Pretend Play

Our boys are so much fun right now! It's a whole new world here - toys are great, but honestly it seems like the boys rarely need toys to have a great time. Tonight was no exception. After dinner, Jacob came in the kitchen and asked me, "mommy, can I borrow some of your clothes?" Hmmm..."sure sweetie, I guess." Jacob came out a few minutes later wearing my black boots and one of my t-shirts - a stinky one from yesterday's workout class no less. :) Then, Jonathan came running in and handing me shoe after shoe - to each one of course, I said "thank you so much!" and he thought that was the greatest thing ever. I have a lot of shoes, so this process took a while. Then, the boys decided they were "going to work." They got a whole bunch of Daddy's ties off his tie rack and put them on their necks. Jacob would say, "okay you stay at Mrs. Maureen's and I'll be back." Jonathan would put about 4 ties on and wave bye and blow a kiss. Then he'd come back in the room with a little toy for me. It was so cute! We were having so much fun that I forgot about a pan of spaghetti noodles I had on the stove to put in the chili I made for Billy for tomorrow's lunch. Man, our house smells GROSS with a capitol G! We were probably about 2 minutes away from a smoky house and smoke detector issues. My goodness - at least it was my awesome Pampered Chef pot and even though the noodles were completely burned and stuck to the bottom - it all came out! I love me some Pampered Chef cookware! If it had been any other pan, I would have just. thrown.it.away. Seriously. But I digress - back to the fun... the boys played "work" for about 45 minutes and it was just priceless. Wouldn't trade moments like that for anything in the whole world!

New Era at the Stover House

It seems as though we've entered a new era at our home. I love watching our boys grow and mature and I have to admit - I was really excited when Jacob starting really using his imagination to play. It is really neat to see him learn and grown in this way. Of course, there are good and bad things about imaginative play - not only does he love to pretend the couch is a pirate ship and we're the pirates, or that his microphone stand is a "wazard" (really - I didn't make that up - no idea what a wazard is, but apparently it protects the Stovers), or that his lunch is fueled with superpowers...He also is afraid of monsters and shadows. Funny stuff. I love it. I had a major revelation today though... I am a girly girl through and through and have a lot of work cut out for me for this "boy" stuff to become natural. The newest craze at our house - SUPERHERO play. Now, I had me a cool pair of Wonderwoman Underroos when I was little, but that was the extent of my knowledge on Superheros. :-) I think my mom still has those underroos somewhere. I digress... So, it seems I have some learning to do. Today for instance, Jacob was Batman, Daddy was Robin, mommy was wonderwoman and Jonathan was Spiderman. Cute stuff! Any other boy mommas out there with any superhero advice?

life's lessons

I had a humbling moment tonight in the shower... I know that sounds weird, but I felt like I needed to share this and just get it off my chest. Some of my dear friends know about a difficult situation I've been dealing with at work lately - well, really for several months. I supervise a great number of people across the state, and one of my folks is particularly challenging for me. It's been a long road - I've kept lots of documentation about concerns from other folks about this particular person. I was looking back at my prayer journal and noticed a prayer request from JULY 2009 about this guy - that my attitude would be Christlike with him and that I could be a Godly supervisor to him. Well, last week, it all came to blows. All of you know how much I love conflict, right??? oh gosh - I avoid it at all cost! Anyway - it didn't go well. He was angry and even said the GD word - which I almost came out of my skin and did strongly ask him not to speak like that in my presence. Soooo.... what's the big humbling moment from my quiet time in the shower tonight you say? God reminded me that my difficult employee is a child of His and is deeply loved and respected by the One who matters most and MY JOB is to love him as Christ would. POW! right in the middle of my forehead!!! I have not been good at this with this person - I've said ugly things about him to other people. I've lost focus! Pray for me, ya'll? Please??? I have another meeting with him tomorrow. Thanks!

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes from God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is Love!

Dear Santa,

Dearest Santa (or "Ho Ho Ho" as Jonathan says),

We know this is a little late and we do hope you'll accept our tardy thank you note, BUT thanks a whole bunch for all the cool stuff you brought to our house for Christmas. We really like Mickey Mouse and you must have known, because it was like a Mickey Christmas at our house in Shelbbabill. (oh - Shelbyville to the not so "country 3 year olds). Oh and we also love love loved the telescope, drums and jack in the box. Christmas was a very special day! We were very busy, but so excited when we walked downstairs and saw our stockings filled up and a bunch of pretty presents under the tree. Glad you liked your cupcakes we left you. Each year, we make cupcakes for two special birthday boys. First, Uncle Jerry has his big day on Christmas Eve. Then, the other birthday boy is Jesus - the whole reason for Christmas. Mommy and Daddy tell us lots about Him and we even read his birthday story from the Bible first thing that morning. We were especially interested in finding the angel and then we got to put baby Jesus in his manger thingy in the nativity scene. Nativity is such a big word - aren't we smart for knowing it???

Well, Santa - we bet you are still really tired from last week and we bet your belly still hurts from all the cookies. We hope you rest lots and we promise to be good this year so you'll come back to Shelbbabill next year!

lots of love, Jacob and Jonathan