November Resolutions

Hey... look at me! I am actually posting my resolutions for this month DURING this month! Haha! On it! This has been a long year for these resolutions, but I am proud to say I have done it and only 1 month left!

Books I have read this month...
Vanishing Girls - one of the best this year!
5 Love Languages for Children
The Girls - awful... it freaked me out actually.

Mommy/Son Dates:
Trip to Pilot Mountain
Bagel Breakfast Date
Go to work with Mommy day
Trolls Movie

Thank You For

This is the month of Thanksgiving! I feel like it is a very important age for Blake to be learning about what it really means to be thankful for things. Four year olds tend to be naturally demanding and I think they just assume that they are given the things they have because that is what they want... and they get what they want. This year, I wanted Blake to be aware that not everyone has wonderful things like he does, and for that reason he should be thankful. We tried saying something we were thankful for each night. It was cute because instead of saying "thankful" he would say "thank you for". Haha! :) He was "thank you for" his toys (#1), family (he named everyone individually), our house, food, and poop/toots (because he is a boy and everything involves saying poop or toots - sigh).

I am thankful for being able to spend these wonderful moments with Blake. We, Ryan and I, were both able to attend Blake's Thanksgiving luncheon. I love being involved in Blake's PreK activities. We also returned the kindness by showing them our gratitude and giving them a little thanksgiving gift.

I am grateful for my friends and my health. Blake was with Ryan for the morning/lunch of Thanksgiving, so I was able to run a 5K this morning with Rita. We had a blast and this was our 3rd 5K this year.

I am grateful for family. This just happened to be the only picture I got. But I am blessed with a wonderful family. I am particularly grateful that we are all within a close distance of each other. That is something that many people do not have.

Finally, and most importantly, I am grateful for my greatest blessing of all...Blake! That little boy has my heart in a million ways. He is my world. Simple as that. My life revolves around being his mom and I love it... I am lost and incomplete without him. Seriously, you should see me on the weekends he is with his dad. I am pitiful.Blake is my best friend and our bond is something that I consider to be very special. I hope and prayer that we can continue to be that close in the years to come. I hope he will always know that being his mom is the one thing that I am most grateful for in life! NOTHING will ever compare to that!

Trolls

Blake and I went to see the movie Trolls. It was the cutest and happiest little movie ever...and full of great color and music!

And what is it about kids movies that makes me cry!?!??! This movie taught us that happiness is within all of us and that we can choose to be happy. We don't have to depend on anyone or anything to be happy... it's in each of us! :)

This movie and this little boy made me  the happiest today!!!

5 Love Languages for Children

My eyes have been opened to a BEAUTIFUL concept of love! It is inspired from the book 5 Love Languages for Children. The authors explain that each of us give and receive love in 5 different ways: words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, service, and physical touch. This book then focuses on which methods your child specifically needs the most and how to show them the love that THEY need to feel.

Wow! It was so eye opening to read about each love language and how that might be prioritized specifically with Blake. Many of the things in this book are common sense, but it really opened doors with different areas of my parenting.

My love language is words of affirmation. I need to hear encouragement and love through language. Naturally that is how I show love as well. I am consistently telling Blake I love him and how proud I am of him. I shower him with encouragement. That is all great and loving, but it isn't the way that he receives love the most. Blake's current love language is quality time. He sees love by spending time with him. Sitting down and playing on the floor with him for an hour will show more love than me telling him I love him a hundred times a day or giving him a million kisses. So, that means that I will continue to focus on quality mommy/son dates for us!

While gaining knowledge of all of the love languages has also helped me when communicating with Blake. Depending on the situation, I can see how Blake can better understand situations. Especially with discipline, I can see how approaching a situation can help or hurt Blake. Blake is sensitive with words of affirmation. He is SO sensitive. That is why normally the only discipline that he needs is talking and a brief time out. Knowing this reaction and this love language, I can talk to him in a way that he understands in order to teach him about appropriate behavior. We understand each other and can love each other while also still learning.

The book also mentioned that children's love languages can shift depending on age and phases of life. Currently his main love language is quality time, but it might change as he gets older. Being a boy, he will probably distance himself from me when he gets to the almost teen age. I learned how to shift showing the love languages while respecting those phases of his life.

Being a mother is my ultimate purpose in life. It is something that I am grateful for every second of every day. This book has made me value this role even more. My bond with Blake is a special one and I love that I can know grow that bond stronger! 

October Resolution

Whew... this hasn't been my favorite year. It has been challenging, but I have still been trying to do my resolution!

Books I read in October:
The Girls
Truly Madly Guilty


Dates with Blake:
Pumpkin Picking/Hillridge Farms
Pumpkin Carving
Mommy.Son Pictures
Halloween Decorations
Survived Hurricane Matthew together! HAHA

Two months left... I can do this! 

Incredible Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat!!! This is by far the best trick or treat age! We had such a wonderful time!

First of all, I am pretty sure this is one of the last years that Blake will want to dress up with me. I was so excited to dress us with him as The Incredible family! He was Dash and I was the mom, Elastigirl. We were pretty Incredible!

Following tradition, we trick or treated with the grandparents and great-grandparents first! The adore Blake and loved seeing him all dressed up.

This year was special because Blake got asked to Trick or Treat with his best friend. His social life far surpasses mine. Haha! So, we decided to go to Hunter's neighborhood and go along with his family. For some reason I thought it would be a nice relaxing stroll down the neighborhood. Whew... it was nothing like that. It was more like chasing two 4 year olds and a 2 year old around the neighborhood! HAHA!

Either way, these boys were the cutest things I have ever see!

Things you learn/say when trick or treating with two 4 year olds, a 2 year old, and the cutest baby ever.

• Don't touch the pumpkins! - some people still use real candles in their pumpkins and 4 year olds love trying to touch them. Sigh.
• We adults are still pretty quick on our feet as we chase the kids and prevent them from running into roads. "Look for cars!" 
• teaching Halloween etiquette is legit! "Say thanks" "don't go into their house!!" "You can't take a whole handful of candy. Just one" (unless you are the cute minion. Rules don't apply to that overload of cuteness). 
• sometimes we still get more scared than our kids... especially with large jumping spiders.
• to a two year old, carrying his heavy candy bucket is the greatest sign of love.
• and we mastered every way to put a glow stick on a toddler.