He Doesn't Babysit

Nope, my husband doesn't babysit!
And will NEVER babysit our children!

He is their father...gave them 1/2 of their DNA...why would anyone ever assume that he would merely 'babysit' his own children!?!?

We live in a era that women are put on a pedestal for all they do...glorifying women and all their choices...{don't get me wrong, I think some women are pretty darn amazing}...but for some reason to make everyone believe that women are amazing we had to be fed this plate of lies that men are idiots!  That the only way women can be amazing is if men are the opposite.

Sitcoms show us the bumbling, stupid father that can't make a trip to the store without making a mistake.

Commercials show us that the biggest challenge a diaper can be put to is to leave a diaper clad baby in the care of their father while a football game is on, because a father is to single minded to watch a sport and care for their child!

And society in general...they always assume if a man is with children he is 'babysitting' them, that he's 'stuck with the kids' for the day...that no man would actually choose to parent their own children, choose to hang out with their kids and be their dad!

Let's get real here, I believe in equality...some women are pretty darn amazing...and there are plenty of men that are bumbling idiots...
but their are plenty of women that share the title of bumbling idiots!  And there are some pretty darn amazing men!

I married one...and had his babies...

and he will never babysit our children...he is their father...he will parent our children!

When they were babies he changed diapers, he burped them, he fed them {when they weren't nursing}, he bathed them, dressed them, rocked them to sleep as infants, read to them, sang to them.

As they grow his role is changing, he still tucks them in each night and reads with them, helps them with their homework, makes them dinner, washes dishes or sits back and relaxes now that our children wash the dishes.

He has taught them that being yourself is way more important than being what others want you to be.

He takes them to old bookstores and thrift stores {helping them to respect the things from past generations}.

He teaches them about music; from Benny Goodman, to the Beatles, to Abba, to Journey, to Michael Jackson, to U2 {my kids can play the "who's this band/singer?" game WAY better than I will ever hope to}.

He helps them with their piano or just sits and plays with them.

He takes them on bike rides.

He dates our daughter, teaching her how and what to expect from the men in her future.

He plays games with them {board games, card games, video games, role playing games}.

Starting from a young age he taught them the history of the original Star Wars {and although he's morally opposed to the new movies has left it up to them to make their own choice}.

He is teaching them to mow the lawn.

He watches 1950's horror movies with them.

He takes them kayaking.

He has taught our son that hair style doesn't make you a man.

He loves & respects their mother.

He baptized both of our children!

He has taught them to pray, he has taught them to seek out God's truths in their lives, he has help them memorize God's word. He has put God first in his life and has modeled for them how to live a life that glorifies God.

He has never.once.babysat our children!  From day one he has been their father.

Happy Father's Day Beau, I love you, thanks for being my babies' daddy!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to the two women in my life that have help me become the mother that I am today.

Mom, 

Thanks for everything you've ever done for me.  

I treasure our friendship and appreciate the fact that you saved it for my adult years and were my mom first.  So many mothers try to be their children's friend when their children are still children.  You were always my mom first and then when I grew up and moved out you slowly transitioned into a friend!  Thanks for that special gift.

I also want to thank you for the legacy of Jesus Christ that you gave to me.  What an amazing gift you gave me, introducing me you Jesus as a child, always having us in church, praying for us constantly, listening to our questions and helping me have my own relationship with God.  I am forever grateful for that gift and even more grateful now that I am a mother, knowing that your introducing me to God as a child opened up that door for future generations, namely, my own children, to have that relationship, what an amazing gift you have given my children!  

Thank You!

Kathy {my mother-in-love},

How grateful I am for you.  So many women I know have a bitter, spiteful relationship with the women that raised their son!  I have known from the first time Beau introduced us that you were special!  You truly are a gift for me and my entire family.  I treasure you, your love, your guidance, your prayers!  You are a mother-in-law that women everywhere desire!

I also want to thank you for the legacy of Jesus Christ that you gave your son!  I am beyond grateful to have met, fallen in love and married your son!  He leads and guides our family towards God every day and that is because of the gift you, as his mother, gave him by introducing him to Jesus.  Thank you for the legacy of a relationship with Jesus Christ that you have given my children.

Thank You!

I also want to thank both my mom and mother-in-law for the legacy of marriage they have given my children!  Because of your love for God and your relationship with Jesus Christ, your love for your husbands and children you have committed loving marriages!  I have no idea the issues either of you have faced in your marriages {having only been married for just under 15 years I know it's hard work}, I can't begin to grasp the struggles that you two have overcome in your marriages, in a day and age when all the marriages around you were crumbling, I thank you for fighting it out, holding strong, loving your children enough to hold onto your marriage vows, the promise you made to your husbands and God!  Thank you for that gift, that legacy, that you passed onto Beau & I and to your grandchildren!  In a day in age when 50% of marriages end in divorce our children can look around their family and see two sets of grandparents and one set of parents {and an Uncle & Aunt}, no steps, that's 4 marriages that have broken away from the statistics and  have set their marriages in God's hands and not in the world!

Thanks, 

May your Mother's Day be blessed!

p.s. Thank you Kathy for the gift of a kid free weekend with my husband!  

Tour of Nativities

Christmas isn't Christmas until the Nativity has been set up.

...or Nativities....

As a Christian and a pastor's wife, I've been asked the question so many times, "Do you put of a Christmas tree or a nativity?"...

that is such an interesting question to me.  I never thought of only doing one, not both...

We do both...

one tree and multiple nativities all over the house! (I guess I have a few tiny fake tress scattered around the house also)...

I see no reason why we would have to choose one over the other.

Anyways...

I love my collection of nativities...

and I decided to give you a tour of them over the next few days/week...

this first one I picked up at a weird yard/book sale thing that we went to a few years ago.  It was a house & property that had 1000's of books, bookshelves everywhere, inside and outside all under tarps and easy-up's, etc... and most of them were for sale...it was the oddest thing...

anyways, the girl child pointed out this glass nativity sitting on top of some books, I asked the lady how much for it and she said I could just take it...okay!  

Not all the pieces were there, I don't think, sometimes it's hard to figure out if you  have a Joseph, Shepherd or wise-man...I feel like this one is missing Joseph and Shepherds...

I set it up this year in our kitchen window on a cake stand.  I had some cranberries that I didn't use at Thanksgiving (yes, they are real)...and then some moss that I found in a cupboard in the garage, not sure where that came from.  But, anyways...I just threw them together for a fun little display...

and here is my whole kitchen window...(with a small fake tree in the back right corner!)...

Do you have more than one Nativity set?

Where do you display it/them?

Merry Christmas...

November 19

1}  Thankful for school holidays!  I love letting the kids stay up late and then sleep in...just soaking up the freedom of a few days off from school!

2}  Thankful for fun socks!

They just make me smile...it's like wearing pretty panties only better because you get to share the fun with everyone!

3}  Thankful for the dollar theater...that has family Mondays where a group of 3 or more can buy tickets for $0.75 a piece!  Taking the kids to see Brave today!

November 16

1}  Thankful for school lunches.  I let the kids get one school lunch a week...and I'm always thankful for the mornings that they choose school lunch, the morning goes by just that much smoother...and this is ususally the day that the boy child chooses school lunch...Fridays=pizza

2}  Thankful for Thanksgiving break from school...when I pick the kids up today we will have 9 days off!  I love that!  As a kid we only had a minimum day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and then Thanksgiving and Friday off...I love that they have turning it into the holiday break it deserves to be.  

3}  I'm thankful for dishwashers...I'm listening to ours clean our dishes right now...it's a magical machine!...grew up without one...and in our 14+ years of marriage have had one for all but maybe 2 years of that time...they make me blissfully happy!  And that reminds me of something my mother use to say, and it makes me smile every time....

my sister & I would ask our mom...

     "When are you going to get a dishwasher?"

my mom...

     "I have two of them {referring to the two of us washing the dishes} why do I need another one?"

November 1

short sweet & to the point...
that's what my November blog is going to be about.
I plan to post 3 things I'm thankful for everyday and not duplicate during the month...
so by November 30th I should have a list of 90 things I'm thankful for.
{check out my math skills}

On the weekends I plan to have my kids add their 3+ things they're thankful for and if I can get him to join me we'll see if Beau will add his thankfulness to the list....he may even do his own list over at his blog...hint, hint, hint!

...as I've stated before...
this blog is for fun and to not take away from my family...
yet I plan to post everyDAY in November...
so, these posts will be short...
they may be 3 paragraphs, they may be 3 sentences...
they may be one sentence, or just 3 words...
the point is just for me to jot down what I am thankful for...

and...the list will be a variety and is in NO particular order...
I'm sure there will be deep, meaningful items on the list...but I'm starting at a very human level today...
these are the 3 things that were in my frontal lobe when I started to type...

I'm thankful for coffee, hot showers and a cozy bed.

p.s. don't google images for hot showers
{especially with your 7 year old son standing next to you!}
...I should have known better!!!

Happy Free-Candy-From-Strangers Day

why, hello there!

l-r Wilson's "jack", my curly "C", Madison's Cat on a fence
and then my worty pumpkin with poka-dot holes (hard to see)...
also a plastic golden pumpkin in the background looks like it might have eyes, it does not!

yep, I've been blog absent for a whole month...life just got busy, and as I wrote at the beginning of the year, this blog is for fun and it will not take away from my family...so I have been present with my kids and husband and working, and yes, the blog has taken back seat...

Wilson as his Father & Madison as a 6th grade student in 1988!

but I wanted to do a re-post for ya'll on this day...my post about 'Celebrating Halloween' as a Christian...

enjoy!
http://chambersmade.blogspot.com/2010/10/celebrating.html

May Day

May Day...May Day...

it's another ChambersMade family 1st...

we've never really lived in a neighborhood that we could really 'celebrate' May Day...

 now we do...
I've been collecting cans for a few weeks now...
I have a plan for them and this summer...

but I figured I have plenty cleaned & up in the cupboard that I could spare 4 so the kids and I could have a little May Day fun...

we wrapped wire around the groves in the cans and made a handle with the wire...
printed up a little May Day Tag and tied it with twine
and then cut some mini roses off our rose bush...

the kids sneaked up to the doors...

rang the door bell...

and RAN as fast as they could...

...

fun times...

all in all it took 30 minutes...

from creating and printing the tag,

to wrapping the wire around the can and creating a handle

tying the tag onto the can

cutting the roses

and then the delivery...

and cost us $0.00

we will hopefully make this a ChambersMade family tradition...

and hopefully our neighbors are pleasantly surprised by the little can of flowers on the door knob!

have you ever participated/celebrated May Day?

easiest.main dish.EVER!

our normal Easter dinner main dish is Ham...
I love ham...
it's my favorite pig product...
my brother-in-law coined our new favorite term for ham
...dinner bacon....

so anyways...
I make ham about once a year...
which is weird because I do love it so...

anyways...
I pinned a Pomegranate Glaze Ham...
looked good and easy...
but I changed it up a bit and added pineapple....

ready for the easiest recipe ever...

this is NOT my ham
I borrowed the image from google
because I failed to take any pictures on Easter!

missing...

we started the hunt with 54 plastic eggs & 18 real eggs =72 eggs
72 eggs / by 3 kids =24 eggs per child

after counting 3 times yesterday
3 times...
all 3 times I came up with the same number...

boy child...
17 plastic + 7 real=24
sweet little niece
19 plastic + 5 real= 24
girl child....
17 plastic + 5 real= 22 (our 2 missing)

Easter Fail

we had a wonderful Easter.
kids loved their Easter baskets
.....with dollar store bad mitten sets
(seriously....I thought they would break after 2 minutes...but they're holding up nicely, they might make it through a whole week!  So worth the $2 I spent on 2 sets...I would have maybe even shelled out $4 for the quality!)

and then off the church, it was a beautiful morning at church
...not that I got to attend either service
doing check-in station beginning of 1st service
...then toddlers the rest of 1st service
....then 3's & 4's 2nd service...with my sweet niece in my class...that was special!
...but I've heard Pastor Stephen preached it yesterday!
I will be listening to the podcast today.


in-between the two services we had a Celebration Cafe with brunch
and then 3 baby dedications
and 17 baptisms...17!!
and one of those 17 was our boy child!
and my Beau had the privileged to baptism him
what a special morning...
& both Beau and I sort of kind-of went into mini little ugly cry's
     ...but not too bad, we recovered and all was well!

how we do Easter

many of you may know that my husband is a Children's Pastor & that I'm the Early Childhood Director at our church...
so with that knowledge many people ask...
Do we 'do' the Easter Bunny?

(and for that matter Santa, the Tooth Fairy, lepercauns, etc)

Yes...we 'do' the Easter Bunny...and all those others too...

how does that look?
how do we celebrate one of the most sacred (if not the most sacred) holiday on the Christian calendar yet allow a bunny to be part of it?

The same way we let the Big Jolly Elf be part of Christmas.
We don't let either the bunny or the big guy the center attraction on these special Christian days, but they are there...

Crafty Shower

Okay so I blogged last week about my friend, Rayna's baby shower...

and how, per Rayna's request, we play zero games!
I was okay with that
     (even though I love a good game)

together we talked about what to do instead of games
you do have to do SOMETHING
this would not be good...
Hello, welcome to the baby shower...
put your presents there...
okay now were're opening presents
okay, thanks, that was nice, good bye!
well, maybe you could, I think it's a little rude...um...odd...

So for the shower activity we decided to make oneies for the coming baby...

some onesies created by guests at the shower...
(btw 3 of these were created by kids the dino top middle made by  my boy child,
animals top right, my girl child, whale bottom left by a friends 11 yr old drama queen)

This is what you'll need...

Guest Blogging...

Today I am guest blogging over on my husband's blog...

my husband is the Children's Pastor at our church and has a blog for children and families called Redding First Families

...if you're used to reading my blog it's a different tone over there,

I asked him if I could write a blog about Easter, Death, the Crucifixion and our Children

so if you'd like to read my opinion on how, what, why about talking with our young children about this subject please head on over...
thanks....

and then they ate candy

they ate a lot of candy
if fact that was their dinner...
let me explain
some history
we have a holiday-candy-rule in our house

all candy from one holiday must be thrown away on the next holiday


this rule became law for us quite a few years ago after New Years when we were looking around the house at all the bowls of candy and junk food left over from Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and then the New Years junk as well...

so this is how it looks ... any holiday that might end up with candy is the house, Halloween is an obvious one,  gets thrown away on the next 'holiday' we use this term lightly...

think any day that mail might not get delivered or that the kids might have something fun planned at school...

so after Halloween we choose Veterans Day as our throw-away-holiday...

• Thanksgiving candy/junk food/misc desserts still hanging around you can choose Dec 7th (National Pearl Harbor Day) or wait until Hanukkah starts (a different day every year, this year it's Dec 21st), we usually go with the girl child's birthday on December 2nd as our throw-away-day
• of course Christmas treats get thrown away on New Years
• New Years on Martin Luther King Jr Day (one of the Mondays in January)
• Valentines candy gets thrown away on Presidents Day
• St. Patricks Day Candy (yes we have candy from the leprechauns that reek havoc in our house) gets thrown away on April Fools day...

and those are most of the candy-getting-holidays that we experience in our home and the holidays that we use as our throw-away-days...

we are also a bit on the stingy side when it comes to all that candy and our kids...
they usually haul in a boat load of candy on Halloween (with all the carnivals and the trick-or-treating and school parties), we let them eat a few pieces that night, get one in their lunch box the next day and then usually one for 'dessert' every night until the throw-away-day...
all Halloween candy gets put into one large family candy bowl the day after Halloween...
and then I start throwing away all the gross candy from day one...
I am not a lover of suckers or small hard candy so I'm usually chuckin' those before they hit the candy bowl
and then all the fruity chewy things go next
anything banana flavored is toast -seriously banana flavored candy is NASTY!
cheap chocolate never sees anything but the garage bag

so the above candy rule and some other events listed below led to the crazy parenting choice of candy for dinner....
this year on the Eve of Veterans Day we still had a LOT of candy...
I had not grocery shopped in FOR.EV.ER
I had no desire to create dinner out of thin air
Beau was off to a meeting
there was no school the next day (Veteran's Day)
...
so we called the kids into the kitchen,
showed them the candy bowl...
reminded them of the 'candy rule' and that the next day, Veterans Day, was the throw-away-day for all this candy...
and then told them that we decided they could eat candy for dinner...

their reaction when we told them they could eat candy for dinner

we took the bowl of candy into the living room, dumped it out and told them to eat up...
...sadly, we have no pictures of this, I think we were still in shock that we were letting them eat candy for dinner that we forgot to photograph the event....
we had 2 rules

• no fighting
• if you get sick, make it to the bathroom,
       if mom's not making dinner, she's also not cleaning vomit off carpet!

after dumping the bowl of candy on the floor we turned on a movie and let them veg and eat candy...
around 8 pm they were both saying their were hungry
(parenting note: I had advised them to go with the 'protein' candy, stuff with peanut butter and nuts would fill them up better, they ignored this wise counsel!)
so the wonderful mother that I am, I popped them up some popcorn to fill them up!
we have decided that we MIGHT make this a family tradition for Halloween candy and Veterans Day Eve...the kids were so very shocked...they're still talking about it (and probably will for years to come)...
and surprisingly enough they really didn't eat that much candy, they put a small dent in the candy bowl, and were very willing to help me throw it all away the next morning!

thankful decor

don't usually decorate for Thanksgiving...
it's more of an Autumnal (is that a word?) theme that gets carried thru...

well this year I added a little more to the Halloween decor....
dino bones & pirates
....so this year after Halloween
     I packed away the dino bones &  pirates
          and pulled out some turkeys...

so Welcome,
come in a take a tour of our humble abode...

...give thanks pendant printed from publisher, I made some triangles and put a text box in the middle of each one and used a different font for each letter...then attached with some hemp cord

my 'mantel' aka piano...

 close up...I printed off a definition of the word Thanksgiving...crumpled it up and placed it in a frame..

I also pulled out some scrabble tiles...spelling words I associate with Thanksgiving...
this one is 'pies'

more scrabble Thanksgiving words 'turkey' and 'potatoes'...
'framed' the thankful turkey boy child made at school, took an empty frame, taped some hemp cord across the top and clipped the turkey to it...he wrote what he's thankful for on the tail feathers
family, Jesus, home, friends, God, life...

blog tangent...
he made this in his public school...
this is just one of the reasons my husband and I have made the choice to 'public school' our children...who is to be salt and light to those kids if we take all the Christian kids and home-school or private school them?  no need to argue this, I totally get that different kids and different families need different things, but our kids are wonderful kids and we feel that we have/are raising them up the way God would have us and one thing that these kids are called to do is take God's love into their schools!
end of tangent....

the top of the wall divider/record collection...scattered some leaves and gourds, and then filled a bowl with more gourds...easy peasy lemon squeeze...and festive...

and then I decided to jump on the whole 'thankful tree' bandwagon...
grabbed some sticks from outside and placed them in a jug thingy...
made a bowl of leaves...for people to write what they're thankful for...

and hang on the tree...also made a paper turkey and placed in a frame without glass...

one of the boy child's leaves...

and the girl child...yes, that says, 'I'm thankful for Shawn Cassidy'....
and no it's not 1977....but I'd much rather her crush on Shawn Cassidy than Justin Bieber...

and there you have it...the turkey day decor...
now off to shop for all the fixin's ....
yes,
I know it's only 3 days before...
yes,
I understand the stores are crazy...
but I have the smallest fridge known to woman kind (one step up from a dorm fridge!) and I can only hold a turkey in the fridge for a few days...
if I also want to keep food for all the other meals between now and the turkey feast!

have a great Thanksgiving week, day, feast!

Happy Mother's Day

here are some totally random photos for Mother's Day

yeah, I know this is a Christmas picture, but it's the only one I could find of me with my mom when I was a kid...so hint, hint Mom...I need some more pictures of my childhood!

a picture of my mother, my daughter and I, the day that Wilson was born.  I know I look amazingly great in this picture!  But I think it's a sweet picture of 3 generations!

two other amazing mothers in my life are my mother-in-law...I am so blessed by her in my life!

and my sister-in-law...a wonderful mother, an amazing aunt and a special friend

...what can I say, the Chambers men marry well!

Thank you mom you gave us so much growing up.  The hours you put into our lives, the prayers you prayed over us (and still pray) the foundation of faith that you instilled in my life has been my rock.  Thank you for being an amazing mother and now friend.

Kathy, you have been my mother-in-love...I knew when Beau and I were dating that you were a nice person, and I have realized over and over again since them how truly blessed I am that you are Beau's mother and I am honored to be part of your family.  Thank you for also laying the foundation of faith in your family and raising boys that love and follow the Lord, that became Men that lead their family towards the Lord!

Julie, I remember Luke bringing you 'home' and we all knew that you were that special one.  And I have so enjoyed watching you grow as a mom these past 2 years.  I can't believe that it's been 2 years and that it's ONLY been 2 years.  The wisdom and patience that you posses as a mother is amazing and I am always blessed by our time spent together.  You always encourage me and I am so thankful that our children get to grow up together!

Happy Mothers Day!

recap of Easter

so this is is for those that have nothing better to do with their Monday...

or for the grandmas and aunts....

boy child checking out the goods...and comparing the goods...

forgot to take a picture before we left for church so, this is the kids in the car

and my loveliness

and check out his joy, he is so full of joy on Easter morn!

 the 'bunny' always comes while we're at church to hide the eggs...thanks grandma and grandpa

 Grandpa with his bowl full of jelly beans...

okay so I'm going to let you in on a not-so-little secret....
I take horrible pictures...
the camera comes out and magically all the joy in my life is sucked out of my body
and I become mean, angry, confused, hurt, sad, annoyed, tired..

so Beau hates family picture time...
he can smile on demand and look great...
Farrah hair and all! (yeah, time for a trim or some product!)

 the kids hate picture time...
knowing that mom will not take a good one so we have to take tons...

 not sure why they hate it when I'm the one with all the issues...

maybe that's the problem...
maybe I am absorbing all of their negative energy right before the camera flashes!

 not too bad

 lets try the squat position...

really, look at my legs and the crazy contortion I was doing to not step on my plants...the rest of the family didn't care!

and the squat pose wins!

finally...sort of okay, we'll take it...

 picture with the grandparents...

real smile?  or his he grabbing my bum?  you guess!

 love that girl...

 and the boy with the missing face...