House shopping

Well, we are looking into buying our first home and today was an exciting day.  We got our loan approved yesterday, so today we went to look at a bunch of homes in our neighborhood.  We want to stay close to where we are now so that Jacob doesn't have to switch schools.  Out of all of the homes we looked at, we only liked 2.  I have to say, some of them were in pretty bad shape.  It is exciting to think about owning instead of paying rent.  We've been told not to get too attached to any one home because it is hard to get an offer accepted on a short sale (both of the ones we like are short sales).  

After we were done looking at houses we were all really hungry, so we headed out to our favorite Friday evening restaurant, Chipotle.  Then it was off to the Nugget market so the boys could get chocolate chip cookies :)  When we got home, we all got our "jammies" on and snuggled on the couch together while Tim read a couple of books to the boys.  What a great day!!!

Mommy mishap

I totally screwed up today as a mom!  My day was going just fine.  Micah and I went grocery shopping this morning, I made him lunch and then put him down for his nap.  I  made lunch for myself and had just sat down to eat and watch the rest of the VMAs that I recorded last night when the phone rang...

caller: "Is this Kerri Loomis?"

me: "yes"

caller: "This is so and so from Foskett Ranch Elementary School..."

my first thougth:  "Oh no, did Jacob get hurt at school...is he sick!"

caller:  "Did you know that this was an early release Monday?  School got out at 1:30pm today! Jacob is in the office, can you be here soon to get him?"

me:  "Oh no, I forgot, I'll be there in two minutes!"

So I have to wake up a sound asleep little Micah and rush over to Jacob's school.  I am at least 20 minutes late (up to this point I have been at the gate waiting for Jacob everyday so that he doesn't get scared and wonder where I am).  I feel terrible and like the worst mom in the world.  I never wanted my child to be the one that was forgotten, sitting in the office waiting to be picked up from school.  So Jacob is happy to see me and so gracious, although he says, "I hope you don't ever do that again."  And of course I promise that I won't, and tell him that even mommy's make mistakes and I am very sorry.  The worst part of the whole thing is that he cried after school because he didn't know what to do or where to go.  Thankfully his teacher saw him and helped him get to the office.  

Not my most shining moment as a mom.  

Do I have something in my teeth?

My college friends have heard this question a thousand times.  It was just a normal part of our post meal routine for 4 years.  I have always been worried that after eating I would have a huge piece of food in my teeth and then go talk to someone and be really embarrassed.  So I always would ask, "Do I have something in my teeth?"  After a while it just became the routine for all of us to check for each other.  

I remember this one time when we dared Amy to put a huge lettuce leaf in her teeth and go up to some random guy in the cafeteria and start up a conversation with him.  She is the best because she totally did it, with a straight face, while the rest of us watched laughing the whole time.  

These memories still bring a huge smile to my face, but I have not been smiling very much the past two days (at least not in public).  Want to know why?  Well, yesterday I had that little procedure to have the cyst removed from my gums.  I was super nervous for nothing.  The shots to numb my mouth hurt more than getting the cyst removed.  The actual "surgery" took less than 2 minutes and it was so small that I didn't even need stitches.  The doctor just put some kind of acid stuff on the area to stop the bleeding.  I didn't even have to take any pain meds. 

 So that is all good and fine, but when I took the gauze out of my mouth about an hour after I got home, I noticed that my gums were nice and black in that area.  Really cute...it looks like I have a black bean stuck up above one of my teeth.  Or something even grosser.  I will quote Jacob, "Mom it looks like you have bird poop in your mouth!"  Lovely!!!  Tim said I look like I have major gum disease in that one spot.  So Pretty!!!  He wouldn't even kiss me yesterday...I don't know why :)  

Anyway, I am hanging out at home today and it looks a little better than yesterday.  I am just hoping that it is not too noticeable at church tomorrow.   I may have to give lots of close mouthed smiles to people.   I was trying to decide whether to put a picture in this blog or not, but I decided that it makes for a funny memory.  So as for the question, "Do I have something in my teeth?"  The answer is no...no black bean, no bird poop, no gum disease no, no, no.  Just a gross little scab that hopefully will be gone really really soon.  

 

The Busy Life of the Loomis Fam

Wow!  What at week!  Tuesday night we had our first family worship homegroup.  It went really well overall, but Tim and I had a really hard time trying to engage Micah.  He was all over the place and really distracting.  We are trying to figure out how to make this work for our family.  Jacob is at such a good age for this type of group and yet Micah is still a bit young.  I guess we'll learn as we go.  

Wed night Jacob had his first soccer practice of the season.  He had so much fun!  Tim was able to be there, but had to rush off to youth group right after.

Today Micah really took off with potty training.  He went pee pee in the potty 5 times today!  We went to Target after we picked Jacob up from school and he picked out some Lightning McQueen Underwear and we got some pull - ups for nighttime.  I can't believe that he is already potty training!  I was  not really expecting this so soon.  But I am going with it, since he is so excited.

Jacob bit into a sandwich this week and said, "ouch!"  Tim asked him if he had a loose tooth, and it turns out that he has not 1, but 3 loose teeth on the bottom.  I know he is 6 and this is normal, but it took me by surprise.  This is just one more reminder of how big he is getting.  He is doing so well in 1st grade and working really hard at learning to read.  

Well, tomorrow is Tim's day off...yippee!!!  I love when he is home with us.  But I have a bummer of a morning tomorrow.  I have to go get a little cyst removed from my gums.  Yuck!  I think it is a real minor procedure, but I know I'll have a couple of stitches and will have to be on pain meds for at least a day or two.  

Well, I'm off to watch some of the republican national convention.  Good night!

Family Worship Sunday

Yesterday was an exciting day for our church and for our family.   We had a Family Worship Sunday where all of the kids from 1st grade and up were in the service with the adults (we kept Micah in too).  I love our church!  I love that we are being challenged to do things that are outside of the norm.  I love that God is stretching me to try things that I would have never thought to do on my own and that our children are learning to worship with us even at the ages of 2 and 6.  At one point we were singing and I looked at the boys and both of them had huge smiles on their faces and both arms raised up in worship.  They are watching others model a posture of worship and are learning that this is a way to express their love for God.  The message was very visual and hands on.  Even Micah was even able to participate in building a piece of furniture out of playdough when we were talking about the significance of the altar.  He was actually really funny because he kept saying, "Dad, build a sleeping bag!"  Not exactly furniture, but...he's only 2. 

 Last week Jacob came home with a "font of blessing"  that he made the week before in his class.  It is a bowl that he painted and we filled it half way with water.  Every morning before we leave to go out the door, we dip our finger in the water and make a cross on our foreheads and pray a simple prayer like, "Jesus, help me to remember today that I am yours."  This has made a big impact on all of us, but has been especially significant for Jacob as he leaves for a full day of school each morning.  

I have also been reading a book called "Parenting in the Pew" by a pastors wife who brought her 2 boys into "big" church with her every week and very patiently taught them to worship the Lord along side of the adults.  Her perspective has been so refreshing and made me realize that I have had pretty low expectations for what my kids can learn on a spiritual level even at their young ages.  I have gotten super excited as I have been reading this book and I feel like we are all ready to try some new things.   In the past month or two we have seen a real shift in Jacob's heart toward the Lord and toward prayer.  He has become really open and willing to pray in a way we have never seen before.  I feel so thankful that God brought us to Emmaus!  

This week we are starting a small group to put some of these ideas into practice.  Our family has teamed up with the Haskins family to lead a Family Worship Small Group.  We are inviting people of all ages to meet together every Tuesday to worship and pray together and we are going to incorporate really hands on and experiential ways to involve even the youngest of children.  We met together yesterday to plan and just got really excited as we threw out different creative ideas!   I really feel like this is the beginning of an exciting season, not just for our family, but for many others as well.