Jackson strikes again!

"Mom, what do you call it when you put corn on a swan's head?"

:: I have a confused look on my face ::

"Corn on the cob!"

:: I look at him like he has a third eye ::

"MooOOoommm!! A male swan is called a COB. It has CORN on his head, GET IT?"

with this "duuuhh" look on his face.

I ruined it. Sorry bud, mom's just not that smart.

Kitchen conversations epi 1

Hannah: "Mommy!!! I don't WANT vegetables in my chicken!!"

Jackson (as he is standing at the stove stirring the stiry fry): "Hannah don't you want to be healthy? You're gonna get the FLU and be out of school for two months. Then you're gonna have to make up ALL that work!"

:: I snort ::

Jackson: "Whuut? I'm trying to act more like a father ..."

:: I am trying not to lose it, as I'm headed to the bedroom to post this ::

Jackson from the kitchen across the house: "I AM going to be in COLLEGE in eight years ya know!"

Wordless Wednesday: Where are we?

Raising Foodies: Adventurous Eaters pt3

This is part three in the series about children trying new foods. I left you with a video of Jackson trying sushi with raw salmon. Did you like it?

We love going to Whole Foods and eating off their hot bar and salad bar. It is an excellent opportunity for both kids to try out new foods without us being committed to an entire dish and risk wasting food. They have a sushi section with a great variety of kinds to try, and if you try it and do not like it, they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their products, which is GREAT!

Jackson come home from camp last Friday, and I thought it would be nice for him to come home to lunch at our favorite "hot spot". Low and behold, he went straight to the sushi section and was carefully browsing everything in te cabinet. I could see dillemma on his face, and asked what was wrong. Everything he was interested in cost $10-$11. Hey, we saved that much with him being gone all week so I let him get a "rainbow roll". Concerned about the various meats on it I was talking to the sushi chef about ....... the eel. However, I felt better knowing the eel and the shrimp was cooked, whew! The other rolls had raw salmon and raw tuna. The sushi chef quickly offered to let Jackson sample the ee before we purchased the whole plate. He LOVED the eel! That hands down is probably his favorite sushi meat thus far. I heard a couple of moans "ohhh this is SO good" as I saw him taking small bites of it not to devour it in one or two big gulps ike he is more than able to do.

Sorry, no video for that experience, but I do have a video!

This week, we have Jackson trying pickled ginger. He's a very good child to "clean his plate" when given proper proportions to begin with, so he was determined to eat the ginger, too.
Will he like the ginger? Lets see!

465 Raising Foodies: Trying new things pt 2

This is part two in the series about children trying new foods. I left you with a video of Jackson trying sushi with raw tuna. Did you like it?

We love going to Whole Foods and eating off their hot bar and salad bar. It is an excellent opportunity for both kids to try out new foods without us being committed to an entire dish and risk wasting food. They have a sushi section with a great variety of kinds to try- vegetarian, cooked fish, raw fish, brown rice or traditional white sticky rice. If you try it and do not like it, they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their products, which is GREAT!

So this week, we have Jackson trying a (raw) salmon roll. A recent conversation had been about other people we knew who liked sushi, too. He was impressed that one of our "international" friends was a real sushi lover, which you'll observe in this one. Will he like the salmon? Lets see!

461 Raising Foodies: Trying New Things pt1 (series)

Jackson is my adventurous eater. He will try anything and likes most everything. He draws the line at tofu, and he done that after eating it twice. He prides himself in his adventurous food spirit. So we went to Whole Foods one week to grocery shop. (No, its not as expensive as you think it is, either, trust me!) We had not had lunch so we hit the hot bar there. We love eating at Whole Foods! The hot bar and salad bar is a very good way to introduce your kids to new foods without committing yourself to preparing whole dishes. When Hannah tries new things I get just a small spoonful, enough for a couple of bites. If she likes it and wants more, we'll go get more.

So Jackson is a sushi lover. Sushi is something we'll be making at home in the next couple of weeks if things work well. He always gets a California roll, which contains cooked crab meat. This time, he wanted to try RAW fish. so I agreed. This is how good Whole Foods is: if he did not like it, they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and the cashier said he did not like it we would get our money back. That's customer service, my friends!!

So how did he do? Lets see ... we bought a pack with two different kinds of fish. Here is Jackson trying raw tuna:


Stay tuned to find out how raw salmon and pickled ginger worked out!

Do you have a recent post about kids and food? If so, please feel free to comment and leave that link so we can see!

Tell me Thursday: Unexpected Places

Tell Me Thursday is hosted by tellmethursday.com , be sure to hop over and see other participant's posts!

June 2nd was "Happy Jackson Day", and dad and I decided we would surprise the kids with lunch at The Mellow Mushroom. We love that restaurant! It is SO tastey. Each month we try to do something special for the kids on their birth-date. Jackson's birthday is on the 2nd so each month on the 2nd we try to do something special for him, and on the 20th for Hannah. Coming back to the car the kids went to check out the fountain we parked next to on the street one block down from the restaurant. Needless to say, I started snapping pictures.

They were acting like strong guys standing next to the big columns.


I was really happy to see how well the new camera done with the moving water.


This was my Wordless Wednesday pic. The original pic was done in sepia because I intended on submitting it to this weeks IHeartfaces.com contest. When I tried to get there my internet started acting wonky and I was tired and not feeling good, so I went to bed. (Still not feeling very hot)


They were having such a good time. I've always loved going by that fountain. I used to walk by it waking to said restaurant when I was working a few blocks away. Very peaceful.


It warms my heart to see them actually happy together. They were having a good time being all silly.


Like I said, silly! Then I got to looking around, wondering what company was actually in the building we were having such a good time in front of.



Well no wonder! ;o)

Wordless Wednesday: Unexpected places

Tell Me Thursday is going to be great this week! :O)

Tell me Thursday: The Last Game

This edition of Tell Me Thursday comes from "The Last Game: Wordless Wednesday". Last Saturday was the kid's last soccer game for the Spring season. Jackson's age group was having a tournament, with three teams participating. Of course these are the same three teams we've played all season. The "green" team was undefeated, with five fifth graders, and more fourth graders- translate that into a much more experienced team than the other two. Our team ("blue") had five'ish fourth graders and the rest third graders. I think the "yellow" team had more of a balance.

We played yellow first, and ended up in a kickoff. That's a lot of pressure on a kid when you're in a tournament! Bless their hearts. Jackson (goalie) done so good, I was so proud of him. We won the first to go on to the "final" round with the green team. They were so hyped. They played their little hearts out. It was a great game. They ended up in a kickoff. Their goalie has apparently played goalie in a prior season, the boy was good. JACKSON, was good! He was so focused, it was amazing to watch. The silence when he missed that ball- breathtaking. Side note: mom needs to learn to be shocked silently and not gasp ;)

It touched my heart to see his coach pull him aside and give him a little pep talk before the last kickoff. We were very blessed to have this couple coaching us. His coach had told the kids if they won they could pour the cooler of ice (and water) on him, after the game he told them to do it anyway they were so proud of their sportsmanship:







Although it was hot that day- I'm sure he was a bit chilly right after that!

Wordless Wednesday: The Last Game

#440 The things kids say

Seven year old Hannah is mad because her brother got the paid membership the Club Penguin. She's been grounded from her own TV and computer for three weeks now, recently getting limited time with both. Jackson, ten, says "Hannah you're grounded what are you going to do with a Club Penguin membership anyway?" to which I say "exactly".

Hannah storms out the door as Jackson says "I just felt like a politician for saying that".

Tell me Thursday: Catch up edition

I realized on Monday I did not post a Tell me Thursday post past Thursday ... oops! To view last week's Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Picture #1-
"What happens when ..."

you miss the ball? That really good player from the other team will come and get it.
OR
you're born three days apart? One day you'll end up playing on opposing soccer teams (next year, we're going to find out before sign ups if they're playing and ask to be on their team!)

This pic is so special. The boy is the son of dear friends of ours we don't get to see very much anymore. (He was born 12-17 and she was born 12-20.) His older brother of a year is also on the "blue" team, and boy are they good. We've enjoyed getting to see them each week. What's also cute with the pic is Hannah is #6 and he is #7 (and the other one is #8, lol)

Picture #2-
"What happens when ..."

you let the girl get past you? she scores! LOL!

This is probably one of the best goals of the season, she done such a good job getting past Jackson (lol)! everyone laughed at his reaction, and I was so happy to find how detailed this pic turned out considering I took it zoomed in 15x from the other side of the field- lengthwise!

Picture #3-
"What happens when ..."

You choose not to put on your chin guards during practice? You get kicked in the chins!

This week's Wordless Wednesday was "Skate dude at work".
I explained some about it in my contest entry here. We had such a good time trying to get those pics. I had a hard time choosing which one to enter in the contest, as you can see. I chose the one for the contest for the height he had and his form- not to mention the hints of orange from his hair you could see at the top of his head! But these were equally as awesome and I really think I'm going to create a poster with the second one. I LOVE the angle of the third though, with the blades of grass- just how I planned it! He's getting really good at skating, I believe. I just realized today I had a video already uploaded of him, check him out-



Not all that fancy, but hey, he's an amateur! He's got some good stuff- trust me, there's more skate videos in your future if you're a regular visitor here :o)

Are you participating in Tell Me Thursday? If so, please leave a comment so I can come visit your post!

Visit tellmethursday.com for more entries; you can follow them on Twitter too!

Wordless Wednesday Skate-dude at work

Come back tomorrow for more of the story behind these pics, the beginning is right here.

I ♥ Faces: Silhouettes

Click to view more entries

I was SO excited when I learned about this category a couple of weeks ago because I had the perfect idea, Voila! The soccer field has the most beautiful sunset and since I'm there every Tuesday for two hours ... I took advantage of some special time with Jackson when his practice ended and Hannah's began ;o) and I just want to thank Bizzie Mommy, if not for her participating and my seeing it in her RSS feed, I would have missed this!

I can safely say I am so proud of this shot, the contest is secondary to the fun we had trying to get it *g*

Wordless Wednesday: What happens when

Be sure to come back tomorrow for @Tellmethursday to learn the stories behind my pics :)

Tell Me Thursday: Sleeping Beauties

The Story:

There's been a bag of scrapbooking supplies traveling with us through two moves. I just keep moving it from here to there, it's like m best friend now. However, I have not looked in this bag in a good three years at least! So the other day I decided, I'm never going to use this stuff- how about I give them away here on CalvaryGirl? So I went through the bag seeing what I had, and found a small envelope with just a few pictures in it. All but three were of Jackson's k4 Heritage program class performance (awwww!). One was a pic off of the balcony at our old apartment once when it snowed.

The last two were these precious pics of my babies sleeping in the cutest positions! Hannah was 1 and Jackson was 4 in these pictures. I remember finding Hannah a lot of times in that position. (The blanket she's snuggled to was my "huggie blanket" when I was little.) Jackson had fallen asleep watching TV early one night when that picture was taken. I remember laughing so hard when I walked in his room and found him in that position. He had gotten too quiet so I had went in to check on him ;o)

They say I'm "always" taking pictures of them while they're sleeping and ask why. I simply say it's because they're so peaceful that way! But obviously I'm not sneaking into the bedrooms as much as I used to cause I had to look back to my JANUARY file to find the most recent sleepy-pics!





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Wordless Wednesday Sleeping Beauties

Wordless Wednesday Just about

Gratituesday 5-5

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Join me on Twitter @CalvaryGirl and share what you're
thankful for using the #gratituesday hashtag!!

This week is SO simple, if you have seen last week's post. (By the way, the last two videos in that post should be available now, there were some reports of complications with those two.). In the past week, my son has went from being miserable on a daily basis, to now his worst "problem" is his sister. He gets up in the morning without protest, and gets ready just as fast. He is open spiritually. We were actually able to have a conversation last night about him responding to his sister in a godly manner and he was actually listening, open to what I had to say- even though what I was saying did not sit right with his flesh. He is willing to TRY.

This is a stark contrast to what we've dealt with this year. I believe he thought God had left him. Now that his prayers have been answered, I believe he's on the road to restoring his relationship with the Lord- they had not been having a two way conversation for a long while I think (Jackson once asked me what good it done to pray! MY Jackson!). I'm so grateful for this. I have no doubt the road we've been on with the charter school was the one the Lord had us take, but I am SO grateful that we are through this trial! Now I need to work on myself and my fears of a school bill each month ;o)

It's funny because they went back at the perfect time. Last Tuesday was an "off" day because of assembly type gatherings, Wednesday was 'normal', Thursday was a community service day so they were on a "field trip" (Hannah ran into a gate at the park and got a bad goose egg on her temple, she's recovering); Friday was ... Friday ;) That day Jackson fell off the parallel bars on the playground and go a scratch on his forehead, go figure. Yesterday they had no homework (scratch that, Jackson didn't, Hannah did- homework was a sore spot for Jackson at the old school) because guess why? We're going on a field trip today! The annual trip to a huge park about 45 minutes away. I remember last year the decision had been made already that they weren't coming back, the intentions then was to homeschool- what a change in plans!

Then Friday Jackson and I are going BACK to Raleigh with his class (we just done the same trip in March with the old school, LOL). Hannah brought home a permission slip yesterday about a field trip for her class. How perfect could this be for a 1st grader and a 4th grader?

Happy Gratituesday!

Gratituesday 4-28

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Join me on Twitter @CalvaryGirl and share what you're
thankful for using the #gratituesday hashtag!!

God is good, ALL the time. We followed the Lord and put the kids in a charter school this school year to get caught up on some financial issues, etc .. the plan was always for them to be back in their private Christian school the following year. It's been a very, VERY rough school year for Jackson, overall. You just cannot beat "home". It wasn't that he as much didn't like the new school but it wasn't "the" school he wanted to be in. So we're been through the fire this year exalting him to do what's right in the middle of a situation none of us really cared to be in but knew it was what the Lord was having us to do.

Well, the opportunity presented itsself Sunday night for us to have the kids finish the year at thier old school (I didn't think you could do that!!). We went up to the old school yesterday and signed all the papers. I picked up the kids, took them home and went back to their current school to tell their teachers, fill out the withdrawel forms, and clean out their desks. I went to my parents to go through their supplies and compare it next to what they needed today, then went to Target to get supplies, and back home to get ready for church.

We never thought about their to-be teachers announcing to their classes (filled with allll their friends!) that they were coming back (today)! One of Hannah's friends immediately said something to her last night at church cause he was so happy to hear the news. Hannah and him flew up to the soundbooth with Hannah asking Jay what was going on. Jay convinced them there "had" to be "another Hannah W." the teacher was talking about ;o) poor kid! LOL! I was able to reach Jackson's friends in time so they were BOTH clueless overall.

We got up this morning and I felt Hannah, said she was warm and needed to stay home, and that was it! Jackson puts up NO fight to go to school. This morning was SOOO "as a matter of fact". I said "well, I have some stuff to do at church so since y'all are home you need to go with me.." "here, put these clothes on so you'll look nice and not like a bum if the (visiting) missionaries are up there" (we had International Sunday ... Sunday, and a bonus service last night.). Little did they know their backpacks were packed with empty folders, their pencil cases from their desks, lunch packed and ready to go :p

Jackson was whiney over his clothes, but the Lord gave grace as it was needed. The batteries in my camera were gone cause Jackson had been playing with it, that made me tense cause we needed to leave ASAP and Jackson was too busy with a brewing attitude (that we've dealt with all school year, well, since October). As soon as we wer ein the car he was ok, and I got him videoing his self talking about why he missed his old school etc ... I pulled into the school parking lot saying I needed to pick up something for the church- my kids were OBLIVIOUS!! No clue whatsoever!

This is them getting the news (I expected more reaction, but Jackson was actually SPEECHLESS!)

more reaction, moreso Hannah this time-



Them sharing why they were glad they were back-



Jackson reunting with his BFFs-

Praise the LORD!!