Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas from the Hudson Family!

We have had a wonderful year and can't quite believe we packed so many things into just one year! It seems that the size of the child is directly related to how busy the parent will be running the taxi for the said child from place to place. It's busy but there's nothing else we would rather be doing.

Sadly, we have had no Disney trips this year. I just thought we'd get that out the way since it is so uncommon and we wouldn't want you to wonder about the whole letter. We have taken other wonderful vacations but not to Disney. Now that that's out of the way... we took the spring to travel around Colorado and had a 6 week unit study and research project about the beautiful state of Colorado. We spent a week in Southwest Colorado with Mr. Vic and Miss Mo going to Mesa Verde, Ouray and Durango. We loved the Durango-Silverton Train and had a great time all around. Mr Vic and Miss Mo are the kids adopted grandparents and we couldn't have had a better time.

We also spent a long weekend in Southeast Colorado with Grammy and Papa and went to The Great Sand Dunes, Trinidad (where Scott's family has much history, they are even mentioned several times in the museum - how cool is that) and Bent's Fort.

From Dawn - We're still home schooling and loving every (okay, almost every) minute of it. Connor's in 7th grade and the twins in 4th. Each year has it's own challenges but I love watching the kids learn and grow in academic's as well as in faith. In January, we switched churches after 11 years but we needed a church with a stronger home school and youth community. We love the people at Rock Creek Church and miss them horribly but God has blessed the move. The kid's are in Bible Bowl and Kids Choir and have found a strong community of like-minded friends. It's novel to be at a place where we aren't the only home schoolers - who knew? It's been great for the kids and for Scott and I.

Collin had eye surgery in June, which I think was harder on Scott and I than it was on him. He was a trooper and charmed the entire surgery unit with his quick smile, polite manners, and infectious laugh. He is fine and we pray the fix is permanent. The good news is that he doesn't have to wear glasses at this point, although he looked adorable in them.

I also had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in Rolla, MO working for our curriculum, My Father's World. I had a ton of fun and worked hard but really appreciated the hard work and lovely attitudes of the people who work there full time under sometimes very stressful conditions. They were fantastic and David and Marie Hazell are even more wonderful in close proximity ( and they put up with me at their home for two weeks which requires special patience). I am personally starting the Marie Hazell fan club - although she may never speak to me again if I do.

From Connor - This year has been full of events. In January, we left Rock Creek Church and started going to Rocky Mountain Christian Church. I've made so many new friends from RMCC and a lot of them are home schoolers. In May, we traveled Colorado and I had my endless birthday (my last present was in June!). In July, I went to Camp Como, a camp Mom once went to, with my friend Austin Parrott and the twins turned 8. In August, I discovered a whole new world of work as I went into 7th grade and spent at least 40 extra hours on our First Lego League team's robot after the season started. Interestingly, the extra hours were spent with some of my home schooled friends. In the fall, I got a raise for my puppy sitting job. In November, we had a lot of fun at our FLL tournament especially because there were actual robots there. This year has been tons of fun for me. Merry Christmas from our whole family. -- Connor.

From Caileigh - My Year , 2009. This year, I joined my first soccer team. I loved to play goalie and had a lo of fun and met new friends. I hope I can do it next year. I moved to a new church and made new friends. I made a lot of new friends this year. I was in a wedding as flower girl with nine other girls! Connor joined something called Lego League where you build robots. Merry Christmas from the Hudson family.

(Collin found the Christmas pickle at Grammy's house and won a candy cane)

From Collin - Hi, my name is Collin. I am 8 years old. We joined a thing called Bible Bowl. I also joined soccer for the spring and fall which I love to do. I got to spend a week at our grandparents with my favorite cousin, Jadin. I also had eye surgery in June and I couldn't see for half a day but I got an overflowing of toys and a bear named Dr. Comfort. I also got a huge caramel oreo blizzard and got to watch my favorite movie, Star Wars. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

From Scott: This has, indeed, been the busiest year on record. When we switched churches, Dawn asked if we could "chill out" and rest as we had been quite involved at Rock Creek over the years. I waited a whole 2 weeks! I found out about the orchestra, and it was all over. I've really enjoyed getting back into playing French Horn again, although 3 services can sometimes be tough! We perform about once a month. Highlights from our Colorado tour for me were: Glenwood and Ouray hot springs, the views in Ridgeway, Mesa Verde, Bent's Fort. I have also been quite the world traveler! In August, my client sent me to India to train their vendors. I spent half a week in Chennai and half a week in Delhi. The food and people were wonderful. I also took in a lot of sight seeing (see http://picasaweb.google.com/shudson310/India2009#). The highlight was spending my birthday at the Taj Mahal! We are also looking forward to taking Dawn to Yellowstone for her birthday in a few weeks. Merry Christmas!

We wish a very Merry Christmas to all of you. As Ebenezer Scrooge says, may we " ...honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

Love from the Hudson Family,
Scott, Dawn Connor, Caileigh and Collin

Categories: parenting

The Princess ( and Me)

This fall, Caileigh and I took a purity class using the "Princess and the Kiss" book and workbook (www.reviveourhearts.com/princess) through our church. We had a wonderful time and so enjoyed having someone else reinforce the ideas of modesty, mental, spiritual, social and physical purity that Scott and I have talked about with Caileigh since she was young. These are by the same company that did "The Squire and the Scroll" that Connor and Scott did last year - which was also great.

They had some great resources talking through modesty issues using guidelines from Secret Keeper. You can check some of them out at www.secretkeepergirl.com/Truth_or_Bare.aspx. This was great as it made us (Scott and I ) make formal some of our more informal rules about dress. We spent time talking with Caileigh about why it's important to be modest in dress and now have a girl who is firmly on board. What's funny is that she now goes through MY closet to make sure everything is appropriate. I have had to save some of my "Daddy date" shirts from her cleansing spree or promise to wear tank tops underneath them.
I think it's been invaluable to have these talks BEFORE she needs them to set the stage for her teen years. I'd much rather introduce these topics before anyone else can. I'm a big advocate of teaching and setting expectations before they are needed and I don't want to wake up to the realization that we have a problem. I like to head these things off at the pass, so to speak.
At the end of the class, we had a "Princess Ceremony"where Scott gave Caileigh a beautiful crown with a heartfelt blessing. We gave Caileigh a "Princess Kiss" necklace and Mr. Vic prayed a beautiful prayer over her. It was followed by a wonderful reception and was a really touching and special night for our not so little girl.

Younger kids love both"The Princess and the Kiss" and "The Squire and the Scroll" as fun picture books and would make great Christmas presents. Older kids (4th or up) would love some special time with Mom or Dad to go through the workbooks.









Categories: parenting

Traditions

When my kids were little, Scott and I worked hard to make family traditions for our family. It was one of those things that we felt that helped to develop our family identity. This is who we are and what we do as a family. Now that our kids are older, we are really starting to see the benefits of those traditions. Our kids look forward to our time together and have started making them truly theirs. Even our 7th grader still wants to spend time with us and looks forward to our family traditions.

We have some weekly traditions, like family movie night on Friday where we eat pizza and ice cream (and they get to have soda - a very big deal here since it otherwise doesn't happen) and then all snuggle on the couch. We read chapter books out loud before bed together most nights, some from MFW and some of our own choosing.

We decorate for the seasons and holidays. The entire house may change color schemes during one of these season but the kids love it and get excited to help.

Here are some of our favorite traditions -

Thanksgiving - Read or listen to Squanto, everybody builds a Lego turkey (cause it's fun and lego) We help Grammy and Papa decorate their house for Christmas and then decorate ours.

Serve together as a family - We've been on several missions trips but also enjoy serving food at homeless shelters, doing food drives, make shoeboxes every year for Operation Christmas Child and more.

Christmas - So many to list... Lego advent calendars, Prayer paper chains counting down to Christmas, Christmas read alouds, having 2 large Christmas trees and many smaller ones, having a cookie baking party with other home schoolers at our home, the advent wreath and Christmas question jar, new pajama's on Christmas Eve (preferably Disney), reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, and so many more.

Birthdays - Special Birthday breakfast and the opening of presents. We make a big deal of birthdays, special plates, special events and big parties.

Easter - We love to do the Resurrection Eggs and color eggs.

I think family identity is really important, it allows us to say things like, " I understand that others get to do this or that but that's not what we Hudson's do." Church is also one of those things that we use as our family identity ( not to mention that it helps us to grow in Christ as well as give us fellowship). " We Hudson's go to church every Sunday and only illness or vacation keeps us away, because that's who we are". I'm finding that the older my kids get the more family identity is becoming imperative. It seems to give them a foundation to stand on as well as something bigger than themselves to be a part of. Not to mention that they are fun and that is worth it in itself.

Categories: parenting

Fall Craziness

Making foaming monsters for school.



Collin running to get the ball in soccer.

Caileigh sacrificing her body for the ball. That's my girl! She's an awesome little goalie. Not afraid of anything - wonder who she gets that from?

Thus far, the fall is crazy busy! Scott has traveled every other week, twins in soccer (which means 4 practices a week and 2-3 games), First Lego League, Bible Bowl, church activities, and oh yeah, home schooling. Despite the madness, I wouldn't trade a moment. Here's some pictures of what's been going on!

Categories: parenting

Broken and Restored!

This morning, our pastor spoke on the topic of broken families. He briefly spoke on how to keep your family from being broken but he spent the majority of time talking about how much God loves and cares for the broken. Psalm 68:5 says, "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Our pastor encouraged us to be a blessing and to love and care for the broken as God does. The pastor spoke about a young girl whose parents had divorced and she struggles with the feelings of failures to this day. During the message, my head bowed and I found tears coming to my eyes because once upon a time I was that little girl. I realized that I don't share the hope and promises that God gave me long ago because I don't like to share that part of my life. I like the picture now much better. I feel convicted to share a bit of my past because I want to give God the praise of how He loved me when I was broken and hope for those who are broken now.

My Mother was 16 when I was born and my Dad 20. They were unmarried when they found out she was pregnant. My Mom tried to abort me but kept me only because My Dad proposed marriage to her. My Mother came from one of the darkest, ugliest, abusive families I have ever heard of and my Dad came from a home with an abusive and alcoholic father, although he became a Christian late in life and was one of my most beloved people of all time. These two young people were married and had me and my sister. Without Jesus though and no knowledge of good relationships, they were doomed to fail. When I was 4 my Mother left to live with a drug dealer. As a Kindergartner I spent 4 days with my Dad and my soon to be step-mother and 3 days with my Mother. On the day my Dad got re-married, my Mom, sister and I left for Oregon to live. The year to come was one of the darkest periods in my life. So much so that I remember very little of it. After that year, I refused to go back to Oregon ( I was strong-willed at 7 too!) and that started 8 years of court battles. My sister was sent to live with our Mom and I with my Dad. We spent summers together and split them between homes. I had times of great good but the majority of time was ugly. My Dad's parents were a mainstay in my life and my Grams took me every Sunday to church, even though it was a Mormon church, I learned early that church was a place of safety and haven.

My teen years were a rough road as I was strong willed, lacking in a strong foundation from childhood combined with parents that had no idea what to do with me. My Dad and Step-Mom had come to Christ but we lived in a place without much support and discipling for very young parents and young Christians. I came to Christ at 13 and during a particularly rough patch, God gave me this verse, "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten..." Joel 2:25. I clung to this promise, that God someday would make it better, sooner rather than later preferably, but that was not to be. My teen years were extremely rocky ones as were my early 20's. Any growth and stability I had were hard fought.

I have had to make some hard decisions and some hard choices but God has never left me and I am now living in the redeemed years. I feel that God is re-paying me now for those years that locusts have eaten and that is what I want to share with those who are currently living in the rough, broken years. I want to share with those parents whose children are having to live those years now, through no fault of their own, that God can redeem their lives. They can have happy, joyful lives full of God's blessings. We as parents or grandparents in my case, just need to keep showing our kids the way to God. Teaching them how to make the right decisions based on God's word and God will repay the years the locusts have eaten. I know because I am living proof.








He spoke about

Categories: parenting

Sweet Innocence

Categories: parenting

I just finished reading a very sweet book, "The Railway Children" by E. Nesbit. It's very much in the vein of "Little Women" or "Anne of Green Gables". Stories of sweet childhood even in the hard times. I was feeling nostalgic for that era of childhood. It must have been so wonderful to be a child in that Victorian era and having children with that sweet innocence.

Just at that thought, I heard sounds of giggling downstairs. A voice that is just beginning to sound a touch more adult mingling with two younger voices, one higher and one lower. It was a beautiful sound. I realized in that second, that I have that life and that my children have that sweet innocence of childhood. They get into plenty of scrapes, but they love each other and they love others. They know that they are loved and taken care of and will be. They have seen that life can be sad and troubled but they have seen that there are people who are willing to help and willing to love unconditionally. They are learning and will prayerfully continue to learn how to give of themselves. They will have to face that people can be unkind and the world can be an ugly place, but they will hopefully learn it with the foundation of God, parents, grandparents and friends who love them and will stand beside them when life gets rough. I love that home schooling gives them the time and opportunity to be children who are not rushing to grow up and who can retain that sweet innocence. It's so very precious.

Perhaps someday a story will be written around them. I am sure if it is, there will be plenty of stories of Caileigh getting them into scrapes and the boys figuring out how to get out of it but at least they are in it together.

India

 

Scott went to India for 10 days. He got to spend his birthday at the Taj Mahal, isn't that amazing? I can't quite fathom that. The closest I've gotten was the large replica at Legoland. Anyway, he brought back silk authentic outfits for all of us. They are really interesting and very beautiful! It's really apropos because we have been learning about the British Empire in 1850 and India as a part of that. We talked today about the Sepoy Mutiny in India and how it brought the British Government into full control of India. It's great when real life meets school
topics.

As a sidenote, Collin cracked us all up when he said, " I feel like a Pope!" as he was changing into his outfit.

Categories: parenting

Clarity of purpose

I have been re-reading "Hints on Child-Training" and was struck by this phrase, "His training will decide the manner and method and extent of the use of his God-given powers." It made me think through what we are doing with our kids. Not in bad way but wanting to make sure that we are being deliberate in our training and that we aren't missing anything with each child. Does our school curriculum fit with the values and training that we hold dear? Are we doing what our kids need to prepare them for the amazing plan that God has for them? I prayed that God would give me clarity and discernment.

Not five minutes later as we were reading Bible for the day we read a story that pointed to exactly what our family mission is. The kids and I had a great discussion on the story and the supporting Bible verses and had one of those moments that God just clearly speaks approval. "Yes, this is what you are to do." It also gave me, again, a clear affirmation on choosing to home school and to use the curriculum that we use. They all support the mission and goals that we have as a family. God is so good.


Oh as an aside, I do love MFW and their Bible curriculum always hits home for me. The book we were using today was, "A Young Person's Guide to Knowing God" by Patricia St. John. MFW introduced us to Ms. St John several years ago and each time we love absolutely love her books. Some of them are fictional novels that point the way to God and some are Bible studies like the one we read today. It's a great family devotional.

Categories: parenting

The first week of school

Categories: parenting

School has started! We tye-dyed shirts to wear on the first day and the kids had new Disney school supplies and a candy bar that they could eat right then ( "Before lunch, Mom? Really? Cool!". Note that I had fed them baked oatmeal with blueberries so that the sugar wouldn't send them into a downward spiral. I presented them with their goals that Scott and I had set for them and they chose two to begin working on immediately. We did our annual height chart (Connor is now officially over 5 feet) and pictures to hang in the classroom and started the year with much giggles and excitement.

The start of the school year was a little odd this year as Scott was in India. I didn't realize how much we would miss Daddy's annual prayer over the school year and each child individually but his excitement and support was sorely missed.

I was very glad that I has started Math and Language Arts early in August along with the school schedule so that the first week wasn't quite as much of a shock to all of us. We will continue to add in the rest of the subjects for the next couple of weeks until we have everything in place. I find adding subjects in gradually helps us to enjoy the first of the school year without too much tears and stress. The twins also started soccer (on separate teams) this last week so it was a busy one!

I continue to be amazed at how MFW teaches us so much with so little time but we had a lot of fun with memorizing the Northern and Southern border states and reading Patricia St John's, "A Young Person's Guide to Knowing God". If you haven't read any of her children's stories, please check them out. They have amazing Godly stories set in exciting places. We also made homemade bread and a colonial recipe for Corn Chowder. They were great!

Scott gets home on Monday and we are so excited to show him all we've done in one short week. Ipray that the rest of the school year goes as smoothly as the last week has, although I am reeling at the thought of Connor being in 7th grade and the twins in 4th. I'm not sure where the time has gone. They are such delights to be with though that I find I appreciate all the time I have with them.

Thoughts on Parenting Deliberately

When I was eight months pregnant with Connor, a colleague of Scott's and his family came to our new home for dinner. We had moved from Colorado Springs only a few months before and were trying to get to know people in this area. We (and our families) had worked really hard on our new home to prepare for Connor's arrival. Connor's room had a blue sky ceiling and blue and yellow walls with a classic Winnie the Pooh border. Grammy had made curtains and a wonderful quilt for his bed and the room was perfect. Clothes had been washed and hung, bed made, stuffed animals carefully placed, glider in the corner with a delightful Pooh bear lamp and a table to hold water and books while nursing, in short all that was missing was a baby. (okay, I admit it was a little obsessive but that's just how I am!) We invited this family to see the baby's room. Promptly their 3 yr old daughter scaled the crib and began throwing everything out of the crib. She grabbed one of the Winnie the Pooh's and declared she was taking it home. The parents said, "Now, honey, you can't that's not yours". The girl starting throwing a fit, IN CONNOR'S CRIB. The parents said to us, "We'll just leave her there for awhile". In disbelief, I said, "No, I don't think so." I grabbed the girl out of the crib and took the bear out of her hands. The parents stood by and did nothing. I was not a happy pregnant woman (not that I was ever a really happy pregnant woman, but still). They reluctantly grabbed their still screaming daughter and made their exit. I fumed and fretted over this for hours as I put Connor's room back into pristine condition. I finally came to the realization that I had been bad mouthing this little girl and in reality it was the parent's fault. They had allowed this behavior to continue and had done nothing to stop it. That little girl was only doing what all of us in our sin nature do, namely put ourselves and our needs first. It was the parents responsibility to train this child out of this behavior. I came to decision that day that I would do everything in my power to NEVER have my children thought and spoken of in those negative terms by anyone. It was probably one of the most pivotal parenting moments of my early Mom days. It started me on a path of watching good parenting moments of others and trying to copy them (and find out what books they read) and watching bad parenting moments and deciding not to do that! It made me realize that I had to be deliberate in parenting. I had to have a plan and had to put that plan into proctive. It was our job and responsibility for this beloved child.

With that in mind, I am going to encourage all of you to make goals for your children and then do whatever you can to help them to accomplish them.

Here's one of my earlier posts on goals and family purpose:

Recently, we were challenged to make sure we have a working family purpose. I thought I would share what we've learned and how to make a family purpose. Oh, and goals for each of the kids too! The examples are our family purpose and objectives and the kids goals. My poor kids don't know how often I've used them as the example of good and bad behavior! I'll have to raise their allowance.


Family Purpose

I.Purpose
Write an overall purpose statement for your family, making sure it reflects the morals and values of your family. Start with “Our purpose as a family is....” Make your statement as precise and simple as possible.
Example : “Our purpose as a family is to bring glory to God through the love and choices we make as individuals and corporately as a family.”

II.Objective
State in a phrase or sentence an objective in fulfilling your purpose statement. Begin your statement with “to...” and complete your statement in such a way that you would see your purpose statement fulfilled.
Example : “To raise our children to be Godly young men and women filled with integrity and joy, who will be leaders for Christ in their homes, churches and country.”
III.Goals
Carefully consider individual goals for each family member. We make goals in three areas, spiritual, personal and academic (for our children) each year and have three goals per area..
Example : For our oldest son, here are the goals he is currently working on
Spiritual – self control over his emotions and tongue Gal 5:22-23
Personal – maintain responsibility over belongings (coats, piano bags, sports equipment) Eph 6:1-2
Academic – have multiplication and division tables memorized through 12


Carefully consider these goals and make sure they meet these criteria:
1.Are they biblical?
2.Do I have a verse or moral reason why to support these?
3.Do they fit out purpose as a family?
4.Do they bring glory to God or glory to us?

Post these in a spot where you can see them regularly and pick a goal to work on weekly or monthly, include your children and them pick the goal they want to work on.

I hope you can sit down with your spouse and make a family plan. The beginning of school is a great time to do that. We just finished ours and looked over last years and it was really encouraging to note the personal and spiritual growth of the kids. Praise God!

Categories: parenting

Worldview Training

I have been looking for resources to help aid us in training our kids in worldview and have a few I wanted to share.

For those that have done "The Truth Project" or maybe even in conjunction with, "The Truth Chronicles:Adventures in Odyssey" is great. So very fun to listen to but has a great message about learning to evaluate what we hear and what we learn in light of what God says.

Connor and I are also beginning an introductory logic course that is enjoyable and fun while still training in hearing fallacies and being able to think clearly. I think it's great for middle school kids and above. The First book is "The Fallacy Detective" and is from a Christian worldview. We'll begin formal logic training later but this is a great starter.

Categories: parenting

Priorities

 

This summer has not gone as I had planned. It has gone how God planned but not as I planned. You'll remember my blog early in the summer on planning more time to play, however we have not been up to the mountains since. God had some different plans for our family this summer which helped to me to really define who I am and what my priorities truly are.

I received a call in June from a friend asking if I would be willing to work several weeks this summer to help them out. Scott and I prayed about it and felt like this was something I could do as well as helping a company I firmly believe in. So Scott bravely agreed to hold down the home front while working at home (isn't he amazing) while I flew out on a great adventure. I really enjoyed working, it was different, I felt valued and that I was giving my time to a very worthwhile cause. I also loved working with the people I did (you know who you are). They were friendly, Godly, and kept an amazing amount of grace in the face of an incredible amount of change, oh and maintained a sense of humor. I could imagine myself working in this environment full-time but something continually nagged at me. I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing at the moment but that this was not what I was supposed to be doing all the time. I realized that I really want to be with my children. I want to be the one who disciples them. I want to know what they are doing and what they are feeling. I want to be the one who takes them to their soccer camps and the pool. I want to teach them. I want to be there when they figure out a new concept in math or write a good sentence. I want to teach Bible to them every day and watch them grow in their faith. It is what God has called me to do at this time.

So often we as Moms think we are not doing something of value in wiping noses, changing diapers, doing laundry, making dinner, reading stories, cleaning toilets and the myriad of things that we do each day but we are we are training the next generation and no one can do it as well as we can. I loved the opportunity and I would willing go again but I am so grateful that God showed me where my heart truly is, with my husband and kids at home. I hope God shows you today where your heart is.

The pictures are of Caileigh's newly decorated room. I finally was able to spend the time and re-paint her room for her birthday - only a month late but it's done! All three kids helped, Caileigh helped me stencil the vine and the boys helped me stencil the stars. They were great!

Categories: parenting

The twins turn 8!

Over 8 years ago , we found out we were having twins. We were so shocked about this unexpected turn of events that we didn't talk about it for two days, not even to each other. We just couldn't get our heads around it. We just couldn't believe that we were going to have two babies, other people had twins, not us. God had a beautiful plan that we were just not tuned into yet. So, 8 years ago today, Caileigh Noelle and Collin Robertson, were born. Caileigh entered life dramatically as she has lived life since and Collin entered life in a textbook manner, also how he lives his life.

They are both growing into wonderful children but so very different. They are a testament to the verse, "Raise up a child in the way that he should go." I am so glad to be their Mom and that God has allowed me to have this immense privilege and blessing. I consider being the mom of my kids the greatest gift, the best job and my biggest accomplishment. I love being their Mom!

Happy Birthday Caileigh and Collin! I love you forever and a day!

Categories: parenting

More Colorado Field Trips

Life is happening at the speed of light but I wanted to post some pictures of our trip to Bent's Fort and the Sand Dunes which was the last trip of the Colorado field trips.

On a side note, remember that summer is a great time to train your kids in new habits for the school year. Train them now while you have the time and reap the benefits in the fall.

 

 

 

 

Categories: parenting

Getting Outdoors

We are almost done with school and are just finishing up with our projects for the state of Colorado (stay tuned, I'm writing a travel through Colorado history curriculum)so we drove up to Estes Park to take some pictures of Colorado's wildflowers for Caileigh.

While we were there we had time to play in the water, climb rocks and just play. I was sitting watching them and was reminded that kids need time to just play. We keep them in so many things and have so many toys that they rarely have time to just play. All three of mine played for 3 hours with just water, rocks, sticks and dirt and were perfectly happy and content. They were sad to go and when we got home Collin said, "Mommy, when can we go to the mountains and play again?." I told him soon because I so enjoyed the three of them enjoying each other and the creation that God made for us to enjoy.

I'm looking forward to summer and I think I will schedule some old-fashioned play time. I think I will slow our schedule down and just enjoy the time as family because the time is coming when I won't have that privilege.

Categories: parenting

Field Trip Photos - Southwestern Colorado

Categories: parenting

Here's some pictures from our trip to Southwestern Colorado. We went with our adopted grandparents, Mr. Vic and Miss Mo and had a wonderful time and learned tons! We spent a night in Glenwood Springs and did the hot springs and then headed to Durango where we spent two days at Mesa Verde and Four Corners and then rode the Durango - Silverton train (thanks Todd). We also spent a couple of days in Ouray, which was stunningly beautiful. More pictures later...