My Protector

Nathan always takes every chance he can get to encourage the boys to be men. He wants them to understand what it means to love women, to protect them, to be brave, and to have confidence. A bit much for a 2 year old? Nah, Nathan does it in fun ways! For example, Owen gets to kill spiders and bugs for mommy. What a brave guy! Hopefully one my day my boys will be grown men who understand the responsibility God has given them to love, protect, and honor the women that God provides for them. Along those lines...

Our little family was at the park recently, and we decided to take a quick walk through a nature trail. While we were walking, Nathan gave Owen a small stick that he could use to protect mommy. They talked about animals that could be in the woods, and how they would protect me if they needed to. Nathan was showing Owen how to swing his stick in order to fight off any animals :) so cute. After they were done talking, I asked Owen if he would protect me from the scary animals. He smiled and said yes, then ran up to me and started hitting my leg with the stick. I think he is a bit confused about what it means to protect mommy... but we will get there :) ha, it was quite humorous. Love that kid!

Florida Vacay

Have I really not blogged about our trip to Florida? I hate catching up on blogs, but know that I have to! So here, is a quick rundown on our trip...

We drove. Not awful, but pretty close. Nathan drove through the night, from 7 to 7. Isnt that insane? But he did it with ease. I drove the last 5 or 6 hours and he attempted to sleep, though the boys were a tad demanding. We spent a full week in Florida and had so much fun! We did Sea World, the Tampa Zoo, the beach, rode on the boat, and had an all-around good time! I always say that when you have kiddos, vacations arent really vacations any more. You are too concerned with getting the kids to nap, making sure they arent getting themselves hurt, etc. But surprisingly, this trip was pretty relaxing! Probably thanks to all the family hands we had helping us :) The boys were spoiled rotten. Nathan and I even celebrated our 5 year anniversary a bit early and spent an evening out at my uncles beach house. What a fun vacation! We are blessed to have family in such a fun location! Here are a few pics from the adventure.

Awe

Nathan and I have been watching a dvd series by Paul Tripp about parenting. Its been AWESOME. We still have lots to watch, but have really learned a lot so far. One thing that we are really being intentional about is showing our children the awe of God. At this point in our lives, that means talking about God's creativity and love, all in toddler terms, of course. We talked with Owen about God being Creator, and how he made us, the sun, and food. Its funny how Owen has now taken the idea of God and put it into lots of conversations. This is one that happened last night, little booger...

Owen: more apple juice!!
Me: you can have some with dinner, stop asking please.
Owen: God made apple juice.
Me: thats right!
Owen: more apple juice!
Me: stop asking! you can have some with dinner!
Owen: God made apple juice.

and on and on and on.... silly, sweet boy.