Discovery Park of America

We were able to take one 'trip' over Spring Break! We drove up to Union City to visit Discovery Park of America. I wanted to keep it a surprise to the boys, but Evan saw me packing bags. He got very upset because John was gone for the week and said "You're leaving us too? Who will take care of us??" The jig was up. I told him to keep it quiet, but when Luke woke up from nap we were going on a trip.

If you know this kid you know he wasn't letting me off that easy. He asked me 200 questions. Finally I told him I would tell him were we were going but not telling him who we were meeting there!

I showed him online all about Discovery Park. He was so excited to go! Those little dimples and excited demeanor...I just couldn't keep it from him. I told him I wouldn't tell him who was going as well, but we could play 20 questions to guess who it was. It only took him about 7!

He was excited about Lila and the entire McClain clan was going to be there. When we got to Reelfoot the boys scoped the place out and settled in. I knew sleep wasn't going to come easy with four kiddos in bunk beds, especially my two vocal ones. Around 10:30, I decided to give up the fight and take Luke into my room. I had a set of bunk beds along side my bed that I put Luke into. He was asleep within minutes.

Amazingly enough we all up, showered, cars packed, and out the door by 9:30. We arrived at Discovery Park shortly after doors and opened and we were off!!

This is the museum's welcoming committee.

Thank goodness there were three adults. Emmy stayed with twins most of the time. I trailed Luke and the big kids hung with Bill. 

This was by far one of Luke's favorite exhibit. I am still not sure what it does or what it was saying to him.

It was fun dancing in front of this thing. We learned I have really cold hands. Can you make out my body in the second picture?

 

The water section was a hit for kids of ALL ages!

 

 

There was a two story slide all the kids ventured down multiple times.

We came back to this solar energy exhibit multiple times. You use the mirrors to reflect light onto other mirrors which makes planes fly in a circle on the ceiling. 

They had an 20,000 aquarium that sent my anxiety through the roof. Do you see that fish?? I mean, Do.You.SEE.IT?!?!

 

The museum showcases a lot of different modes of transportation.

 


I can't see old cars like this without thinking of my dad.


The outside grounds were just as impressive! Discovery Park has about 50 acres of land with 6 different sections ranging from a Tree Maze to an old school house, settlement, chapel, mill ridge, and a train depot! Whew...we are so thankful Wednesday was a pretty day!





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All in all, it was the BEST day of Spring Break!!

Snow!!!

This winter has been pretty brutal for most of our north eastern friends. Down here in the South we did get a week of 'snice' (which is snow/ice...but mostly ice) that took us out of school for three days in February. We made the most of it and brought out our 'sled', which can double as a cookie sheet when needed, and had fun!



So much fun, Evan wanted to write about it in the first grade newspaper!

But in true Memphis bi-polar weather, the real snow came in March, just days before Spring Break. The storm was predicted to pack so much power, the Weather Channel named it Thor. No need to head to Kroger for bread and milk. I was ready with the real necessities. Bring it, Thor.

And Thor set him hammer down! This stuff was the real deal! Fluffy and white and cold....

We are terrifically lucky to have one of Evan's best friends live in the neighborhood. Him and Quinn spent seven hours together!

We made snow cream. They boys were really excited to help, but not so excited to eat it. They all vetoed the dessert and went straight for the real ice cream.

After working alllllll day in his office (I literally mean alllll day), Daddy finally got to join us for the snow fun!

 

 

My loves

We express a whole lot of love around this house. There are constant "I love yous" thrown around at random intervals throughout the day. There are spontaneous hugs and kisses and a whole lot of cuddles.

But we don't really celebrate Valentine's Day as a family. We do Valentine's at school and have some candy that is heart shaped, but the boys don't get presents or a special card. Don't get me wrong...they are the loves of my life! After looking at social media and feeling like a pretty terrible mother for not doing something hugely special and spectacular, I decided that they boys would be okay. But, I did want to get down to the root of why I never thought to shower them with special things on that particular day. The boys have special parties at school and treats with friends and I LOVE they do that! But why wasn't I making a big deal about it at home?

I realized that day has always been set aside for John and me. Not that we need "A" day....no couple in love needs just ONE day to celebrate it. I just like to go on dates and do special things with my husband. February 14th just gives me a great excuse to make sure a date is on our calendar.

We always give each other the gift of time for Valentine's Day. There have been Valentine's Days where I had roses delivered to work or a new yoga mat (hit it out of the ballpark on that one babe!) show up, but mostly we make sure to give each other time. It doesn't even mean we have to 'go out'. Some Valentine's we have an 'in house' date night. That has been some of my favorite evenings with John. No babysitter, kids in bed, favorite tapas, wine and just us being able to finally talk.

We shower each other with the thing that is most precious...most rare at this point in our life. Uninterrupted, quality time together. Which I realized...is my LOVE LANGUAGE! That's why it is so important to me.

And possibly why I don't make a huge deal about it with the boys. They get almost all of my non-work hours. I try to shower them each and every night with quality time as a family. We say NO to lots of things so we can be together as a family. If I leave the family during the week, it's for pretty important people and I rarely leave twice in one week.

This year one of John's favorite musicians, Sam Bush, was playing at City Winery in Nashville. It was a last minute (in my book) decision. Our favorite sitter could stay with the boys and we found a hotel that hadn't jacked up their prices too bad for the Valentine's Day weekend. So we hopped in the car and set out for our 26 hour date.

I admit, I have never even heard of Sam Bush before this trip. I was blown away by his performance. He was great! But I also love (good) live music. And the venue didn't hurt. City Winery has to be one of the coolest places to see a performer. So cool in fact, we are trying to go back in May to see Shawn Colvin.

But you know what I loved most....spending 26 uninterrupted hours with the love of my life. Happy Valentine's Day my love. I appreciate that you treat every day like it's Valentine's.

Pinewood Derby

Evan has joined the Boy Scouts. He has had a great time meeting with his wonderful leaders and friends. One of the main events in Scouts is the Pinewood Derby.

 

It's hard for a six year old to participate in every part of the car building, but I was determined! After John did some research on car design and weight (and all the stuff I would have never thought to do), they we about designing. Sweet John, being the amazing dad he is, gave Evan FULL reign to put whatever he wanted on the car. Evan wanted it green with racing stripes. He even put a design on the top with the number 6 because "I'm six years old!". :)

 

 

During the races, Evan's car came in second twice and third  another time. While that didn't qualify him to move on (which we were completely okay with!), he still had a blast!

Change is a comin'

There is a BIG change a comin' at the Asbell house.

Stop. We are NOT pregnant.

We are just changing around how we are approaching food with the boys. My kids are picky. I was veeeeerrrry picky as a kid (mom - quit nodding your head). John was picky as a kid. It is only natural we pass both our good and bad traits onto our kids.

I got a lot more adventurous with my food selections as I became an adult. Now, there are very few foods I flat out refuse. I'll try most things once. My palate has matured. No longer do I have to live on mac and cheese and hot dogs as I did when I was 7. John is the same way. Some of our favorite dishes, we would have turned our noses up at 20 years ago.

While I was pregnant I read every pregnancy book, magazine, website, and message forum out there. To me, knowledge is power and I wanted to know it all. I always read that whatever the mother eats while pregnant the baby will get used to. The larger the selection the less picky the baby will be later in life. Well, all these studies must mean MUCH later in life because I ate it all. I was religious about my diet and types of food. I made sure to have a large variety of fruits, veggies, lean proteins and the nightly occasional sweet. And my babies were wonderful eaters those first 15-18 months. We we started solids at 6 months they tried and ate everything!

Pre-pregnancy I would have told you up and down I would never be a short order chef. Well...let's just say there is a reason people say "Never say never."

Sleep training my kids??? Yeah, I ROCKED that. My kids are the BEST at going to bed on their own and staying in their own bed.
Feeding my kids??? Well, let's just say, I have room for improvement.

John put his foot down on January 1 and declared Evan was going to have to start trying new food. In order to get his dessert each night, he would have to add a new food to his list. John then went out and bought a fancy new thing for one of his video games (see how much I get invited to play?) and set it on top of the refrigerator. He had to eat 25 new foods (or foods that he has once said he doesn't like) before he could get the ...thing...
And just to be clear, we are not talking about foods like sushi or calamari. We are talking about ham and grapes for cripes sake.

This was the first food. A cutie. It's name alone makes you want to eat it up! It small, easy to peel, delicious! Evan didn't have to eat the whole fruit. He didn't have to eat half. All Evan had to do was eat ONE SLICE.

The drama...the internal conflict....the DRAMA...

 

I really really wanted to set him up for success. We've tried this once before where I forced him to eat and it took a bad turn. So I really wanted him to do this on his own and be successful. 

Thank heavens he put it in his mouth and ate it. I deemed it, "okay" but made sure to tell me not to put them in his lunch.

Today is January 20th. You would like he would be 5 days away from his goal. Sadly, he's 9 days, but we are SO proud of him!!! He's tried a wide assortment of foods going as exotic as BBQ pork and a bite of turkey burger (some of the first real meats he's eaten since he was 2).

I have decided January and February will be our 'try new foods' month. Starting in March, these foods will make a regular appearance on his plate. 

All your short order cooks out there with picky eaters...know you are not alone in this battle! 

RIP Swimmy Wave Corner

The five people who read my blog know I don't like fish. But Evan got a fish in September and we have become 'fish people'. Evan loves having a pet. He prays for him almost every night. He remembers all his responsibilities like feeding him, cleaning his water, etc. He is a very good pet owner.

Sadly, while I was at dinner with some friends, Swimmy died. Evan went to feed him as he was going to bed and discovered him. Needless to say, he was very sad and cried.

When I got home and John told me, I immediately ran upstairs to Evan's room. I knew he would be asleep. I knew I wasn't going to wake him. I just needed to be with him. You see, my heart was broken. My son suffered his first real loss and I wasn't here for him. And if I am being honest, I had grown to like that scaley bug eyed thing. It really wasn't the fish I liked...I mean...let's be honest. It was how happy it made Evan.

The next morning, Evan crawled in bed with me. The first thing he said was "Swimmy died last night." I told him I knew and that it wasn't his fault. Evan was the best fish owner I knew and there was nothing we could have done differently. He started crying again which made me cry. I really have only seen Evan truly heartbroken one or two other times. My heart literally felt like it was cracking in my chest.

John told him we could go pick out some new friends for the tank. I mean, we spent over $100 on this habitat...we were getting more use out of it! We agreed we had to get more goldfish, but could splurge on some 'fancier' ones. Evan settled on a red capped goldfish, telescoping goldfish and a comet goldfish. Trust me when I tell you I know more about these damn fish than I EVER wanted to. But once you have kids, you realize you will do just about anything to make them happy.

So welcome to the family Veto, Wendall, and Mingo. We hope you like your new digs!

PS. I won't write about every fish we get, I promise.

Writing Checks

Remember when people wrote checks to pay for things? Before debit cards? Before automatic or online payments? There are still a couple things we write checks for...but man, is it a pain now. I do remember it taking me months to remember to write the new year. Something the boys will probably never experience.

Either way - it's a brand new year. We are literally 9 hours into the New Year (I started this at 9am) and I don't have my New Year's Resolutions decided yet. For those who don't know me, this is really out of character. I am a New Year's Resolution person. It's actually how this blog got started.  I usually have my NY's resolutions decided in October or November. I take them very seriously!

But here it is January 1st and I don't have one resolution. I think I know why, but can't pinpoint it, and since I am a verbal processor, I am going to write about it.

2014 taught me quite a bit. There were some things I did terribly wrong and some things I completely rocked. Often my New Year's Resolutions stem from the past year and seeing what I need to improve upon or keep going. As I look back on 2014, I am seeing a trend.

Balance.

Remember writing those checks? It took me a while to learn how to balance my checkbook. I was the worst at it. I bounced several checks in college. I remember crying hysterically when I bounced the checks. Money wasn't something that just appeared in my account. I had to work for every cent I spent. My parents had to work for every cent they gave me. I was always so disappointed in myself when I was too lazy to balance the checkbook or proud or embarrassed not to buy/spend money/go out. But in the end the consequence to that action was always worse. I hate feeling like I disappointed my parents or put any financial strain on them. I hated getting charged $35 when I didn't have enough in my account to cash that $5.00.

So what has 2014 taught me? Balance. Just like that check book in college, except this time I have learned my lessons about keeping it balanced.

I will believe NO is not a bad word in 2015. We can't do everything. We can't go to every birthday party. We can't do every sport. God's plan for me does not include exhaustion. I am going to commit to keeping my family well balanced with school, outside activities that make them HAPPY, and quality family time. I learned this lesson with Luke and soccer this year. I thought Luke needed to be a part of an organized sport. If I am going to be truly honest, I know that sports are a big thing with his peer group. They are with Evan's as well. I didn't want Luke to 'get behind'. Well, this is Luke we are talking about. I can tell you, we weren't ready for organized sports, at least in that kind of setting and he wasn't shy in letting me know that.
Evan also taught me this in 2014. He loves to drum. This is his true passion right now. That and baseball. Every time a new sport season comes up, I ask him if he wants to play. If it's not baseball season, he says, "I just want to play the drums." I might have tried to convince him to play a couple of different sports even after he said no just because I thought he 'should'. I didn't listen to what he really wanted. Looking back, if he actually played those sports, we would have had ZERO balance in our life.

 

I will cherish our family time in 2015. The boys are terrific friends. As soon as one of them wakes up, they immediately go find the other one. If Evan isn't home, the first thing Luke wants to know is where he is and when he's coming back. When Luke naps in the afternoon, Evan almost crawls out of his skin. He watches the clock like a hawk and wants to wake him up as soon as it turns 3pm.  Luke may not show it as well as Evan, but both boys have mad brother love for each other. I want to foster this friendship among them and I think it starts with balanced family time. Time at home as a family doing family things like playing board games, wrestling on the bed, reading stories, going to the park, playing in the backyard. If we overcommit ourselves, we don't get enough of that. These guys are going to be teenagers soon and I going to wish they were always under my feet or hanging on me. I need to cherish this time I have with them now.

 

Speaking of family - I need to recognize a proper balance between who we are as individuals (and a collective unit) and my expectations for us in 2015. We are flawed. We aren't perfect BUT we are exactly who God made us to be. I am not a pinterest mom. My boys don't need a Pinterest mom. They need mom who will be there for them when their heart gets broken or their knee is scraped. My Luke isn't going enjoy talking to strangers. Here's the great thing.  The world also needs more introverts like Luke who like having a close inner circle, who may not always be the first to talk. My Evan isn't going to want alone time.  The world needs more Evans who put themselves second (or last). Whose hearts are bigger than their body. So my prayer is for God to show me exactly how to foster that in each of them and myself AND love the fact we were made for a very specific reason.

It may be more general than years past, but I feel this year's resolution will have more meaning than mosts. Happy New Year my friends! I pray 2015 is one filled with love and happiness!