Life Lessons

Jude is having a crash course this week in "life lessons" and that "actions have consequences."

Last Saturday while I was making my very own pizza from scratch (it was delicious...I think my oven should get hotter for better pizza but alas it won't next time I'll try the grill!):

Jude and Shiloh let themselves into mommy and daddy's bathroom, opened a locked drawer and helped themselves to the hair cutting scissors which resulted in this:

A hole in his hair.

Holes in the bed mattress.

Jude also cut up a pair of pj's. Oh scissors how you beckon to my child. He is now learning some hopefully invaluable life lessons. 

Back up a couple of weeks: Jude was chewing gum (that his uncle Jeremy gave him) and got it in his hair.

I managed to get the gum out and keep his hair! 

Chad gave both boys a haircut in which mommy kept saying, "please don't cut too much." "I love their hair how it is." Chad did an excellent job or trimming and keeping it a length not too short.

Jude apparently could not resist giving himself a hair cut - hence the hole in the middle of his hair. It was bad. Very bad. We could think of no way to salvage his hair. I was sad. Very sad. I almost cried. I know it is just hair and it will grow back but I really liked it.

Jude was informed he would be having a buzz cut:

Turns out he really liked his hair too. In fact he liked it so much he cried when we were finished cutting it. Then when he went out side and the neighbors told him how handsome he was and how much they liked his hair cut (they did not know he had cut it himself and was now suffering a consequence) he burst into tears again and ran away. Poor guy.

Jude is getting used to his hair cut. Wearing his dragon shirt helps.

A short buzz is not the only consequence Jude is having to deal with. We decided that Jude needs to learn that it is not ok to destroy things (cutting up the mattress and the pi's). We are trying to teach him that we need to take care of the things that God has given us and that the things we have cost money and that to earn money it takes hard work. So:

Jude will buy new pj's. I made a jar for him to put his money in until he has saved enough to buy new pj's. We took all of the money out of his piggy bank and put it in the jar. To earn money he had Shiloh have been doing chores.

Shiloh cleaning the trim.

Washing baseboard.

Searching for weeds.

I have no idea why he felt a helmet was necessary.

Look at all those weeds.

Jude is at the halfway mark of the money needed for pj's. So we have more chores in store. More baseboards and toilets!

I am tired of chores because I have to make sure that he does a good job. This process is teaching me a lesson too. It is hard work to train up your children. It would have been so much easier to send Jude to his room for a time out or to spank him but we didn't think he would learn very much from those avenues of discipline. See part of discipline is thinking ahead to what kind of person we want our children to grow up to be. I so desire my children to be follower's of Jesus. I want them to do the things that please him. Part of that is understanding that the world is His and everything we have is a gift from him. We need to take care of the things he has given us. So we will continue doing chores until he has enough to pay for new pj's. And hopefully he learns something from this.

Farewell Austin

On Monday we bid farewell to Austin and the fun time we had. We woke up and had breakfast and then tried to straighten up the house and leave it somewhat clean in an effort to show our gratitude. I tried to return everything to it's proper place and I ran the dishes intending to return them to their correct location but alas one of the children hit the pause button on the fancy washer I didn't notice until I went to unload them and realized they had not been washed. We didn't have time to wait until it finished...

We loaded up in the car and headed out for one last adventure. We went to "God's Swimming pool." Barton Springs that is. See since it is not man made it was God made therefore it was God's pool. (Though if we want to be theological everything is God's because he made everything out of nothing which is why we tell Jude we follow and worship God because we are his. He made us.)

Barton Springs is fed from an underground sping. When we read about it it said it was 68 to 70 degrees year round "ideal" for swimming. 68 degrees is much colder in person than written on a website. The big boys and daddy played in the water for quite some time. Mommy used Asher as an excuse to sit under and tree and enjoy the breeze. Cold water is not for me.

We "should have had hindsight" and packed a lunch. Since we didn't we bought an expensive and not healthy lunch from a concession stand. Then we went back to the spring to swim some more.

About 2pm we decided to load up in the car and head back to Cypress. A very uneventful car ride it was. We returned on a different route because I did not want to pay a  toll. The boys ate so many snacks, then they napped, then the ate again. We stopped at Starbucks because we had a gift card and they messed up our order so they gave us our drinks free of charge. Awesome.

When we finally made it home Lilah and Boker were so happy to see us. I must say I was rather glad to see them too. We fixed dinner. Watched MasterChef and called it a night.

Yay for family getaways!

From the 19th Century to the 21st Century

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear and early. We enjoyed breakfast on the balcony and then we had some family worship in the living room. We read one of Jude's favorite stories from the Jesus StoryBook Bible, "the one about God dying." Though we made a big mistake - we read 3 stories and now every time we read Jude insists we read the whole story - which is fine if we have 20-30 minutes.

Breakfast time. They all look tired.

After breakfast and worship we loaded up and took a trip back in time. We went to Pioneer Farms in Austin. It was very cool (not the temperature). It is a couple of acres of land that have houses from lots of time periods and different people groups in Texas. Very historical. Which is good I like history. It made me wish even more that I had cable and was subscribed to STARZ because Outlander is about to air - this Saturday - as a TV series. If you have access to this show I would love you a whole lot if I could watch it somehow. Anyway there was also a barn with horses, some chickens, some longhorns. The boys were ok. Not great. But ok. Shiloh figured out he could get daddy to carry him almost the whole time. 

Here are some pictures of our time at Pioneer Farms:

We had bought a groupon for a BBQ restaurant in Austin and decided to eat lunch there when we were finished at the farm. It was definitely a time shock to go from 19th century to 21st century. Our waitresses were barely clothed and there were numerous TV's on the wall. If we were not entitled to $40 worth of food we may have left. But the food was good and to avoid staring at our waitress I watched some NASCAR and let me tell you those guys can change tires fast. The fastest I saw was 12 seconds. Wow.

We made it back to the Aust-E house and all of us took naps. After naps we grilled fajitas and had another go at seeing the bats. I'm so glad we went back to  the bridge. We got there before the bats emerged at sat under the bridge. It was awesome. I heard some saying there were 1.5 million bats this summer. I have not idea how many there were but after 30 minutes they were still swarming out. We asked Jude to count them and he said there were too many so we used the opportunity to re-tell the story of Abraham and the stars and God's promise. It was a good evening!

Chad grilling. 

Shiloh climbing.

Are the bats coming yet?

No more counting bats.

This does not do justice but its the best we could get with our phone camera.

PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you were to ask me what was my favorite part of our trip to Austin I would not even hesitate in answering PIZZA!

Pizza is soooo yummy! Especially when one makes it from scratch from start to finish. It is serious business. And it takes a long time. A long time with deliciously annoying smells because you have to wait.

I learned to make pizza! Since I was 16 I have wanted to learn the secrets behind the pizza Mr. Westerman makes. I would often spend the night on a Friday at Jennifer's house and her dad would make pizza and it was sooooo good! And I finally learned! Yay!

Saturday morning dawned early as every morning does around my house. We enjoyed coffee and breakfast outside. We did not enjoy the mosquitoes that joined us.

Jude and Shiloh waiting impatiently (that is the only way they wait) for breakfast.

After breakfast we headed to the Westerman Casa so I could learn to make pizza!

Shiloh made himself right at home. He did not want to go into the big house. He was too busy setting up his new home.

Complete with vehicle.

Once we finally made it in to the house. I passed of a fussy baby Asher to Chad (bless him). Dawned my apron complete with Loony Toon and began our 3 1/2 - 4 hour pizza making lesson.

The Master Chef, Mr. Westerman and Me.

We made everything from scratch. I learned lots of cool cooking tricks and tips. Did you know you can use the flat of your knife to squash garlic out and don't have to spend and hour peeling it? Ok maybe you did - I just missed this lesson somehow. Or if you leave the lid of when making sauce the steam will escape and your sauce with thicken or put the lid on to preserve the steam and have thinner, more watery sauce? Or the more oil you add to your dough mix the softer the crust will be (shoot I think...hmmm...). How to peel off oregano and basil leaves quickly. How to dice quickly without cutting yourself. Ahhh it was awesome! Mr. Westerman was a great teacher (for me - his own kids might not think so but then most kids don't learn so well from their parents and usually it is not due to the parent - I'm just saying...) and let me do everything after showing me and patiently answered my question. Yay.

I spent close to an hour when I got home writing down the recipe. I'd share it but then I'd have to kill you. Or more likely the the directions "add flour until it feels right" would make no sense and you'd kill yourself. But I understand them and can't wait to make my own pizza!

The boys went swimming while waiting for the pizza.

Working our dough. Even Caleb (11 or 12) got into the dough and he made his own tiny pizza.

Jude and Shiloh helped put the toppings on.

We cooked the pizza on the grill.

I successfully hooked the pizza and got it onto it's pan.

Yummy pizza.

Mr. Westerman sent me home with a pizza stone and a pizza peel so now I am all set for pizza making!

We watched the deer that came up.

Shiloh loved the deer. 

The boys played in the ball pit. Seriously the Westerman's have a ball pit. 

Jude and Shiloh did not want to leave. But alas they were not going to nap at that house so we headed back to the Aust-E house for rest time.

After rest time we decided to take a walk to a park close by (.5 mile). The park was across the street from HEB and we had noticed a redbox at the HEB and we wanted to have movie night. After playing at the park, we picked up our movie and headed back to the house. 

Jude walked to the park and to HEB.

Jude hitched a ride on the way back. Daddy was carrying Shiloh and the movie (don't judge - the straps on the baby carrier made holding on easy for Jude and nobody got strangled).

We ate left over pizza (so yummy) and watched the LEGO movie. And I think the main song sums up our day, "Everything is Awesome!"

Aust-E

We just had the best weekend!

On Friday we headed west to Austin!

Back up 2 weeks ago I was checking Facebook and noticed I had a message from my best friend growing up dad. It said something like, "Destiny, not sure if you knew we had a funky Austin rental... just finish furnishing it... if you act fast... and give good reviews... you can stay in it for free... just need a giod review! Let me know if you want to chill in east Austin in the next couple of weeks!"Within 2 minutes of reading said message Chad and I decided yes we would love to and had a list of weekends. Later when talking on the phone with Mr. Westerman I asked if we could see pictures and he was surprised at how quickly and trustingly I said we would come to which I answered, "look, when someone says free house to stay in you say yes and ask questions later."

This is the link to the house we stayed in:

Aust-E House

It was awesome!!!!

Anyway on Friday Chad and I packed up our stuff and took it easy (tJude and Shiloh had slept over with Mimi and Pops the night before and were going to see Planes Fire and Rescue). We decided to run to the post office to apply for Asher's passport (for the Cayman Islands of course) but were disappointed to find you now have to have an appointment. The me stopped at AutoZone because my brake light was coming on. We bought some brake fluid and while Chad filled up the brake fluid I read the car manual and acquainted myself with changing a tire. Then we met up with Mimi and Pops and had lunch. Next stop was home depot to make a return. While Chad went in I stayed in the car and fed the baby. We then went to Mimi and Pops house to get Mater and Cachoa. Finally we were on our way!

We arrived in Austin a little after 5pm and I was feeling indignant that 290 is now a toll road close to Austin. Not cool. We stopped at an HEB to grab some food and I realized I had forgotten my shopping bags. Oh well we needed some new ones anyways. I could have done without the rude tone of voice from the checker because I didn't have bags, look lady I know the is is Austin and it's green and weird but my husband is over there picking out some bags that we are going to purchase so give me a break.

We made it to the house and loved it! We grilled burgers and watched MasterChef. Chad turned on the water in the half bath sink which is not finished so he cleared up some water. Then we hurried off to the Congress Bridge to see the bats. We were late and stood on the wrong side and so only saw a few handfuls but it was still cool. Upon arriving back to the house we promptly put the boys to bed.

 see the gap?

trying to glimpse the bats.

Jude found these rings from a board game and came running, "mommy these are for playing ring the gack!" or ring mommy's legs as it turned out because we don't have a gack. 

Stay tuned for the rest of the adventure...