Why I get tired of cleaning...

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Monday... cleaning day at the Hartman home.


Me: Emma, can you and Lydia please go to your room for five minutes so I can get something done without you guys dragging more stuff out?
Emma: Yes mommy, we can read books.
Me: That sounds like a great idea. I will come read to you in just a minute when I finish the dishes.
Emma: o.k. come on lydia. Do you want me to read to you?
Lydia: Emma read book to me mommy.
Me: o.k. follow Emma



Five minutes later...













Me: Emma, What are you doing? I thought you were going to read a book.
Emma: We are reading mommy, these are the lily pads to keep us from sinking in the ooey, gooey, muck.
Lydia: Me sitting on Lily pad.
Emma: We only dragged out books mommy nothing else.
Me: Thanks Emma.

 

Valentine's Day...

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Another Valentine's day has come and gone. I am not romantic by nature and have never really been a mushy girly girl, so I do not normally get too impressed with Valentine's day. Jason and I show our love to each other and our children daily so I don't get really worked up over Valentine's, but I did begin to think about it after reading all the Facebook posts and other blogs and I realized just how much Valentine's Day has changed for me over the years.
Jason and I have now spent 17 Valentine Days together. I had to add that up twice before I believed it, but it was true- scary! In the beginning, when we were just dating, I would get so excited about Valentine's Day. My love language is gifts and I would love getting a present- usually chocolate or sometimes a piece of jewelry. Jason and I would plan a date with a special dinner and a movie. I would sometimes get to stay out past curfew so we could see a late movie and then we would go home and exchange our little gifts and kiss goodnight and talk about how much we loved each other. I know- mushy!
We didn't have children until 8 years into our marriage so the first few years after marriage we would still make plans. The gifts became smaller now that we had bills to pay and groceries to buy. We normally counted dinner out as our gift to each other and then we would exchange cards. We still planned romantic dinners out, ususally at the nicer resteraunts in town, the ones we wouldn't go to normally. I loved to get dressed up and get my hair done and go on a "date" with my husband. Valentine's Day was a special date night.
Now that we have two children under 4, Valentine's Day has changed dramatically. We no longer have time for late night dates, fancy restaraunts, and the only gifts that we exchange now usually consist of me getting a bath with the door locked or Jason getting a shoulder rub on the sofa in front of the evening news. Luxuries in our eyes:)
As I look back I don't regret any of it. I loved our special dates, our special gifts and our alone time, but as life changes so do I and now my joy comes in knowing that Jason and I are still in love and we get to share that love with our children. This year our gifts were homemade Valentine cards and stuffed animals, our special date was at the local library watching a puppet show and eating a heart shaped cookie, our fancy restaraunt was the kitchen and our steak dinner was homecooked and enjoyed amidst giggles and milk mustaches. We have come such a long way and we have loved every minute of it. May God bless us with 17 more Valentine Days together.
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7

 

Thank you God...

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1.) For my healthy children. I am truly blessed to have children that are rarely sick, who were born free of any kind of physical or mental disabilities, who are able to run and play and learn. I so often take this for granted and forget to daily thank God for their health and well being.
2.) For my husband. I rarely think to tell God thank you for sending me a best friend, a soul mate, a godly man who thinks of me and our children first. A man who tells me everyday that he loves me, takes care of our needs first, brings the car around to pick us up in the rain so we won't get wet, rubs my shoulders at the end of a long day, always tells me I look good even when my hair is in a ponytail and I have the leftovers of lydia's lunch on my sweatpants. I so often choose to focus on the negative that I forget to be thankful for the positive. I am blessed to have someone who loves me just for me.
3.) For the ability to stay at home with my children. I feel so blessed by God that he has allowed me to focus on what I do have instead of what I have had to give up in order to be at home with my girls. I may drive an old car, wear last years fashions and shop at Aldi, I may not have a blackberry, an Ipod, or a flat screen TV, but in light of eternity I would not trade a single minute of the time I have enjoyed watching Emma and Lydia grow and learn. I pray everyday for the moms who I know that have to work outside their homes- may God bless them.
4.) For my house, which is small by American standards, but large in comparison to what most in the world are living in. May God let me always see the good in the midst of the clutter and noise.
5.) For having parents that are still living and enjoying life and that they live close enough to enjoy their grandchildren. My children are blessed with both sets of grandparents and one set of great- grandparents- a lot of wisdom and love being passed down.
6.) For my salvation. Thank you God for saving me early in life and sparing me from a lot of misery. I am thankful that my testamony is boring.
7.) For Jason's job. Thank you for leading us to good employment opportunities and for helping us through the difficult times of lay off.
8.) For sending your son to die on the cross to save me from myself and allowing me to spend eternity with you in Heaven, may I be an example of your love to others.

My list could continue for miles and miles, but I have to go get my children up from nap. In the midst of all the bad news I have heard and read lately... I just want to say Thank you God. God, help me to never forget to be thankful even for the mundane things that I take for granted. Help me to see you in the midst of the ordinary.
"But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors me. If you keep to my path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God." Psalm 50:23

 

Pig's Adventures...

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Emma's favorite sleep toy is a guinea pig that she affectionately calls "pig". She has had pig since she was about a year old. Pig is a beanie baby that is very well loved which is evident by both her appearance and smell, but we just keep on washing her the best we can and hoping she survives Emma's attachment phase. About six months ago Emma began to tell stories that involved Pig, they were long drawn out sagas about Pig's life and adventures Pig had been on. Whatever was going on in our life, Pig was doing also. Pig was shopping at the mall or Pig had gone to the beach or Pig was having babies, birthday parties or sleepovers, etc. Emma can can tell the whole story without even thinking about what she needs to add and if you ask a question about Pig, Emma always has an answer right on the spot. I decided to write down Pig's latest adventure just so I could remember these great imaginative stories for later. This one unfolded while we were on our way to church the other night...


Emma: Guess where Pig went today Mommy.
Me: Where?
Emma: The Zoo
Me: really, What was her favorite animal?
Emma: All of them except one- the Lion. She had to feed it and it kept growling at her.
Me: Did it try to bite her?
Emma: Yes, but she had on these special gloves that were as hard as a rock so it couldn't hurt her, but she was scared so she went inside to look at the fish.
Me: That's good, I wouldn't want her to get eaten. Did she like the fish?
Emma: Yes, they let her touch some of them. One of the scorpions had babies and you could touch them, they didn't have their pinchers yet.
Me: Don't you mean lobsters?
Emma: No Mommy scorpions.
Me: Did they have stingers?
Emma: No, the big ones had rubber bands on their pincher claws so they couldn't hurt Pig, and she loved the babies so much that they let her take one home.
Me: that was nice.
Emma: Yeah she is going to put it in her 'quarium and let it eat blueberries and yummy fruit.
Me: I bet it will like that. Sounds like Pig had a great time.
Emma: Yes, she said that we really need to go to the zoo with her next time so we can see all those animals too.
Me: Maybe when the weather warms up, we can go.
Emma: O.K., that would be good, but I don't know about those mean lions.
I think this was Emma's creative way of asking to go to the Zoo, but I hope that we won't have to feed a lion. She is too funny:)
"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." Psalm 127:3

 

Potty Training Patience...

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Potty Training- no two words frustrate me more than these. I have very little patience for potty trainig. God spoiled us when he sent us Emma. He fooled us into thinking that child rearing was simple and that it took very little effort to teach them. Emma sat up at 4 months, she walked at 9 months, she knew her colors and shapes before she could even say them. Jason and I just had to show her what to do one time and she would just do it. I don't know where she gets it from, but the child is smart. Emma potty trained in three days- literally. She turned two on a Monday and by Friday she was wearing big girl panties. She was out of a nighttime pull-up within about three weeks and in the last two years has maybe had 2 accidents. I think she came with an easy button. I loved it, but then God sent me a reality check.
Lydia came into the world and we realized that Emma was the exception not the rule. Lydia loves being the baby. She was content to sit and let us bring her what she needed so she didn't walk until 15 months. She doesn't like to read or be still and she has very little tolerance to learn anything new. Don't get me wrong, she is smart. Lydia can figure out how anything works. She can take something apart and put it back together the first time. At two years old she was already speaking in full sentences, and she has an amazing ability to remember names and faces. She just doesn't care to learn about things she is not interested in. This includes potty training.
I started taking her to the potty months ago, but nothing. She loves to sit on the potty, read books on the potty, sing on the potty, but she refuses to potty in the potty. She likes to use it as a step stool so she can reach the sink and she likes that it makes the perfect chair for the baby dolls, she just doesn't like for it to be the perfect potty for her to use. I think she is ready. She can tell you when she goes in her diaper and she will even go get a clean diaper so you can change her. She knows what the potty is for and how to use toilet paper. She just doesn't do it.
I have tried everything from stickers to gummy bears. I even got a different potty because I thought she just didn't like the one we had. Nothing!
Then the answer to my problem came in the form of an e-mail. A friend of mine e-mailed me a motivational video the other day. The man in the video said to set a goal, write it down on a piece of paper, put it in your pocket, look at it everyday and it will happen. All this work and that was all I had to do? Lydia should be trained anyday now;)
"We pray that you will be strengthened with His glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need." Colossians 1:11a

 

A Snowy Lesson...

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I heard it said one time that we set the expectation for our children. That what we expect out of life will ultimately be what they learn to expect. This week I realized how true that can be, and that maybe sometimes I need to let them set the expectation for me.
My childhood was fun. My parents made sure that family time was important and enjoyable. I remember roller skating, bike riding, swimming, traveling to the mountains and the beach, I remember movie nights, playing board games, building forts under the kitchen table, and laughing a lot. We spent a lot of our time off from work and school doing things together as a family. On the other hand, my husband didn't have a lot of family time growing up, but he really wanted that for himself, so we decided when we had a family that we wanted to spend lots of quality time together and to make it as fun as possible for our children. My problem becomes expectation. I guess it is the perfectionist in me, but I want what my husband likes to call the Hallmark effect. I want everything we do together to look a certain way or be a certain way. I want everybody to be happy and have fun, but I tend to want it on my terms. Sometimes I find myself disappointed, even when things seem to be going well, just because it doesn't look like the picture I built up in my mind. This week, however, I learned that the truly fun and memorable moments in life come when you have no expectation at all.
I love snow! I mean really love snow. I am worse than a kid when it comes to a snow day. Before we had children, Jason and I would even pack up and drive north in search of snow just so we could play in it. When the forecast called for snow on Tuesday I was thrilled. Jason was off work anyway and I thought that surely we would get a couple inches or more. My girls have rarely seen snow, so I had this expectation of playing in the snow with them and building a small snowman and maybe even sledding or a snowball fight. Before bed Emma prayed and asked God to please send snow. When I tucked her in I prepared her for the fact that snow may not come, but she was convinced- after all she had prayed about it. When I got up with her in the night to potty and looked out the window I saw no snow. I was disappointed for her and myself. I told her it didn't look good for snow and the look on her face about made me cry, but I tucked her back in bed and promised her we would have a fun day no matter what.
The next morning I heard her run down the hall and then she began to holler- "MOMMY... IT SNOWED!! IT CAME! GOD SENT US SNOW!!" I jumped out of bed and looked out the window and there it was- a dusting- you could still see the grass. I thought she was crazy, that wasn't snow, but she was already jumping on our bed and waking up her daddy to tell him God sent us snow. He answered our prayer. She wanted to go out and play before breakfast, but I made her wait since it was only 18 degrees outside. I kept thinking to myself how disappointed they were going to be when they realized that it was just a tiny bit, not enough for a snowball let alone a snowman. We ate breakfast and began the task of getting ready for snow play. Hats, gloves, extra layers, coats. It took what seemed like forever to get them ready to go out and the whole time I kept thinking... Is this worth it? They won't stay out there 5 minutes when they see what it really is. I got the camera and we all headed outside and then I saw her face, but it wasn't what I expected. My children were thrilled, they stayed outside all morning. They made snowballs, even though they were tiny, and they ran around and fed the birds and slid down the driveway on an old piece of plastic that Jason found in the storage room. They laughed and giggled and it was contagious. I found myself laughing with them and looking for berries and sliding on the driveway with them. After we all had been frozen to the bone, we came inside, drank hot chocolate and hung up our wet snowy clothes.
While they were napping I began to think about the day and I realized that they have never really seen snow at least not a deep one. They had no expectations. They just wanted God to send some. The snow didn't have to be deep, they didn't have to make a snowman or build a snowfort or eat snow cream. They didn't care about any of that. Emma just wanted to play in the snow with her family and all she understood was God answered her prayer. Such a lesson for me to see. I don't need to worry about things not being good enough or fun enough or big enough. I need to see that the life God has allowed me to enjoy is enough. Children are happy with very little. They are not born wanting the biggest and the best, they learn that from us. Our expectations become their expectations. I pray that God will help me to understand and show them that He is enough. He did answer our prayer- He sent us snow...and sent me a lesson in humility. Thank you God!
"Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the wind." Ecclesiates 6:9

 

Why we don't eat out...

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We went out to eat Sunday after church. We had not been out to eat for a while as a family so we were excited (or at least I was since that meant I didn't have to cook or clean) We went to a family style resteraunt in our town- a more elderly crowd usually frequents there, but the food is good so we figured why not?

Lydia, my two year old, is not very patient. She is also very loud at times when she doesn't get her way and it can be highly embarrassing. We have been known to evacuate resteraunts, libraries and other normally quiet establishments, rather than have to subject others to the deafening noises that her tiny lungs can produce; however, she is two now and can understand what she is not supposed to do, so we thought all would be fine. WRONG!

It all started when the waitress brought out the food and said "hot plate... be careful" and then proceeded to set the grilled cheese sandwich right in front of Lydia. I reached over and touched the plate and it was very hot. I think they may have cooked the grilled cheese on the plate, so my husband, worried that Lydia would get burned, picked the plate up and moved it over to his side of the table so it could cool. That was it... she began to say NO DADDY!! over and over and then when I told her hold on a minute it has to cool down she began to scream. People began to stare and my husband began to panic. He tore the sandwhich in half and handed it to her thinking she would stop and eat it, but no, she started to scream louder and cry out " NO CUT IT DADDY! NO CUT IT!" now people are giving us the look that says "Please shut that kid up!" so I bent over and whispered in her ear that I would have to take her out to the car if she didn't get quiet and then she threw her head back and began to yell " NO POP MY TAIL MOMMY! NO POP ME!" I never said I was going to pop her tail, but now I am getting the looks that say " you mean mother- spanking that little girl- how dare you" What to do?

We decided to completely ignore her. So we all bowed our heads and closed our eyes and Emma began to pray. Lydia continued to scream and when we were done we all began eating and talking and not even looking at Lydia. After what seemed like an hour, but was really about 2 minutes, Lydia began to eat and announced " Happy now, mommy!" She took several bites and all of a sudden she put down her fork, folded her hands and said "Oh MAN! Prayer!" She had been so caught up in her tantrum she didn't even know we had prayed. The people behind us began to snicker and I just smiled and thought "Thank you God for the sweet moments- to help balance out the stressful ones"

Though next time I think we will just make the grilled cheese at home:)

"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it." Hebrews 4:16