My son shot my dad on mother day...

Here he is turning 10.

And after a decade of parenting a boy I suppose it should be assumed that I would be shocked by nothing...

But I'm still caught off guard from time to time.

Like the time I was joking with him about under arm hair...

Then he raised his arm and while there was no hair the odor nearly knocked me into the next room.

Or the time he, without having to be asked, gave up his seat for a girl.

But I tell you even Gregg was caught off guard by this one...

He's been asking for an airsoft gun for a while now and like any good mother I responded with...

"You have to ask your father, I am not getting involved in any weapons purchases."

But he went to a birthday party the Sat. before Mothers Day and that was the party gift for all the kids. A little airsoft pistol. Complete with very thorough safety training.

So the next day... Mothers Day... Grammy and Papa were over for lunch. My dad was standing outside with Gregg while he grilled our lunch and the boys were off shooting at... whatever Gregg said they could shoot at...

He thought he'd taken the clip out of the gun...

He didn't know it was loaded...

It just went off...

Gregg said he heard the click of the trigger and then a whizzzz right by his head...

Then my dad gave a kind of surprised, guttural, "Ohhh" and his hand went up to his chest.

And that is when we realized that um...

The clip was in the gun...

It was loaded...

And the gun WILL go off if you pull the trigger...

My poor dad, who had no sons and likes his grand kids best after they learn how to add so they can just sit down and play a good game of cribbage, would be the one who ended up in the line of fire.

Thankfully no one was hurt in the "incident" (except maybe Sam's pride) but the gun was shelved for a good while. And now we have EVEN STRONGER safety guidelines that are to be followed when shooting. Which is done only at a paper target placed on the mulch pile in the back yard. Although I'm pretty sure Gregg would allow him to shoot at squirrles, if we didn't think our neighbor would turn us in.

He's a good boy and growing into a good young man. Caught between the desire to be grown up and still wanting to play with his legos.

Learning to be a leader at home and at school, tender hearted and eager to do what is right.

Learning more and more every day.

I'm thankful for him. He teaches me much. And I love him.

Staycation idea #438

Looks fun huh.

Practical tip

This is my 2 year old...
She's cute...

But I think it's safe to say she's...

Busy, very busy!!!

And if you're a mom you know the worst... or hardest time of day is the dinner hour. Especially for the little ones who are hungry, tired from the 2 to 1 nap transition and just plain 2!

So this is how I keep her busy while I get dinner ready...

Cheese. Shredded cheese. It take a while to eat because all the sheds are little and she's hungry but it won't ruin her appetite for her dinner.

AND...
It keeps her in the kitchen where I can keep my eye on her.

Because like I said...

She's very busy, which is 'mom code' for mischievous.

For more Works for me Wed. tips head over to We are THAT Family!

Summer Projects

This is my beautiful 8... almost 9 year old girl. But if you would, for a second, look past her to the body laying across the table and with his feet up on the back of the booth...

Um, I'd say our work is cut out for us this summer. Wouldn't you?

We're working on lots of things this summer.

Reading...

Math...

Slave labor - ur I mean team work, ahem, you know with chores and... stuff...

ATTITUDE...

That has gotten away from me over the past few months. A little too much sass going on here on the team, so we're gonna be praying about the heart issue as well as writing lots of sentences...

I will obey right away without complaining.

I will not talk back to my mother.

I will use a kind tone when speaking to my brother or sisters.

My mother is pretty and funny and always right.

OK OK, not really...

Anyway, like I said...
We've got our work cut out for us... sigh

For the Bible tells me so...

In our dark little corner of the NICU I would hold her and sing quietly to her...

My favorite was Jesus Loves Me...

'Little ones to Him belong, They are weak but He is strong.' takes on a whole new meaning when your holding a 4lb baby with tubes and wires attached to her.

But now...

We sing it together. I love to hear her little voice sing to Jesus.

Post Game Wrap Up...

Today was the last day of school. If you read this, you remember that I was very ready for the year to be over, so imagine my surprise when I got emotional while writing thank-you notes to our teachers. We had fantastic teachers this year.

I remember being so excited at the beginning of the year when we found out who the kids teachers were going to be. But I could never have imagined what God had in store for our kids. His plan is always so much better than ours. These 4 woman came along side Gregg and I and taught our kids not only their lessons, but also understood our desire for our kids to grow in godly character. They challenged them, cared for them and when issues arose, they reinforced our parental wishes at school.

In the grand scheme of things, we are early in our educational journey, but the Lord has used this year to re-enforce that we are right where God wants us. Taking Gods light into our little public school and joining the men and woman there who have made education not only a career, but a mission field.

On a lighter note, we took our annual trip to "the city" (which is Team Babetz code for down town... because we live in the boonies I guess) and had pizza for lunch and visited a store or two. A new pack of Silly Bandz was the reward for a year of excellent grades and behavior and then we over loaded on candy from Mast General.

Well that's another year under our belt. Now it's time to regroup and refresh and enjoy another uneventful, hot SC summer all while looking ahead to next year...

When my 4th goes off to kindergarten...

Oh, where's that paper bag I was breathing in....

Stinky Logic

Me to stinky son: Son, you need to go take your shower.

Stinky son to me: Ahw man, I don't want to take a shower.

Me to stinky son: Sorry, but the more you smell the more you wash, thats just the way it is... here in America.

Stinky son to me: Then I'll move to Scotland