our families, but we were able to do all of that and still be at our own house on Christmas morning.

Around 7 or so a.m., we heard Boy #1 begin talking to Boy #2. They simply chatted calmly in bed. Some of the boys woke up the other boys. I don’t remember who got up first, but a miracle happened…..

No one came and jumped on us…..

They gathered themselves in the living room, just the four of them in the living room to patiently wait for their parents to get up.

Whaaa???? We were so pleased with all this that we didn’t make them wait. We went ahead and joined them.

I love watching my children open their presents. Christmas is a whole other level of special for children. When is it that we lose that? Let’s get that back.

Yes, he’s actually CLAPPING. He’s so excited. There were a few To: Caleb and Daniel presents this year. They may look ages apart, but it’s actually only a 3 year gap. Some kids are tall. Some kids are shorter.

SO HAPPY

Be sure to see the 50 second JD video on Facebook, and share in the excitement.

We all went to church together. It was nice, though nothing topped the Christmas Eve service.

Christmas Eve service

There was something about the meaning in lighting these candles and taking communion with so many fellow believers that made Christmas more real to me this year. We sang Silent Night, and I wanted this moment to never end.

Too quickly, we were all headed back to our houses when so often I just want to curl up at the altar and soak it all in…

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”       Luke 2:10-12

…But it was back to Christmas as usual, and I can’t help but wonder. Are we entering a new phase of our lives?  There simply isn’t a BABY anymore. JD is 3 1/2 now. No one is a baby. Life is c-a-l-m-i-n-g down. No one wore a diaper, no one carried a sippy cup, and no one got out of their seat. No one even colored on himself.

Wow.

I think I might cry!

No one was sick this Christmas either. JD caught a cold, accompanied by a very pink eye, but even that ended in two days.

OH, and guess what! Once Christmas day was over, Alan took my minivan to the shop, and I now have a clean minivan, with a heater that heats, and a functioning defroster! Somebody get this man a trophy!!

I feel like we just had the perfect Christmas. I can safely say that because Christmas is fully over. Saying Christmas was perfect can’t possibly jinx it now.

Of course, I did find one baby to hold.

Ah, sparkling pretty lights. I may never take my Christmas tree down. Plus, I’m hoping Alan will do it for me. Hmmm…I wonder if Alan is hoping that I will do it. I seriously don’t even want it taken down. Let’s just leave it up until next Christmas!

Hallelujah! And may we never forget what it’s all about. This is an incredible excerpt from the Passion of the Christ. You do have to click the link to YouTube to watch, but it’s so worth it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDm-myjQgdM

Wishing you all a blessed 2017! May your kids behave. May your rain be snow, and may all your prayers be answered.

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”        Luke 2:13-14

The post This Christmas: 1st Year at Home, 1st Non Disaster Story appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Each one is different, short, and equally cute, so you gotta watch all three!

Sing it with us now! aye-yie-yie-yie-yie-yie-yie-we-love-Jesus. 🙂 Happy trails!

The post The Adorable Singing Daniel appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Have you ever felt old before your time or just achy all over the place?  I keep wondering. Is this just getting older? Or is this a problem that can be fixed? And how do you know which is which?

Several of my readers liked the video with the stretching tips for hip pain, so today I’m including a stretching video for heel/foot pain and swelling. This is another nuisance that I deal with that I think is very common.

So I’ve learned a few things, for those of you on the age-speed-train with me.

#1. For the heart as well as the back: Walking. Just walk everyday. It’s good for every single thing about you, so as long as your body allows you to do so, walk.

#2. For the shoulder: I’m ordering this book:

They say that not taking time to do relaxing things can actually cause strained muscles and tendonitis, which my body has in multiple places. Stress could actually be killing us. Who knows? It’s worth a shot!

#3. Swollen heels are often caused by tight calf muscles, so my physical therapist gave me this exercise:

#4. CONSTANTLY monitor your posture. Sit and stand as straight as you possibly can. 

#5. Do something relaxing. Today I am going shoe shopping and eating lunch BY MYSELF. Some of you may not find that relaxing, but for me it is perfect.

Or maybe I should have JD give me a head rub.

Here’s a perfect example of #5, doing something relaxing. JD calmed his cousin ever-so-easily with a little head rub:

Crying baby, meet John David.

calming baby

His work here is done.  

#6. Buy bigger shoes. Never wear uncomfortable shoes or high heels.

my tired, achy, red-arround-the-edges feet…(Truth is, I’m a stay-at- home mom. I mostly don’t even wear shoes.)

Did I just post a photo of feet!!??  I’m seriously all girl, so this one is terribly sad for me. I mostly gave up high heels around 5 years ago, and that kept my feet problems at bay for a long time, but that alone is no longer cutting it. Today I’m buying bigger tennis shoes. It’s important for shoes to fit.

#7. Become a better friend.

I received my very first get well card in the mail last week, and I can’t tell you how much it meant to me. Several people have come up to me at church to tell me that they are praying for me and ask how I’m doing. Wow! How encouraging to know!

I’ve always said that I have the best friends.

From this, I am learning how to be a better friend. This goes back to that lesson about not over-scheduling yourself too because if we are so busy with all of our own obligations, how can we ever take time to encourage anyone else?

#8. Pray and read your Bible! Allow the Lord to go to the mat for you.

The other week, I was at yet another doctor appointment, for even more medical tests. There was some confusion about my appointment time, which threw off my whole schedule, and getting an appointment with this cardiologist is difficult. My results appointment was for Tuesday, so the tests needed to be done before that, or there would be no results to share.

The receptionist said, “There’s no way we can get you in before Tuesday. Well, we could have it done at the hospital, but then that might be hard with billing….”

I was so finished caring, or maybe I cared too much. Either way, I leveled with her, staying as calm as I could, though I’m sure I had tears in my voice.  “I have been through so much this year, I do not care. I don’t care what you do or when you do it, or how. You just tell me where to be, and I’ll be there. I’m going to go sit down in the waiting room.” (I still had another test to do.)

I know, I wasn’t easy going. I was not breezy.  I’m afraid I’m becoming Maxine, way before my time.

OKay. So you’re wondering what this story has to do with prayer. Hang with me.

I sat back down in the waiting room, and I prayed, “Lord, I’m so done dealing with this! I don’t even want to go to any more of these stupid appointments, but Lord, if you could just help me. You fix it. I can’t. I give up.”

It didn’t take long for the desk girl to reappear. “April?”

I slowly walked back to the desk.

“You can come tomorrow. Anytime you want.”

Prayer, people. I’m telling you. Prayer.

“Can I come at 4:00?”

“Yes.”
“Great! Thanks!”

Glory.

#9. Hang out with people who make you laugh.

My people are funny. (Don’t worry. He’s doing the crossed-eyes on purpose.)

Laughter is healing.

#10. Get more sleep.

…because that’s my answer to everything..

The post 10 Things to Try When You’re Feeling Achy appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Caleb is holding up one of the millions of anchovies (I think?). Where there are fish, there are predators! Look at the ground! See the fish, hoping for a wave to push them back out to sea!

So this weekend our Classical Conversations group got together for a beach bonfire over in Monterey Bay.

PBS and BBC are also in Monterey filming Big Blue Live, which hits t.v. Monday, August 30. You can bet we will be watching. They are here to film the incredible wildlife that is in the bay this time of year.

Can you imagine our excitement when a humpback WHALE decided to join our bonfire and provide the evening’s entertainment?

My friend Amy took this video, and she said I could share it with my friends and family. Enjoy!! This creature swam back and forth all evening, feasting on the bay full of sardines. Just click on the blue video link below, and it will play:

Video

The post Our Very Own Big Blue Live: Whale Video appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

He takes about 10 steps a day, but he still crawls most of the time. Apparently JD is a gradual, gradual, gradual learner. 🙂

My life is seriously adorable at the moment, and I am so thankful. It is a TON of work though. We bust our rears on this whole parenting gig.

We were hoping to go to Moss Landing today and check out the whales. But not so fast. My friend Sarah found a used fence for sale for me, so instead, Alan is digging fence holes today. We bought a chain link fence. It’s required in our neighborhood to put up a trampoline, and you know my boys have to have their trampoline.

Seriously, if you have little boys and room for a trampoline, there’s nothing I could recommend more highly.

We get the kind with the safety net, and they spend hours on it. I don’t do fence holes, so my goal is to catch up on laundry and maybe unpack a box.

I’ve noticed that I tend to exaggerate towards the negative.

The truth is we only have 4 boxes upstairs and one downstairs left to unpack. It has been that way for a week. We do have about 10 left in the garage, though. Alan needed a bucket today, and we couldn’t find one!

So here’s what’s new with us this past week: the craziness on camera

That was all during “seatwork” time.

I met an angel in disguise at the curriculum fair where I bought my A Beka books.

She said, “Now your schedule is not going to look like your friends’, and that’s okay. When those babies take their nap, that’s when you are going to teach the math and the grammar. Those are the things where the big ones will really need your undivided attention.”

I have treated that as gospel truth. There was one day where I tried to do Caleb’s phonics and reading while JD was awake: huge mistake. JD wanted to practice walking to me and get lots of cheering, but Caleb really needed me to listen to him read. Lesson learned.

The modern method for teaching writing, which was used at my kids’ last school, worked great for my first son, but failed my second son completely.

They have open-ended questions that kids as young as kindergarten are supposed to answer and just spell their words phonetically.  Since my second son could not read and did not have any kind of grasp on phonics, he would just panic and not write anything at all. Therefore, he was learning nothing about writing at school for the past two years. His papers would be blank.

Instead, I am using the Classical method of teaching writing for him. This way my son writes all day, but not from his head. He copies. He copies, and copies, and copies. I give it to him in attainable chunks. This way he is learning through actual writing. He is seeing how words are spelled correctly. I think this will pay off big time.

Even if I send my kids back to public school in the future years, this could be used to help a struggling writer in the after school hours.

Daniel tossed this puppet in the trash can about 5 minutes after we finished it. Oh well.

I know I’m his mom, but I was seriously impressed with Caleb’s snail drawing. He is seven. Way to go, Caleb!

So two weeks down!!! I was definitely a nicer, less stressed person this week than I was last week. I don’t think I handle heavy stress very well.

I have tried everything to get JD to sleep better at night.

Nothing has worked. Finally, two nights ago, I gave it over to hard, devoted prayer. There are many ways to pray: half-hearted, absent-minded, and then there’s the hard core prayer: where you are begging God for help. He listens really well to that last kind. For two nights now, JD has gone from sleeping 5 hours straight only, to sleeping 8 or 9 hours straight.  My prayers were answered. I’m going to keep praying.

Do you know what the hardest part about living here is? I know that this amazing ocean full of sea mammals is minutes away from my door, and I’m always too busy with work to get out there. It’s calling my name, and I cannot answer!!  Yesterday I had two errands to run: Staples and grocery store. I snuck off to the beach on my way. I only stood on the sand for 5 minutes and watched the waves crash into the shore, but it still helped!!  I VOW to take all of my family to that beach before Labor Day Weekend is over.

Yesterday I just reminded myself: No, I do not have free time, and life is a whole lot of work right now. But you know what? I have something way better than free time. I am important. I am needed. I have an abundance of purpose.

I remember when we first got married, and I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do or be. I felt like I had no purpose. I cannot even imagine that now. This craziness, these children, this life is the greatest blessing I will ever have. Praise the Lord.

The post Home Schooling 4 Boys: So Much Work, But So Fulfilling appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

These videos crack me up. It’s just so Daniel. He’s “reading” a book about John Smith, the best leader that the Jamestown settlement had. He kept focusing on the photo of John Smith, wounded in the Indian camp. Daniel read it as, “Him dead. Him died. meh meh meh meh meh….” Perhaps a lot of what I say to Daniel is simply translated as something from Charlie Brown’s teacher.

To get the full story, you ‘gotta’ watch both movies! 😉

I thought Joshua’s, completely oblivious to his surroundings, comments were also funny!

The post About John Smith: “Him died. Dead. Dead. Dead” appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

That’s us at a Washington Nationals game on Memorial Day. We love baseball games, and that was really fun.

Plus, we’ve gotten to see some wonderful friends this week. Thanks for having us over, Pastor and Terri!!!

Their dog is probably still recovering from what Daniel seemed to think was their ‘play date.’ Poor Annie.

So good things have happened, and a few crummy things have happened, but nothing all that terrible. I think the main thing getting to me is just the stress of this humongous move!!

So three thoughts for today:

1. A good night’s sleep will fix a lot of things. I’m hoping to go get one in a minute.

2. A grumpy baby will ruin anyone’s day. If you don’t believe me, then it has obviously been a long time since you hung out with one.

3. The world still turns. All of today’s problems will be forgotten three weeks from now.

4. No matter how early I get up to have coffee, every child in this house will be awake before I’ve gotten the coffee poured into my cup…

But they are ADORABLE. Here’s your weekly dose of adorable. Just watch this video of JD crawling over to wake up his brother:

Choose joy….choose joy…..choose joy….I’ll just keep repeating it to myself.  Never mind that the dryer and the washer are both full and I want to go to bed. I’m choosing joy…….

How’s everyone else’s week going?? I could use some GOOD news. Or some misery company…ha….

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