training for worship

Worship is very important to our family and we love going to the house of our Lord every Sunday to sit under the preaching of the Word and to fellowship with our fellow saints. Our church has a small nursery that is intended for the little ones under 3 years old. Blake has been in there regularly since 5 months old, when he started to get very vocal and later on, active. He has never had a problem with being in the nursery and always enjoys playing with his best friend Graham but in recent months he would cry about going back into the nursery for morning worship after had had just been in there for Sunday School.

Blake was becoming older and could understand how to be quiet so I thought he might be ready to start joining us for part of the worship service. Plus I would always explain to him on Saturday night that we would be going to church in the morning to worship God but then he never ended up actually "worshipping" God as he stayed in the nursery the whole time and I felt that was a bit odd. To tell your kid you will go as a family to the Lord's house and yet exclude him from the actual worship part. I had no problem with leaving him in nursery when he was younger and couldn't really understand because he just wasn't ready but I felt as though he was showing signs of being ready to join us. So I discussed it with James and we decided to bring him in with us for the first half of the service (songs and prayers) and then bring him back to the nursery for the last half (sermon, final song, offering, close) as a way to build him up to eventually stay throughout the whole service. Other families in our church have done the same thing and tend to start around 2-2 1/2 years old with the goal of being completely out of nursery by age 3. I think its a good system and felt as though Blake could start a little bit earlier just because of his personality and the fact that he was showing signs of being ready.

Also once the new baby is here, he will be with me in worship for a while and I didn't want Blake to feel excluded that he had to stay behind in nursery while his baby brother joined Mommy and Daddy in the service. We have brought Blake in for both morning and evening service for the month of October and so far he has been doing great! He is able to sit quietly for the first 15-20 minutes before we bring him back to the nursery to play for the remainder of the service. I love that now, when I explain to him how we are going to worship God, that he actually gets to be a part of that!

Training up your children to love the Lord and to worship Him wholeheartedly is such an important task as parents. Every church, family, and child is different in how they approach this matter, especially when it comes to children in the worship service, but it is a very important issue. I'm glad that Blake is able to join us at this age and look forward to continuing to train him in this matter. I'm sure we will have frustrations and some not-so-perfect Sundays in the weeks and months ahead but its so important for us to do this! If any of you experienced parents have any advice on this (good or bad experiences), I'd love to hear them! We are in the early stages of this training and have a long way to go. But really, how privileged are we to be able to even do this, to freely and wholeheartedly worship our Lord and Savior because of HIS love and mercy for us. He enables us to do this and INVITES us to worship with Him. Its a wonderful thing indeed!

*Note: I was given "Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children into the Joy of Worship" by Robbie Castleman by my mother-in-law and its been a very helpful book to read in regards to this issue. Check it out if you don't have it and if you have any other resources that you found helpful then let me know!

Final Fall Fashion Days

I goofed on the previous post in that it was NOT Wednesday when I posted those pictures. It was in fact Thursday which meant that Wednesday had no picture because I was staying at home doing laundry all day and didn't think the outfit I had on was worth anything. And Thursday's outfit did not have me wearing the scarf, hat, and jacket all day but I did wear them as I was out running errands. To have all that stuff piled on while in the house does not work for this preggo lady!
Yesterday as I was getting ready, Blake decided to accessorize his own outfit with an orange baseball cap and my red plaid shoes. He had lots of fun clacking around in Mommy's too-big-for-him shoes. He would sometimes get frustrated when they slid off and would say "do it! doooo it!" as he handed me the shoes to put back on. He didn't understand that the reason they kept coming off was because, they were indeed too big, but it didn't stop him from using them. haha

Using the peephole to see so he could walk.

I adjusted the hat so he didn't have to have it half way down his face. Those shoes look good on you kid!

Friday:

Ok, so I forgot to take a full shot picture and I was wearing a grey cardigan over this plus my red pointy flats from a previous day. But you get the idea. Nothing exciting. Blake and I were going to Jane's office to do some trick or treating and I wanted to wear something that was a bit more "slimming" for a pregnant lady, therefore the plain black tee. :) Vain? Yes.

Saturday:

Purple earrings: From so many years ago...

Purple scarf: Old Navy- $10

pink striped tee: Old Navy Maternity- $6

maternity jeans

green flats: Payless- $10-15? I think it was a birthday present from Danielle a few years ago. She bought them for me while we were in the store.

This pregnancy I was fortunate enough to recieve some spending money to specifically buy myself some maternity clothes from a dear family member and was able to get a bunch of stuff with what I had. I shopped at Old Navy and Burlington Coat Factory and got some pretty good steals. Sales and clearance items on all of my stuff which was awesome. For Blake's pregnancy I had only about 4 or 5 maternity tops and a few pants and made do with my regular shirts. But this time around I was inbetween seasons and really needed a few items to get me by. Plus I was bigger much quicker and couldn't really fit in my "normal" clothes or even in some of my original maternity clothes. So it was really a blessing to be able to go out and get a few new things because I really was dreading wearing what I had. And no one wants a depressed fashionista around! :)

Trick or treat!

Yesterday I took Blake over to Grandma's (Jane) workplace. Her office invites kids and grandkids of the workers in on the Friday before Halloween every year to get dressed up and go around to all of the cubes/offices to get candy. Its a fun way for coworkers to show off their adorable little ones and who can resist a cute kid in a costume?

Since we aren't planning on doing any "real" trick-or-treating this year since the holiday falls on a Sunday, I was thrilled that I could take Blake somewhere to get a taste of what Halloween is all about. One of my friends was willing to loan me a costume she had and it fit Blake perfectly. He did very well in his costume and didn't complain about it. He was the cutest alligator around!

Waiting in the lobby for Grandma to come meet us.

I tried to tell him to take his fingers out of his nose but he didn't listen in time for the camera shot. Sigh. Boys.

Grandma is leading the way into her building. I love the back view of Blake's costume!

Going into an office for CANDY!!

I had been trying to explain the concept of trick-or-treating to Blake earlier in the week to prep him for this day. He knows what candy is because he has had a few pieces of chocolate from time to time so he liked this candy idea. I told him he had to wear his alligator costume in order to get candy and he would sometimes say "don't want it alligator". But he did just fine. I put him in the costume on Wednesday to get him used to the idea and he didn't cry so I thought that was a positive thing! When we arrived at Grandma's office I put the costume on him and he did say "don't want it alligator!" but once it was on he was great. He never took the head part off and once he got the hang of going from office to office in search of candy, he would run from one place to the next and grab a couple pieces of candy. haha It didn't take him long to grab on to the concept! Most of the time he would say "thank you" too (er, well he signed it mostly and only said it verbally a couple of times) so he did good with his manners as well.

All of the coworkers (women AND men!) oohed and ahhed over him on how adorable he was. It was a lot of fun for him and I am sure Grandma enjoyed showing him off. :)

In Grandma's office

"More candy!"

Driving over to Grandpa's house so we could have a quick lunch with Grandma and Grandpa. I wanted to leave him in his costume so Grandpa could get a look at him before taking it off. Thankfully Grandma's office is like 3 minutes away from their house so it wasn't too uncomfortable of a drive for the little alligator.

And here are a few pictures of our carved pumpkins that we did on Monday.

A scary entrance!

James' is the biggest one, mine is the goofy medium one and the one for Blake is the little one.




And these are our neighbor's pumpkins. They are wonderful gardeners and always do great pumpkins every year. Looks like a cat, Mike Wasowski from Monsters Inc, some flower design, and the small one says "yo" (I think). In comparision to ours, theirs is waaaay better. :)

Fall Fashion Week!

Okay, so a few other bloggers I know are participating in a Fall Fashion thing this week. I don't know how to really link up to the other blogs but thought I would join in my own little way by just posting what I wore this week. I have a few cute maternity clothes this time around so it would be good to show them off a bit!


Monday:


Shirt: Burlington Coat Factory maternity top- $7
Jeans: Old Navy Skinny maternity jeans- $25
Shoes: Payless years ago on clearance- $5?


Tuesday:


Shirt: Burlington- $10??
Skirt: Old Navy Maternity- $12
Black leggings: Burlington (part of a two piece set)- $12
shoes: friends clothing swap- FREE!


Today: My little cutie had to get in on the action

button down shirt: rummage sale- $2
pants: hand me down- FREE
shoes: Target- $13



Hat: H&M- $8
green scarf: Old Navy- $12
cranberry maternity top: Kohl's or JcPenney- $15??
Brown courdory jacket: This is years old so I can't remember the price
jeans: maternity jeans from JcPenney??
brown shoes: so old they don't even count although they still spot chew marks from our dog several years ago :)

I actually didn't take any pictures on the actual day that I wore the clothes besides today's (Wed) but thought I would play dress up and take pictures of what I really did wear those days.

October Fun

My computer is fixed! So here is a glimpse of what we have been up to this month. I think fall is my favorite season. I love the change in the trees and the cooler weather. The warm candles and snuggly blankets. The heartier meals and the football. The pumpkin picking and the anticipation of the holiday season. Can it get any better than this?

The first thing we did this month was a church sponsored activity, a one hour boat ride on the Fox River. We had the whole boat to ourselves and it was a lot of fun to get together with other members of our church and glide down the river and see a hint of the changing leaves.

Our paddlewheel boat

The river

The only thing was that the day had turned really cold. It was in the low 50s and everyone was bundled up in coats and hats. We had planned for a picnic afterwards but most people went home because of the wind and cold. This was the first day that we had had weather that cold so it takes a while for the body to adjust to the change in temperature!

The experienced sailors. After being in the Navy for 6 years, James loves any opportunity he can get to be on or near water. He wore his "Navy" cap and even had on his old Navy workman jacket that has his name on it. This was Blake's second time on a boat. I know James would like Blake to love the water as much as he does.

My cutie all bundled up against the cold.

We stayed on the open deck for the first 15 minutes or so of the ride and then Blake and I went down below where it was enclosed to keep warm. It was cloudy for most of the day but the sun had broken through on the ride and the river was just beautiful to look at. We could see all types of properties lined up to the riverfront. Some were million dollar new builds and some were 50 year old rundown homes. We personally would love to live right on the water. It'd be great to have your own dock and small boat and take a spin out on the water. Ahh, maybe someday.

The next weekend there was a Family Fall Festival at our local library. Admission was free and they had activities such as a petting zoo, moon bounce, face painting, crafts, a fire engine to look at, and refreshments to purchase. Blake and I invited Grandma and Grandpa along for the fun.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Blake looking at the fire engine.

Talking to the fireman.

Blake was fascinated with the fire truck. Of course he has been totally into all kinds of trucks recently so I think he really enjoyed being able to see one up close. They had all the compartments open so you could see all the tools and equipment they carried and their ladder was extended to full height which was neat to see.

Its interesting how the weather changes because this weekend was the one just following the boat cruise and it was in the 80s! It was so hot and there was zero sun coverage. We didn't stay for too long and just did the petting zoo after the fire engine and then we left. There were very long lines for face painting and the moon bounce and Blake is a bit too young for those things so we had seen everything we wanted to see and it was all free!

Blake in the petting zoo pen.

A bunch of sheep.

They had all sorts of animals in the pen. Sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, pigs, rabbits, an alpaca and baby yak, and a miniature horse. Blake loves animals and loved petting them and trying to kiss them. He would laugh at the silly antics of the animals.



The following week, James came home early one afternoon and we decided to go up to Goebberts while the weather was nice to pick our pumpkins. And since it was a weekday we knew it wouldn't be too busy. This is a place James grew up going to as a kid and we took Blake here last year.

Our (growing) family tradition. :)

All the flowers and plants for sale. And you can see the big pumpkin head on top of the barn.

Blake looking for the perfect pumpkin

He found one!

Goebberts has a TON of stuff that you can do besides just pumpkin picking. They have pony and camel rides, a hayride, a jumping pillow, haunted house, corn maze, and exotic zoo; along with their homegoods shop and cafe. This year we decided to do the exotic zoo and corn maze.

James and Blake trying to figure out where to go

Face to face with a giraffe

A baby goat looking for handouts

A black bear

Real life "ligers!"

"Whatcha looking at kid?"

Yup, they even had zebras

We were able to touch this baby camel.

They weren't kidding when they said "exotic" zoo! They had 3 big tents that house the animals and pretty much every one of them (except for the bears, ligers, monkeys, and zebras) you could get right up to the cage and touch them. All the animals they had on display were baby animals but it was really neat to be able to see so many up close.

A picture in the pumkin patch.

Its been a busy and fun month and I love creating wonderful memories for my family. And it won't be long until there is another one to join in on the fun!