Bike Safety

The kids had bike safety day at their preschool the other day. It was so cute, and a lot of fun for them. They learned about helmets and riding, control, etc...

Here are a few photos of Seth's class:







and Brody's class:

The Definition of Scatterbrained

This just happened to me... seriously, no embellishments needed:

I was working at the computer and got hungry...

So, I went into the kitchen, got two pieces of bread out of the fridge to make a sandwich. I put them on a plate. I got out the peanut butter but decided to make a ham sandwich instead.

I went over to the fridge to get the ham. As I looked into the deli drawer, I realized that MOST of the things in the drawer were old and needed to be thrown out...

So, I cleaned out the whole fridge.

Then, I realized that I had most of the ingredients in there to make one of my favorite dinners, so I went over to the recipe books to get out the Weight Watchers recipe book (I'm trying WW again).

As I started to get the book, I saw all of my old WW literature from the many years I have done it, so I pulled that stuff down and started to look through it to see how far I have come. (up and down, up and down, etc...)

As I was looking through the Weight Watchers stuff, Seth came in wearing the same shirt that he has been wearing for like 5 days... so I realized that I really needed to get some laundry done. now.

So, I went into the laundry room and started to get the clothes and stuff off the washer in order to actually do the laundry... and found 5 easter baskets/buckets and candy galore, which all needs to be consolidated into the large "candy tub" where all the candy goes in our house until it needs to be thrown away...

So, I pulled the 5 easter baskets out of the laundry room and placed them on the kitchen counter, right next to my 2 pieces of bread, sitting upon the plate.

It was the that I realized that I needed to blog this crazy mind progression, so off to the computer

...when my phone rings, and I start talking with a friend.

As I hang up the phone, I can't remember what I was coming to do at the computer, and I get stuck reading email...

Until I remember why I was here... to blog my scatterbrain! So, here I am...

+ bread on the plate
+ weight watchers materials spread over the stove
+ clothes on the floor of the laundry room
+ easter baskets and candy all laid out on the counter
+ phone not returned to the base to charge

and me.... about an hour later.... sitting at the computer... just like I was when all of this started...

and hey, I'm feeling hungry... maybe I will go make a sandwich... and get sidetracked by cleaning up all of that stuff along the way.

One whole hour of moving and thinking, etc... and I got NOTHING done (oh, except cleaning the fridge)!

Anybody else ever feel this same way?!

Big, Bad, Brody!

Brody did it! He has graduated to the Big Coasters! Our little boy rode the Big Bad Wolf yesterday at Busch Gardens, and he loved it! He wasn't scared at all. He didn't show any signs of anything except excitement...

As we were halfway up the big hill, I looked over at this small child who JUST made the cutoff for the height requirement, and I could barely see him, his face not big enough to protrude through the shoulder harness. My mom-sense was screaming at myself, " I can't believe you put this small, frail being on this big bad coaster." I was more scared for him than to think of my own fears at all. I was sure he was going to be traumatized. I had put him in a place where he would fear for his life... and I did it on purpose! I was so mad at myself... until we got off the ride... and he wanted to do it again, right away!


I guess, as a mom, I need to learn to step back, stop protecting, and let him experience life, for he said it best when he was telling Mimi on the phone what he had done, "Mimi, I felt a little scared on the big hill, but you know what? Being scared is what made it the most fun!"






And, I can't finish the post without mentioning that BOTH of my boys, Seth included, rode the new kiddie steel coaster at Busch Gardens. Seth was a trooper... he smiled as he got on the ride, looked terrified the entire time he was on it, but was talking a mile a minute afterward about how much he loved it. We are raising some BRAVE BOYS! :)




Good job, guys!

:) It is going to be a FUN summer!

Bookworm!

Brody is reading! I am completely overjoyed to watch him sit down with a couple of his favorite reader books and sound out the words!

He is slowly becoming more independent, and with the skills he is learning, especially reading, he will be able to survive in this world without me always hovering. It is sad, but also so joyful! I think through history of all the people who were never taught to read, and it is just amazing that Brody will have this incredible skill throughout his life! We are so blessed.

We ordered 4 books that have been incredible for him! I will hear him sitting off alone in another room, reading! :) Even laughing when he reads something funny!

And I can't believe how fast he is picking up on it! Once he started, he just keeps going and going! Now he wants to READ EVERYTHING!

This is the most amazed I have been of the human development since we began down this child-rearing journey!

Good job, Brody! :)

The Akers' Library!

One of my biggest organizational dilemmas is my kids books. We have a standard 3 shelf bookcase that holds all their books in their bedroom, which is great if you can READ the spines to find what you are looking for. If you can't read, and small children usually can't (except, I have a post coming soon about that!), you end up with all of the books regularly pulled out onto the floor so your child can find the book they want.

I spend a LOT of time putting those books back in the shelf. Until today.

Ta Dah!!!







At first, I went online to find a book shelf that I could purchase so my kids could SEE the covers of a selection of their books, instead of downloading them all to their floor. None of the products I saw were large enough for what I was looking for, and they were pretty expensive. Well, I ended up on someone's blog who had made "rain gutter shelves". Yes, you heard me right. You can install plastic rain gutters on the wall, and voila... bookshelves!

The shelves themselves cost me 4.97 for a 20 foot piece (which I had the guy at Home Depot cut for me). The end caps were about 6 bucks a piece, so we got a FULL WALL of shelves for around 40 dollars!

The kids LOVE it, and immediately stopped running around, picked a favorite book, and sat down to read!

YAY!!

Video Phone!

My kids live in a world where they can see a video phone call on their computer! We can see Grammy and BooPa anytime they want! How cool is that!?

Our Budding Chef

Brody's school had a book fair, and the book he wanted more than anything was a Disney Cookbook. That was all he talked about. He said he wanted to start making dinner some nights...

So, we got the cookbook, and let him pick out dinner the other night. He chose "Not Too Scary Berry Pancakes". Then, with Daddy's help, he made it!


Here we are enjoying our blueberry pancakes (from scratch!) made by Brody!

20 Pearly Whites!

Seth had his first visit to the dentist! They "counted" his teeth... and all looks great! No cavities!

Brody was such a big help showing him how easy it is. :)

Living Expressions

I am SO EXCITED! I have been working, for quite a many long and tiring night (hence the lack of blogging), with a friend of mine on a fantastic project...

Our very own, brand new company!

Living Expressions

Let me give you a little background...

In 2007, Kurt and I went on a Mission trip to Austria with our church choir. We started building relationships with a couple of churches there, and are planning to go back in 2009. Unfortunately, during this economy, funds are low for many who would like to go back this coming summer.

In order to help raise funds, Kurt, myself, and another friend have created our own company, Living Expressions.

We have created over 30 pieces of professional quality, original, digital, Scripture/Faith-based artwork. We would like to sell prints to raise the funds we need to get everyone who wants to go, back to Austria. 100% of the profits will go toward this worthy cause.

Please take a moment to visit the site. The entire Product Catalog is on the site, and you can even order prints through the website (Paypal).

I hope you see something you would like to order! And if not, feel free to pass the link along to EVERYONE you know! The more traffic we can get to the site, the better! And PLEASE, pray that God will work through this HUGE endeavor to raise enough money before June!

Need a good laugh?

Thought this was funny... at least I know my dancer friends will get a kick (or maybe even a kick-ball-change) out of it...

Spring Hopes

My sweet hubby brought me tulips (my favorite flowers) and it has put me in the spring mood... which is great, considering I have all the windows open letting the fresh air in. It is supposed to be 70 degrees again on Saturday, and 76 on Sunday! And we still have snow melting on the back deck because it was 20 degrees yesterday. Crazy.

School Pic Day!

Here they are, in all their glory, all spiffed up with new shoes, shirts, and hair gel! :)

You don't need to tell me, I already know. I'm the Worst Mom Ever

Okay, so you force me to just admit it, and get it out of the way. I am the worst mom in the world. At least it appeared that way if you happened to be in Chesapeake Square Mall, or anywhere even remotely close to Chesapeake today. I saw you, and you were glaring at me and my children.

Don't think I didn't notice you snicker and whisper to your friend when they both ran, screaming and yelling and making "Star Wars Blaster Sounds", out of the Rack Room Shoes while I was trying to pay for their "spiffy school picture day" shoes. I saw you roll your eyes as I had to tell the girl at the register to please watch my things while I went out into the mall to retrieve my children.

And don't think I wasn't acutely aware, as I was trying to pick out new shirts in Ross, and they were boxing and hitting and wresting each other INSIDE the cart, that you had turned your nose up at me and made a *tsk-tsk* sound with your tongue.

Oh, and I could feel your eyes bearing down on me as I bopped them on the behind while we were leaving Target because they wouldn't stay at the checkout register with me, but instead wanted to run circles in the food area and terrorize the people trying to enjoy their popcorn.

I KNOW what you were thinking, because when I was childless, I thought the same thing. I wondered why that frazzled, distraught, unkempt, exhausted, irate, impatient, angry mother couldn't keep her kids under control. Just why couldn't she tame them while in public so they wouldn't be such a menace.

Well, to all of you mall-dwelling mother judges out there, I just have one thing to say..

*tsk tsk* I'd just like to see you walk in my shoes...

and I have a word of advice...

give a tired mom a break. Some day, you may find yourself standing mortified in the mall, and would just like someone to smile and say, "Don't worry, the grow up, eventually!"

Snowy Akers!

I know all you that live farther North than we do will get a chuckle out of our "snow" pictures, but to us, this is a LOT of snow! Seth is 3 now, and this is the first snow he has seen!

Kurt's new job let him stay home in the morning and come in late if he wanted to (which he since has) but before it started to melt, we all ventured out into the big snow to play around.

Kurt and I, as parents, had a duty to teach our kids how to:

a. have a snowball fight
b. make snow angels
c. make snowmen
d. not eat (or make) yellow snow
e. make an igloo
f. make a snow fort

(d and e were just impossible with our amount of snow, but we figure 4 out of 6 ain't bad!)

So, here we are on our snow day!

Well... that was a downer...

I apologize for being gone so long from the blogging world, only to return with such a heavy post!

I have become overwhelmed with so much time and events that I didn't blog, that I found I didn't want to blog because I didn't know where to start...

so, I am just moving forward... because I have missed blogging! So, here goes... March 1st forward!

Happy Birthday Kurt! I LOOOOOOOOOVE you!

Slumdog Millionaire

We may just be the last people I know to go see this movie, but we went for Kurt's birthday tonight.

I was completely blown away. The story was fantastic, the acting superb, the content was just astounding.

I left the theater embarrassed and ashamed. We had just watched a movie about a child from a slum in Bombay... who had NOTHING... and by nothing, I mean NOTHING... and here Kurt and I are whining that we don't get a good picture on our digital converter box for our tv.

I thought of my 2 little boys at home, surrounded by GOBS of toys, full tummies, with no knowledge of loss, death, fear, pain, or destruction... and somewhere in the world, there is a mommy with 2 little boys, perhaps the same age as my kids, and she doesn't know if they will live another week because of lack of food and violence in their culture.

I have no right to complain about anything that I *think* I need. I am completely humbled and ashamed at what my culture has taught me to be.

*sigh*

So, if you haven't seen the movie, go see it. It truly might just change your outlook on the world.

HUGE NEWS!

I keep forgetting to post it... we are diaper-free in the Akers home!

I am not required to deal with anybody else stuff! :)

Santa!

*Flashback*

December 5, 2008

My mom, sister, and I took the kids to Richmond to see The Legendary Santa. This has become a tradition of ours and I hope we will continue to go for quite a few more years. I can't imagine the day when they wouldn't want to go!

Brody's Christmas Program

*Flashback*

December 17, 2008

Unfortunately, for Brody's program at Kinderprep, we had a terrible view of him. Every now and then, he would peek between the heads of the two kids in front of him and I would snap a photo. I got a couple cute ones.

He LOVES to sing and perform, especially when he has requested that I "make a movie of him". He is going to be my center-stage kid.







Here he is with one of his favorite friends, Mary Kendall. You may remember her as "Mary Candle" from last year's program here. Look how much they have grown!

Seth's Christmas Concert

*Flashback*

December 18, 2008

The boys had a Christmas Program at their preschool, and it was adorable. Unfortunately, Brody had his on one day, and Seth's was the next day, so I don't have photos of them together in the program.

Here are some photos from Seth's day:


Here he is with his little *girlfriend*. He talks about her a LOT. ;) She is rather cute, huh? Good taste, Seth!





Seth got to sit next to one of his BEST FRIENDS, Emily. They have played together since they were just weeks old. :) If arranged marriages were still acceptable, this would be a done deal, I would say.

The World Our Kids Will Remember

*Flashback*

December 24, 2008

What a crazy world our kids live in. Here are the boys and Kurt, on Christmas Eve, tracking Santa online. You wouldn't have believed how much work went into this website. The kids were memorized, and we checked the site often to be sure he hadn't skipped over our house.



Isn't it crazy that this is the memories my kids will have, of tracking Santa online on Christmas Eve?

Cuttin' It Up!

It is a great feeling, indeed, to cut up your credit cards. Go ahead, join us... do it!

As of last March, we have been credit card free (as in, not buying anything on credit), and I couldn't have imagined how liberating it would feel.

For some reason, though, I still held onto one of the cards, maybe because I didn't trust ourselves with this new way of living.

Well, here it is! The final card! We are WELL ON OUR WAY to paying off the balance that we had... and I will be sure to create a post when we do, and I'll be drinking champagne when I write that entry!

Are you Done Blogging?

So, Kurt asks me today, "Are you done blogging?"

The answer... no. I'm not. I love my blog. I love going back to read the story of my life, of my thoughts, so no, I am not done.

I do, however, need to figure out how to fit blogging time back into my life. I used to be at the computer a lot more, but now that I have a new job that requires fewer hours, I am not here as much.

My plan: to set aside a specific time of day to blog, upload photos, and document my life. Otherwise, I know it won't get done, and there will be so many memories that I don't capture.

So, starting tomorrow, you *should* see a daily blog. I plan to go back and start filling in some of the gaps, so I hope some of you are prepared to see holiday stuff all over again!

Sorry for the delay in my posts. Quite a few of you have been asking where I've been, and I just wanted to tell you that I've missed you too!

Lego Inauguration

How cool is this guy's job?