“STAY IN BED!”

Transitions are always difficult… they take careful planning and vision and discipline.  They are a necessary evil in life that can turn into a hassle or a blessing depending on the preparations beforehand.  Well, we knew that we wanted Josiah to transition into this BIG BOY BED soon.  Our baby will be born soon, so we need Josiah to get out of the crib and into his bed.  We need him to be comfortable with it so the transition to having a new baby will not overlap his transition to bed.  Transitioning him to a big boy bed is just one of those necessary things for us… we were praying that it would be easy! 

Anyway, Danny and I transitioned the girls well to their new beds before the other new babies arrived, but we were a little nervous about Josiah.

                   Grace in her bed at almost 2 years old!                                        Hannah in her bed at 18 months – the same as Josiah!

 

I assured Danny that with proper training Josiah would do well (I was really trying to convince myself of this!).  I wanted to try this when Danny was home – it is always helpful to have another pair of hands to put the child back in bed if necessary OR another voice to praise the child OR another able set of feet to run if there is a problem OR another pair of ears to hear if there is a crying/jumping/etc.

BUT this DIDN’T go as I had carefully laid out in my mind.  On Friday morning I had a doctors appointment so Danny was home with the kids.  I went to the grocery store after my appointment which is always much more relaxing by myself than with three children in tow.  When I got home, Danny told me he had something to show me.  He led me upstairs to Josiah’s room and opened the door…Josiah was NOT in his crib!!  Where was he?  He was across the hall in his BIG BOY BED and was sound asleep!  I immediately started to cry… my baby boy in his bed!  It was quite a sight!  He looked so small in his twin bed… so comfy, though!  I hadn’t been a part of his FIRST TIME experience…. I have always been there for the firsts… but NOT this one!  I was so proud of him for doing this!  What a big boy!

After I got over the initial emotionalness of it all with lots of tears, I was so happy that Danny had started this.  He just thought, “It has to be done some time when I am home… why not today?”  Josiah did great and cried for us when he was done with his nap…an hour after Danny put him down.  AND… HE HAS DONE WELL EVER SINCE THEN!  He has been sleeping in his big boy bed since Friday at morning nap and has continued until today – Monday afternoon!   We have encouraged him to stay in bed and have even played the “STAY IN BED” Game that we did with the girls – where we pretend that it is sleeping time and role play what to do.  He has done well with that as well. He loves his bed, covers, and pillow – especially since his pillow has a case that Nanna made for him with balls ALL OVER IT!   He loves all of the praise – from Grace, Hannah, Danny and me!  What a fantastic transition…we don’t know if it will continue to go this well with only our word keeping him in bed – but we are thrilled with the progress!

Here is our little man… I just had to show all the pictures of him in his bed!

He is just SO PROUD OF HIMSELF!!!!

It has now come to the end…

We are finished with AWANA for another year.  The girls did great.  Hannah was in Puggles and really enjoyed being with her friends, eating snack, hearing the Bible lessons and doing a craft.  Her favorite activity of the year was painting with Cool Whip…. she loved the idea of eating it.  We have done it here at home a few times and it is always a big hit as well. 

Grace finished her second year as a Cubbie so she will be moving up to Sparks next year – which she is VERY excited about.  She finished her book – easily – and really enjoyed all of her teachers – especially the one that she calls Nana!  She is really like a grandmother to Grace and they have a special bond.  They will BOTH miss each other next year.  I told Nana that she just needs to go with Grace to Sparks… she will have to think about that one! :) 

We are thankful to this wonderful program that gets our children to memorize Scripture and apply it.  We see AWANA being a great tool that our family will use year after year. 

At the beginning of the year…

 

At the end of the year…

 

Hannah at the awards ceremony…so excited!

Josiah and Daddy waiting for the action to begin (two handsome dudes)!

Our Cubbie… Grace Elizabeth… Just look at all of those patches! 

Where are you at 4:15?

If you are ever wondering where the Lightner family is on a a typical day at 4:15, we would be OUTSIDE in the yard!  We just LOVE going out there everyday after naps… it is just what we do. It is a total bummer when it is raining or freezing!  The kids barely have their eyes open after naps, and I am already making the preparations to get them out the door and into the yard (shoes, phones, sunblock, reading material, balls, etc.)  Most of the time they wake up by swinging since it takes some of them longer to get fully awake than others!  They love the routine – all of them, but especially me.  It is important for all of us to have the fresh air and for the kids to run, jump, climb, tackle, dig, scream, kick, swing, peddle, etc..

Here are some of my favorites from this week…boy, I love these kids!

Grace is always ready to pose for me so I can get a good shot of her!  She is just so helpful, happy and hardworking!

The kids love digging in the dirt in this flower/weed bed.  They find all sorts of interesting things…

well, they are interesting to themselves at least.

Josiah and Hannah have a special bond.  Throughout the day you will find them playing together while Grace is off by herself. Here they are playing in the small amount of water that had gathered in this car from the night before.  It was enough to keep them busy for 20 minutes.

Silly Hannah…. She loves swinging in funny ways and I will often hear, “Look, Mommy!”  That usually means that she has created a new “trick” for me to see and I NEED to tell her how daring and dangerous it is! 

Josiah found a rock in the weed bed and carried it with him all over the yard as to show it all the goings on of the Lightner Family.  He took it to the swings, he splashed it in the car with the water, he showed it to me, he carried it to the slide, he threw it across the yard several times and retrieved it.  He just had a blast… totally amazing that a rock could occupy his time so well! 

That is as exciting as it gets at our house on a typical day… we stay out there until Danny comes home around 5:00 and then we all go in so I can work on dinner.  We like to go back out after dinner… either to the yard or for a walk or on the driveway/sidewalks.  I KNOW that we will be out there more and more and more… we need to let this baby know how much we all like it… He will have to like it to – he will have no choice!

Our Spring Visit

It has been a tradition since the kids were born, that we get a visit from Danny’s family in the spring…usually around his birthday in March.  This year his dad couldn’t make the long trip to Iowa, but his mom was able to join us for a few days last weekend.  The kids loved the time with MomMom and made her play “dog trainer” and other games and read many, MANY books.  We enjoyed showing her the kids’ bunk beds, the school room, and the Science Center as well as how much the kids have learned in school this year.   We didn’t make it to the Zoo because the weather didn’t cooperate to do much of any thing outside, but we DID get to walk to the Lake and play on the swings!  PopPop and MomMom gave the kids new swings for Christmas and they are used HARD every opportunity we get to be outside. We are VERY thankful for them!   Her visit was extended into Monday afternoon since her plane had some technical difficulties… so we got to enjoy her a little longer!

Here are pictures in their Sunday best:

 

 

Ok… another BIG Family post

We LOVE our griddle!  We use it EVERY Saturday morning for pancakes.  Danny and Grace make them for the rest of the family, and we all eat them like wild animals!  We just can’t get enough of this yumminess!  My mom bought us this griddle several years ago when we were in NH… it is a HUGE one and I never really thought about how HUGE it is, until we went to VA for Christmas.  My aunt and uncle have 5 children and they have just an average sized griddle… it looked like a baby compared to ours!  We are blessed to have this one – even though the only place to store it is on top of the fridge.  Look what it held just the other morning – 12 pieces of French Toast!  That is enough for 3 for Danny, 3 for me, and 2 for each of the kids!  Yup… in just one “sitting” it can hold all we need for our family – for now anyway!!  :)

 

You know you have a BIG family when…

In comparison to many others that I know, I don’t have a BIG family.  I only have three children with one coming really soon. Yes, at times it seems that there are 20 of them, but each time I count there are only three!  Yesterday at the store, one of the clerks asked, “Are they ALL YOURS?”  I proudly responded responded, “Yes, they are! And this one, too!” as I rubbed my HUGE belly!  She nearly fell on the floor!  Some people are really curious because it seems that our kids are really close in age.. but they have all come from this momma… Grace and Hannah are 2 years apart…. Hannah and Josiah are 19 months apart…Josiah and this baby will be 19 months apart!

But as every mom knows, there are things that you do when you have three or more children that you don’t do with only one… things to make life easier or cheaper.  Danny and I laughed at my newest purchase… one that makes a lot of sense, but is funny none-the-less.  This is what I bought:

 

We LOVE peanut butter here.  I eat two peanut butter toast almost every morning… Danny eats peanut butter with bread after almost every dinner no matter what we are having (noticed how I worded that… he uses so much PB that it is nearly an inch thick!) We just LOVE the stuff, so it only made sense to buy this ENORMOUS one when it was a lot cheaper than the traditional size – and we like this kind a lot!  So, I just scoop some out of the ridiculous container and put it into the manageable size for the family’s daily use.  We laugh every time we see the container… but that is what you do when you have a large family: you buy in bulk! 

I am SO GLAD that I looked!

What is one piece of advice that pregnant mothers get all the time?  “Make sure you are drinking lots of water!!!”  Yes, I am one of those moms who TRIES to drink a lot, but there is one problem… YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM ALL THE TIME!!  It is true.  I know where all the bathrooms in DSM are due to potty training Hannah and being pregnant!  It can be so inconvenient at times, but I know that it is the healthiest thing for me and the baby.  SO… I drink and drink and drink…. water.

So this morning, I literally ran to the bathroom while the girls were diligently working on their school assignments...I needed to go, AGAIN!  I lifted the lid of the potty only to find this:

Josiah had filled the potty with a ball, a wooden rod, baby toys, a screwdriver and a hotdog – YES, that IS a hotdog!  I am SO GLAD that I looked!  In my haste to get to the nearest potty, I almost didn’t look!  Before using the potty,  I HAD to take a picture… it will make Danny crack up!  We have told Josiah NOT to play with the water IN the potty, and we fixed that by making sure the girls always closed the lid.  I didn’t realize that he knew how to open it himself and stuff things in there.  Oh, the joys of mothering a boy… what will he do next! 

A Soccer Legacy continues

It is no secret that my family is a soccer family… we started and ran Saturday morning soccer at CBC for YEARS, the three older kids participated in traveling teams, we ALL played soccer in junior high and high school, and Jimmy even started on his team at Roberts!  My brothers have already passed on their love for the game with their boys and I have done the same – playing in the yard, teaching my girls to kick with BOTH feet, and making up games to teach skills. I have wanted to keep that legacy alive! 

BUT UNTIL SEVERAL WEEKS AGO we hadn’t enrolled Grace in an organized league.  The funny thing is that the league called a few weeks ago and asked us to consider being coaches.   They don’t know us, yet they were SO DESPERATE that they asked.  I told them that I was due with baby number 4 next month and Danny doesn’t have a clue about the game, but that didn’t bother them!  They were excited that we were considering it and then accepted the position.  We knew that this would be a GREAT way to share Jesus with families here is DSM.    We would get to meet lots of kids ages 5-6 and their parents. 

Grace (along with Mommy and Daddy) had her first practice and scrimmage last night on the ORANGE CRUSH team here in Des Moines.  I had attended the coaches meeting the week before and had been given the shirts and some instructions.  I had a plan for the practice, water for my kids, a handout for the parents with important information, and snack ready for the team (which is REALLY important!). 

It all went REALLY well… Grace was fantastic – she listened well, obeyed perfectly, and played hard!  During our scrimmage she blocked one of the boy’s kicks from going into the goal (yahoo!) and on the other end she SCORED HER FIRST GOAL (That’s my girl!)!  It was a fun evening, and I am thankful that we get to do this as a family – Danny had Josiah on his back and Hannah did the drills right along with us.  I told my girls that I was SO proud of them… not just because they played so well, but for the joyful, cooperative and obedient spirits that they had.  That means more to us that dozens of goals!

 

We pulled out an orange shirt for Hannah as well… she is an unofficial part of the team –

just one of the perks to having her parents as the coaches!

YUP… she is just adorable!

I am looking forward to next week as I pray for these kids and parents and plan my strategy to beat the black team….

they don’t stand a chance! :)

Look out...here they come!

Grace riding her NEW 16" two-wheeler (with training wheels)

Hannah learning to ride Grace's old bike (a two wheeler with training wheels)

 -- she needs to learn to use brakes!!  PRAY!!! :)

 

Mommy, I’m FAST!!

Grace is getting too BIG for her bike…she has been really needing a new one.  She is excited to take the training wheels off this summer – something that Danny and I are not ready for!  She does really well on her bike, but I this next step is a BIG one!  We have told her that she needs to practice and practice. 
Well, on Saturday we found a 16” bike for her on Craigslist and got it for her.  She was thrilled, and so was her sister since Hannah was in line for the other 2 wheeler.  She has been practicing and practicing on her tricycle and is now ready for a bike.  We made the purchase and both are SO HAPPY! Hannah is thrilled with how fast she can go (compared to the tricycle)!  Mommy, I’m FAST!!  Yes, Hannah, especially for your prego momma to try to keep up with!  HA! HA!
Check out these pictures and I will post video later!