I can seriously not stop laughing. My daughter, my firstborn, my pride and utter joy has written two different things that she would like me to help edit. The first is part one of a children’s book—seriously the cutest book ever. Can’t wait to share it with you here!
And then. Then there is her resume. My daughter is saving all of her gift and babysitting money to buy a phone. But, as we all know, phones are very expensive. Well, my little ray of sunshine, my decade plus 2 daughter, will see her Nana and Papa for a few weeks this summer, so she has decided to submit a resume for them. On her resume, which I won’t share the entire thing, she wrote: Average student. If that was not brutally honest enough, the rest would make you laugh out loud.
Things such as: Good at—Loving her grandparents. And so much more.
My “Average Daughter” is just so ABOVE AVERAGE in the good feels department!
And, to be fair to her, she studies in the Polish language, all her subjects. So those average grades are really QUITE impressive for me 😉 Her father and I will take them, at least! I can barely help her study for her History or Science tests (no smile and wink here).
Oh, my average daughter, I love you so average PLUS much!
Thanks for bringing sunshine to my EVERY DAY!!!!!!!
You must think that I only have two children with the fact that only Josephine and Maxwell appear to be in my videos. Sometimes I feel as if I only have two children. But I actually have three: Sweet Adelyne, as well. It’s just that, at 9 years of age, Sweet Adelyne has the most social of social calendars of ANYONE I know. Not just of 9 year olds. Of anyone—9 or 90—that I know.
It’s awesome fabulous—because, you know, we live in this foreign land called Poland. And it’s awesome fabulous that my daughter is not a foreigner in this foreign land—she is a Pole. A proud one. And she lives her life as a full-blown Polish gal. Romping, playing, going to school, studying, extra curricular activities, and so forth.
She breathes White and Red. I am so thankful to God for that!
But that also means when I am at home being Mommy 24/7…(last night daddy actually was home and by 6pm, so we had family pizza night. twas awesome!)…
Anyhow…As I play this magical and amazing role of Mommy 24/7, I tend to video those subjects most around me: Which would continue to explain the absence of Adelyne and Richard 🙂 Neither tend to be around me that often…
Hmmm????? Perhaps it’s me?! Haha!
Once again, I really hope you enjoy the videos of the Littles that steal my every moment—even my potty breaks. But they fill my life with such amazing miraculous wonder, I can’t help but love my every minute.
Here continues the sweet adventures of my Littles, Jo and Max! Enjoy.
GoGo, will you dance with me? Asks her awesome Big Bro Maxwell!
Trying to get two toddlers that share a room to settle down and pray is oh so stinking sweet!
I walk into the living room and find Max on top of the couch dancing to Christmas music (yes—we’ve been playing it ever since the chill hit the air!).
I wish you all well and lots of warm love, Christmas music, and overall contentment with where God has placed you in life.
Every year when it’s time to carve pumpkins, we do this awesome thing at church. We carve pumpkins with the children. And we share the story how God scoops sin out of your life and carves a smile on your face and puts his light in you for all the world to see.
It’s really great and the kids love it.
So, yesterday when I went to pick up Maxwell (age 3) from Sunday school and hear all about his pumpkin, I asked him whose light should shine in our lives. You know…typical Sunday school review stuff.
“The pumpkin’s light!” He shouted.
There you have it, Friends…
Sometimes the best of intentions still get lost to the cutest responses.
What can I say?
#kids #pumpkins #carving #thelightofjesus
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
It is October 1st—which means that it is, once again, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Month.
Five years ago, I suffered my first and only miscarriage. And, oftentimes, people will ask “When I miscarried?”
When they hear it was in the first trimester, most replies resemble “Oh—1st trimester. Phew.”
They don’t technically say “Phew,” but you often feel or sense that.
And then you begin to feel bad.
Like—Why am I sad about this loss since it is just first trimester?
Why do I care so much?
Why do I cry so much?
Why do I feel so shallow? So empty? So much death?
I can tell you my answer to my first trimester loss of my baby—and it’s a 3-part answer:
1. Adelyne—I found out I was pregnant with this beauty that made me a mom at 6 weeks.
2. Maxwell—I found out that I was pregnant with this ultimate troublemaker at about 4-5 weeks.
3. Josephine—I found out I was pregnant with this little lady the weekend after I ran through fire and climbed 10 foot walls, and jumped and fell into huge mud pits at around 4-5 weeks.
These are my three answers to WHY it is a big, big, big deal when you miscarry…
Richard’s brother asked how many takes this took to make this video.
Let me tell you—one. The only one. I mean, really? How in the world can you duplicate that? It was perfect in all timing.
Here I was walking the dogs when I found a fox hole. And then I called and had my daughter come out. And then we called and had daddy and Max come out.
And then we decided that Adelyne (because she is normally crazy) would have a bunch of fun dancing to the music in front of the fox hole. And so we played the music.
Well, Adelyne decided she really wanted the dogs to dance with her. And, surprisingly???? the dogs were not interested. So, while she spent her time chasing the dogs, daddy is in the background going crazy with his son to the music.
It is and will be a family classic for keeps. Now, whose wedding will it play at? Maxwell’s (in daddy’s arms)? Adelyne’s (running after the dogs)? Or perhaps simply at Richard’s birthday or our 50 year anniversary????
In any case, it was fun to make but WAY more fun to watch!
So, my Ada girl has begun her own blogging journey at Kid World Citizen! It’s so much fun for her. She is responsible for picking the topics and writing on them. I help her a bit with the grammar (as she is only 9) and a few spelling corrections. I also ask her to add a few more details if she skims a topic. These are, however, her words, her ideas for photos, and her writing.
She is so excited!
This one she wrote about Gniezno, Jankowo Dolne, and Poznan. The one she is working on now is about Torun (I still have to download the photos she took). And then I believe she’ll interview friends for a following article asking about their likes and dislikes.
In any case, she is writing as a kid FOR kids===so make sure your kids have a click and a read and travel with Ada through Poland!
The above photos are of the dance that Adelyne and 3 others performed while 2 of the students sang the song. Adelyne was so excited—but she couldn’t believe that she had to dance with a BOY! Ah the fun of being a kid.
This dance was choreographed by Adelyne and her friends. They were so excited to create a dance and perform their very own creation for the grandparents. They did a FANTASTIC job and looked as cute as could be in the process (these are also Adelyne’s best friends at school).
Here the headmaster of the school is welcoming the grandparents of the 1 and 3 grade classes to the presentation (It was the 1st and 3rd grade classes that performed).
The students that were not in the dances were in the play Little Red Riding Hood (especially fitting since there is a grandma in the play, right?). They were phenomenal and OH SO CUTE!
Guess who was the biggest fan of the entire show? JOSEPHINE! She watched almost the entire play and the dances and all of the songs like this:
Anyhow—hope you enjoyed the photos. If you didn’t have a chance to watch the YouTube videos of the dances, I hope that you’ll click on the link and go right to them. They are as cute as can be.
(Of course, my camerawork is a bit shaky considering I am also monitoring a very mobile 1 year old at the same time)
“In America, all you would do is make a card for your grandma and grandpa,” stated my daughter.
This came about when we were having a conversation about whether or not she was glad to be back in Poland.
Two days ago, her class performed Little Red Riding Hood, the play, did two dances, and sang multiple songs for the grandpas and grandmas in the audience.
My daughter gave up a visit to the States so that she could be there for this special day, even though her grandparents were thousands upon thousands of miles and an ocean and a continent away in Arizona and California respectively.
You have to understand, my daughter feels Polican, as she says. Polish and American, and she speaks Pinglish. For Polish and English.
We are so above and beyond grateful to God that she feels this way. We have instilled in her the utmost to bloom where planted, and we are planted by God in the country of Poland.
And, for that very reason, my daughter attends Polish school and participates in all celebrations that Poland holds dear. We love her school and all that it does.
You need to understand, as well, that our daughter’s school is extremely small. It is a K-8th grade school that had its gymnasium built by the European Union, and, until this past fall, had absolutely no playground.
Before the playground was built, my daughter was asked by some friends and family what she did during recess.
Well, the first thing you should know is that my daughter does not technically have recess. She has 5-minute breaks between her 45-minute classes. Otherwise, her school day is only the hours that she has class.
That can mean that her “school day” is for 3 hours one day or 5 hours on her longest day—and that is only because she goes in for a 45-minute session of PSL (Polish as a Second Language). Otherwise her school day is 4 hours.
At first, such short days were huge adjustments. But as the year went on, we have grown to really love the short school days. It gives us an opportunity to enroll Adelyne in multiple activities but it doesn’t take us until bedtime to complete them.
This is what she participates in during the typical week:
Mondays—horse lessons and swimming. This is her late night.
Tuesdays—nothing but play.
Wednesdays—French lessons and then we swing by our office where she has her “library”
Thursdays—Nothing but play with her best friend! Thursdays she only has 3 hours of school.
Fridays—Dance after school. At the school. Very convenient and she loves it (it is an outside company that comes in)
Youth group is a Friday night event.
Anyhow—back to the recess question. Adelyne was asked, “What do you do during recess since you don’t have a playground?” She responded, “We run and jump and skip!”
I loved that. Even in simplicity, children find great joys. Sometimes I believe that we try to incorporate too much (I am just as guilty as the next) into their lives when all children really need is dirt. And like we all heard growing up, “Dirt don’t hurt!”
This week as we celebrated the grandparents that were able to attend, I thought of the spectacular assembly the teachers prepared and the students prepared for and I realized—this was very special. So special that it would not have taken place in the States.
First of all, to be very fair, in the States, most people don’t even live near their grandparents. Very few people live where they were born in the States. That is just the reality there. In fact, people will gladly move where they will find work. Even if it means hours upon hours away from their families.
In Poland, people tend to live (generally speaking it is still very true to this day) where they were born. Therefore, they have large amounts of relatives right nearby—including grandparents. Poland has yet to become a very transient society. Yes, many migrate outside of Poland for work. But, for those Poles remaining in Poland, a very large population still live very near in proximity to where they were born.
This is EXTREMELY evident at Dzien Dziadek i Babcia. The auditorium was FILLED with grandparents. It was such a blessing to see.
Having a daughter that lives thousands upon thousands of miles away from her grandparents, I loved that as I glanced around at the event, there was a sea of elderly faces and hair of wisdom. And oh my! They were all dressed up to a T and just as proud as could be as they watched their posterity perform just for them.
It was really special.
And Adelyne got to experience it because we are in Poland.
Oh—and dance in it!
So, today, I give to you my daughter in a super adorable dance that she got to participate in for Grandparents Day in Poland.
Her stats on the day of this event: Adelyne Marguerite; age 8; 3rd Class; Grandparents’ Day Celebration ballerina (in the light pink skirt). Enjoy!
If you are a grandpa or grandma, no matter where you are in the world, we celebrate you!
Here are the stats of the wee ones that made us parents:
Adelyne: 8 years of age. On the couch. Pleasantly happy at the moment.
Maxwell: 2 and 1/2 years old. On the floor. Had a great morning. Ate his oreos from Saint Nick for breakfast. Now miserably unhappy, fighting his little sister.
Josephine: The youngest. 10 months old. Did not have Oreos for breakfast but KNOWS…oh, yes, even at 10 months old, she knows which remotes work the television.
The problem is…Maxwell will have NONE of that.
Ruby Max, Elmo, Caillou! Is what you continue to hear him shout.
And, of course, our little 10-month-old drama queen is so traumatized that her brother’s grubby little paws steal her remote that she must flail her head onto my belly and cry (to put it mildly).
We are doing a GREAT job raising our children, right?!
In any case—we enjoyed every minute filming their Remote Basket moment and hope that it gave you a great chuckle for your day.
Enjoy our life of crazy—I guess our blog is perfectly titled, eh?!
My son does not start his prayers reverently with, “Dear Heavenly Father…”
Or even, “Dear Lord God…”
Not even, “Dear…”
He starts them by folding his hands in front of his body.
He hovers over his food.
He looks at his plate of food.
He looks all around him.
And then he prays.
“Mommy, Daddy, Sissy Adelyne, GoGo (our family’s affectionate name for Josephine), Nana, Papa…”
This is where he pauses and looks around,
“Apple juice, nana (for banana this time), Minnie plate, ah, (short pause and then he points his finger up in the air as if he thought of it) Ruby Max (as in the television show), fork…” And the list goes on.
Maxwell takes his time when he prays. He prays for those dearest to his heart first.
After that, he begins thanking God for what he loves (not people related).
Following that, he takes time to look around him and thank God for what is in his surrounding, appreciating even the fork that he uses to eat his food.
Sometimes we hold our hands forever while we wait for this little boy to finish his lengthy prayer…I may even sigh. Or try to hurry him along.
But, and perhaps it’s because it’s the 2-yr-old age of stubbornness, he does not allow our influence to affect his prayer. When he is done sharing with God what he is grateful for—when he is finished sharing his heart of gratitude, THEN and only then does he shout excitedly, throwing his hands into the air, “AMEN!”
And his small sister next to him, Josephine, gets a HUGE grin on her face and wildly air slaps her hands (because the coordination of clapping them together is still to be learned—she is 10 months).
Maxwell and Josephine rejoice in prayer time.
And by the end of his prayers, no matter how cold our food is getting, his heart of gratitude and devotion to express praise for it all, rubs off on us, too. Where we may have found ourselves sighing moments earlier in hopes that his gratitude would run out, seeing his excitement and rejoicing about those he loves and the gifts of life around him rekindles sparks in our hearts that serve to remind us that our time with God, no matter the circumstances, should never be rushed.
And 2 Makes Crazy 