Perfection and Tooth Fairy Notes

This is Ethan's note to the tooth fairy.

I think it is the neatest thing ever.

A few months ago, when he lost his first tooth, he told me what to write and I wrote the note. This time he did it all by himself! I absolutely LOVE seeing his "kindergarten spelling" and his crazy letters all over the paper.




After I felt so proud of him for writing this little note, it got me thinking: Why do I feel like I need to be perfect? Why do I feel some days that I'm not doing enough to be a great mom or a great friend or a great disciple or a great whatever? Why do I get frustrated with myself when every part of my life can't fit neatly into a tidy compartment and look just right?

Ethan's tooth fairy note was a sweet reminder to me of how God must feel about me, and I heard a little whisper that said,

"It doesn't matter to me if all of your letters are perfect or if you know how to spell the words.

"You mean I still bring You joy, even when I make awkward scribbles?"

Of course you do.
Watching you try brings me so much joy.
I love to see you learn how to do new things.
Just keep doing your best."

Okay. I can do that.

Thanks, Ethan, for teaching me so much.

A Trip to Hammond's Candy Factory!

This was a very fun thing to do in December...


We got to go on a tour and see how their candies are made! I love behind the scenes stuff.

Basically tons (literally) of sugar, corn syrup, water, and flavoring. They go through more sugar there in a day than I hope to eat in a lifetime, but it was still really fun to watch them stretch out long sections of different strips and then send them through a machine and have them come out as hot, soft, candy cane poles and then watch them bend them or twirl them.


They came out at this place as a huge rope and then got cut into same length strips...









They had so many different flavors of big, chunky candy canes. Pumpkin pie, apple pie, peppermint of course, ginger hibiscus, you name it.

Ethan chose a root beer lollipop and Jake chose an apple pie Christmas tree...

And it was a pretty quiet drive home! :)

Fun, fun, fun!

A few random moments...

This is the boys being sneaky and hiding under the table to eat food. My favorite part was that they weren't sneaking cookies, they were eating carrots with ranch dressing. I decided not to intervene and let them eat as many as they wanted. :)


We had a quiet "National I Love You Day" this year, in honor of Lindsay's birthday...
I haven't been able to visit the cemetery on that day for about 6 years, so that was really neat.
We took her some sunflowers and read "The Sneetches" with the boys on her bench. :)

At school Ethan learned all about the pilgrims and the indians and the first thanksgiving.
This was at about 6:30 pm one night. I guess they were both just tuckered out.

So there you have it. A few snapshots of life at our house!
The end.