A collage of weekly tidbits

I should have followed my instincts and hid Noah's picture. He painted it for a little girl in his school class named J. (full name withheld to protect the guilty) He spent a really long time on it and I have NEVER before seen him put so much thought, time and care into a painting. I wanted to hide it and keep it because it was such a change from the normal. But I tried to be a good mother and I let him give it to J. We carefully put it in his school bag and he was thrilled when her car was in front of us in the car drop off line. When I picked him up in the afternoon this is how the conversation went;

Mom: How did J like your picture?

Noah: (pulling a sad face) She didn't.

Mom: What?! How could she not like your painting?

Noah: She looked at it and said it didn't look like her.
Mom: Oh, Noah, I'm sorry! You did such a good job and spent a long time on it. She took it home though and can look at it.

Noah: No, she didn't.
Mom: She didn't take it home? (I was praying at this point she didn't throw it away in front of him)

Noah: No, A took it home because she liked the painting.

Mom: Would you like a hug?

Noah: Yes

Next time I'm hiding the picture and keeping it for someone who truly appreciates the artwork. Mom's don't break their boys hearts!

I love having 3 boys. Yesterday, I sent Noah and Owen out to play and was 60 secs behind them checking on a napping Winston and grabbing the telephone. When I came out Noah yelled across the cul-de-sac "Mom, we found TREASURE!" I replied, "Treasure, cool, what kind of treasure?" Noah, "Dirt clods!!!" What simple pleasures bring joy to a little boy's heart. It reminded me of the principle I'm teaching in Sharing Time this Sunday--God's creations bless us.

The following pictures capture Owen's personality better than words. We were trying to take pictures of the boys in their matching soccer jerseys Ben bought them in Amsterdam last month.

This is my Valentine's bouquet, freshly picked from our backyard by Noah, Owen and their 2 friends. The boys can be very sweet, as opposed to last summer when Noah would occaisionally pick flowers from our yard and give them to me and say, "Here mom, I picked these for you because you were mean."