Back to school series

As the months of summer are fading to only weeks, I am going to begin a little blog series on Back to School and all the preperations that can go into it. Now I know that my kids are only going to preschool, but a lot of this can still apply even to young children. The series will include: Packing a Healthy Lunch, Saving BIG on Fall Clothes, Preparing Your Child For Preschool, and Getting into a Routine. And I may sneak in How Much is Too Much? In reference to afterschool and weekend activities that parents sign their kids up for and how we will be handling this dilemma. I will feature products that have helped me, sales and coupons I find, and websites with way more info. then I could ever blog about. The first website is kids health.org. I got this picture off of it. It has lots of great info. on keeping your kids healthy.

So stay tuned for my first part in the series coming soon...

I love it when they have fun together!

More Basketball

I feel the need for a little disclaimer. Yes, I am aware of the stereotype of African Americans playing basketball, but I am also aware that it is a large part of the culture. When we went to the Juneteenth celebration in Dallas, there were several highschool basketball teams there in uniform and the day's events included basketball tournaments. But aside from all that, Isaac's Grandma is already dreaming of him playing highschool and college ball; B-ball is her favorite sport (and incidentally the only sport I played in school) So that is why we have him in it. We are ready for our Mav's jersey, Grandma!!

On a side note- the kid can't dribble to save his life!! But that is why we are in training, right?

Basketball

Isaac started his basketball training this week. It is Tues and Thursday evenings. There are a TON of kids in the program, but he really enjoyed it. We found this hoop at Target on clearance for 4 bucks so now the kids can play ball from the comfort of their room!

Here is Vivi shooting baskets inside out. She cheers everytime she does it! Then we did our "fist bump" that we've been teaching her.

Thoughts

Do you ever look at your kids and wish you could bottle them up, just as they are. I wonder if there will ever be a time that their faces will be more precious. And then they grow and change so much, but their faces still capture my heart.
I look at pictures of them younger and feel an ache in my heart that the time is just going by too fast. I've heard it said that the days drag by but the months fly...and it is true. Where have my babies gone? In their faces now as their cheeks lose that baby pudge- I can almost see what they will look like in 10 years. I look forward to seeing who my son and daughter will turn out to be. Billy and I say that we are not raising children, we are raising adults. They are children for such a short time and then they are grown and go on to make their own way in the world. Not our way, but theirs. Do I want them to have only success, with no struggles? No. Because I know that trials of all kinds produce character. What I want for them most is to know how to give love and how to recieve it. To think of others and not just themselves. To learn self control, generosity, and to advocate for the less fortunate. We center our whole parenting around these concepts. Oftentimes we ourselves fail in these areas and we lean always on the strength of our Lord to guide us back. As precious as our little ones are, they have been blessed with some strong wills- and taming that will takes a TON of work. I know the effort will pay off.

But today, they are my babies. Beautiful. Sweet. Loved.