The humble and the proud

Recently, Alex and I were reading a story about Mater and another tow truck named Rowdy. Rowdy was a bully. Alex asked me what it meant to bully someone, and so I told him that it was being unkind and making a person feel small or unimportant.

His response: "Yes, that's just like what I learned the other day. 'God will humble the proud, and the proud will be exhausted.'"

Sweet boy. ;-)

Their minds understand way more than we give them credit for, don't they? I was amazed that he was connecting the dots between pride and bullying. There is often truth in that the former leads to the latter, isn't there? This child is amazingly talented at making connections like that. For a four-year old, he is very insightful and articulate about these kinds of things. I treasure this about him. May God grant him wisdom and stature.

Apple Barn 2013

In my mind, apple picking marks the start of fall for our family. It kicks off weekends spent outdoors and celebrating the most amazing weather we have here in this part of the country this time of year.

The boys run around gathering apples faster than we can keep up with them. They are happy to toss apples into our collection with no discretion or care whatsoever. You can imagine the quality of our bushel. :-/

And what they aren't tossing in, they are eating. We may or may not have cheated the farm out of an apple or dozen. I'm just sayin'. Here a bite, there a bite, everywhere a bite, bite.

"C'mon, Roo! There's another apple that's lying on the ground being nibbled on by bugs! Let's add that one to our collection, too!" Yes, they are quite a team, aren't they? ;-)

Roo's version of "the whistle"

Jerry has taught Roo how to do, what I call, the "finger whistle." When you put two fingers in your mouth and whistle loudly - like you would do at a sporting event or something like that. This is Roo's version:

He squeezes his cheeks and lets out a high-pitched squeal. =)

School Days

This fall has brought about a great deal of change for our family. The boys have started attending a new school. Our church has launched a new location, and we are a part of the start-up team. We have a new church small group meeting at our house one night a week. And I've started teaching the pre-k kids class on Sunday mornings. We've known for several months that these changes were coming, so we certainly weren't caught off-guard by anything, but it has taken some adjusting nonetheless.

The boys ready for their meet the teacher/school orientation night.

At the beginning of this year, I began re-evaluating the boys' school situation. While Roo hadn't started yet, Alex was in his second year at one of the mothers' day out/preschools here. We liked the school he was attending just fine, and we LOVED his teachers. But I began to feel that my sweet little creature of comfort needed a program that offered more in terms of opportunity and learning exposure so that he could be comfortably nudged out of his comfort zone to try new things and build his confidence.

After doing some online research about various schools in the area, I set up appointments to visit two new schools and to revisit the school he had been attending. Visiting the schools confirmed the decision to move him.

He is now in a three-day program that teaches music, Spanish, chapel, and has a weekly science workshop. Oh, and they do lots of art projects, which I especially love. He has made some wonderful new friends, and we've even been able to schedule play dates with a couple of them. He has settled right in to his Honey Bear class.

First day of school for this little four-year old Honey Bear.

I was positive that Roo would like being at the same school as Alex. I just wasn't sure if he was going to like being in his own class. Turns out, he LOVES Ms. Michele. He'd go to see her every day if he could. He is so proud to walk in and play with his friends. And I love that this new school has a two-way mirror so that I can watch him from the hallway when I go to pick him up. He is always engaged during story time, and, when they sing songs and do motions, he is following right along with the teachers with all the spunk and joy I would expect to see from him. It is precious!

We decided to enroll him two days a week, and he comes with me to Bible Study Fellowship once a week. He enjoys being there, too. It gives him a chance to see some of his friends from the church campus we used to attend.

First day of school - 2 years.

So after these first couple of months, we have fallen back into a nice routine. We are adjusting well to the change, and it makes my heart smile to know the boys are in a school where they are well loved and loving what they're learning.