"Time for school, time for school!"

It's not just a line in the Finding Nemo movie, it's what Beata has been chanting this morning when they woke up. 

It's her first of day school and Jakob's second day (she only goes to school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).  I was glad that they all woke up early enough to give us plenty of time to get ready, eat breakfast and take some pictures before heading to school.  She was not herself though when we went to her classroom; she was quiet (though still smiling) and just sitting still on her seat.  I guess she learned about the line "first impressions last!"  Maybe she's trying to impress Mrs. Bartley.  But knowing Beata, she'll be her old bubbly, talkative self in no time.

And yesterday when I asked Jakob how was first day of school?  I was expecting an answer like "It was good" or "It was okay". I think I was underestimating him a bit coz his answer was "It was awesome!"  That was a joy to hear considering all the changes that has happened in his school (and church) this year.  It is a great way to start his year!

Now, it's just me and Jethro.  One on one. :)

I Am Your Piano Teacher

...says Jakob.  Jakob has been giving Beata a few piano lessons every now and then.  He has his own way of teaching.  I was expecting him to follow the outline of his piano teacher but I guessed he thinks Beata is below the beginner level.  He even has a notebook and homework for Beata to do while he is in school.  They were getting along, they were quiet, they loved each other's company even for just 10 minutes. 

Today was a different story though.  Two minutes after their lesson began, I heard Jakob's voice steaming with frustration.  He complained, "Bea is too lazy!  I am not teaching her again." 

He walked out of his first job at the age of 8. 

Patience

According to the Oxford dictionary, patience is the capacity to tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without becoming angry or upset.   In our Bible dictionary patience is the quality of endurance under trials (attitude of heart with respect to things (or an attitude with respect to people as in longsuffering).  Patience is a virtue that God prizes highly in man and seems to be best developed under trials.

They say patience is a virtue.  It is a desirable quality.  It is self control, delaying, not wanting to get what we want when we demand it.  Such a strong quality in a man.  So easy to explain, to define but hard to live by.

Last night, I feel unworthy of what my eldest son told me.  He said they were asked in their Wednesday class in church who they think has great patience.  He proudly told me he answered, "Mom and Dad!"  I would like to disappear right away; to be invisible.  I felt so unworthy of his view of me.  He further explained that he has never seen me not being impatient.  Aaaaahhhh!  I can feel the lightning coming down, looking for me so it can hit me and die right that very moment.  It was too much to take.  Why?  Because I know that I am not the most patient mother, wife...person.  I am the one who can become upset in two seconds flat.  I am the one who would take another route when there is traffic before me.  I am the one who gets nuts when schedules are not followed or plans are changed the last minute.  I don't do well under pressure.  Hubby knows that when I need to get something done and I am running out of time, you should move aside or i'll knock you down and pass you by.  I am the one who kneels and prays to God to give me His wisdom and patience as I go through life every single day.  If there's one thing I need, it's this thing called patience.  And I don't have great patience. 

I love Jakob and I am glad he thinks of me as a mom with great patience.  But I know that God is still working on me, perfecting me everyday.  Things that come my way that are inconvenient to me are just answers to my prayer for wisdom and patience.  These trials are molding me in God's image.  Thank the Lord for trials that tries our patience.

Maybe I can also learn from Jethro as pictured here being patient in waiting for food to come at the wedding :)

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

James 1:2-4

My boys are sick

Just when I was beginning to be happy to see that Jakob and Jethro are growing and gaining weight, then they begin to be sick.  They both have cough and colds, so begins the trusted orange and blue puffers...sad, I know.  They also have a temperature so off I went to the drugstore the other day for the reliable Tylenol...again, sad, I know.  On top of that, Jakob has a sore in his gum and toothache.  I was afraid his old filling might be falling apart so I made a quick appointment to the dentist and guess what?  His x-ray shows his adult teeth are just about ready to come out so it has been pushing the baby teeth little by little, hence the fever and toothache.  Good news is his teeth are in great condition; the bad news is this pain will come every now and then until those baby teeth falls off. 

It's just not the same in our house when our two little rough, active, happy boys are sick...the house seems in order quiet.  I am praying that my little boys will be well soon.  I miss their energy!

PIC OF THE WEEK: Jakob and his violin

Jakob playing the "Jesus Loves Me"

Jesus Loves Me

Last night was Jakob's first violin performance with his violin class. They started their class in January, and I am amazed at what they've learned from the short 3 months.  I've watched him play the viloin from a "what note was that?" to "Yeah, I know that song!" It was such a blessing to see these kids play their instrument for God and be a blessing to the church family last night. I am so blessed to see Jakob's excitement to learn music and praise God with it. I think I was more nervous than him. They all did very well.

WEDNESDAY reWIND: Say "aahhhhhh!"

First time with the dentist (Dr. Kaplan).  Say "aahhhhh", Jakob!

Taken April 6, 2005

Pioneer Days

We were all excited last Friday for Jakob.  It was their Pioneer Day in school.  I spent the a few days looking through Value Village for a pageboy hat, boots and suspenders for his costume.  I found a nice leather pair of boots and an adjustable corduroy pageboy hat.  I used Raymond's old suspenders and added it to Jakob's old dress pants.  I got my inspiration from Anne of Green Gables.  It all went together perfectly.  And I love Jakob's excitement about his Pioneer Day in school.  Beata kept saying that her brother looks like "Green Gables" : ).  I can't wait for Beata's turn.  I'm sure it'll be more challenging..and fun!

PIC OF THE WEEK: Fun at Playplace

What can make a boy all excited and happy?

A simple interactive game at McDonald's playplace will do for Jakob!

Tylenol days

Can we ever have enough of Tylenol?  Since Tuesday, we have finished at least 2 bottles of Tylenol already with my 3 kiddos' cough, colds and fever.  We tried the chewable tablet ones too but they like taking syrup form better. 

We usually get this bad cough/cold in January, and with all the previous VERY cold days here in Canada, it's no wonder we are dealing with these right now.  Thankfully Jakob did not miss a day in school, and Jethro is feeling better. 

But...our little princess is sick.  Cough, cold and fever all through the night.  Not to mention the lovely(?) cast on her right arm.  Apparently, she and her little brother were holding hands while seating on the couch when Jethro suddenly jumped off the couch, still holding Beata's hand, and OUCH!  He accidentally pulled it and it's the start of Beata's pain and our long wait at the emerg yesterday.  It happened Wednesday night.  We went to a walk-in clinic thinking it was just another popped elbow just like what she had before.  But when we woke up Thursday, she is still complaining about it so I decided to take her to the emerg right after dropping off Jakob to school.  X-ray was done (me and Beata in the x-ray room, Jethro outside peeking though the hole, crying while still holding on to mommy's purse) and it showed normal but doctors want to make sure so she was put in a cast until Monday when we go back to see the doctor again.  She felt much better after the cast.  And since Raymond took the afternoon off from work, we decided to go on with the Chuck E. Cheese's plan.  The boys had fun but Beata just sat most of the time (though she was really trying and forcing herself to have fun coz she was looking forward to this too!).  Poor Beata.  She was so frustrated asking me what else can she do with just one hand.  I know she'll get used to it but with a toddler, 2 arms and 2 hands help when they are playing (especially with those small dresses that come with the Polly Pocket dolls).

Beata trying to cover her face (she is not too impressed with her cast).

Jethro still looking skinny from being sick for 2 days.

Jethro and Jakob enjoyed the games...and food.

Jakob's emergency kit

My Jakob loves putting his special things close to him.  He has this shelf beside his bed full of things that Jethro and Beata "cannot touch."  He found an old baby wipes container (that i was gonna use for something else) and decided to put his "precious" stuff inside.  He calls it his emergency kit :).  It has some small toys, flashlight, a half-a-roll of toilet paper (for when his nose bleeds in the middle of the night), and a few more stuff.  I smiled when he showed it to me; he was starting to be like me putting things away for my "just in case."

Well, his emergency kit was tested right away.  He went inside our room in the middle of the night and announced, "My nose is bleeding!".  One hand covering his nose, the other hand holding his emergency kit - unopened!  He remembered his kit but he did not use it in time for his emergency!  So we ended up in the washroom, washing up and using the toilet paper in the washroom...his own half-a-roll is still safe in his kit :D

WDENESDAY re-WIND: Daddy and son

November 28, 2007

Raymond's 30th birthday

(And Jakob's "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" smile)

WEDNESDAY re-WIND: Jakob's bad hair day!

Hahaha! Just trying on this funny wig :D

WEEKEND WOWs

Wow, Piiiizzzzzaaaaaa!!!! No party for Jakob's friends this year but we agreed on a pizza lunch for his birthday. So I made some phonecalls to about 3 pizza places looking for the one who can make me the earliest pizza (Jakob and his classmates are counting on it; it's pizza or no lunch for them). And I was getting anxious coz all of them opens at 11:00 am and 11:15 is the earliest pizza pick-up, and Jakob's lunch is at 11:30. Uh-oh! I think I got a problem here :(. So I took my chances, ordered from the nearest pizza place from school and hoped (and prayed) that it'll be ready in time. Went in the pizza place even before 11 am and there's my pizza, ready for the oven so to my relief, I ordered 2 more, making my order a total of 6, 10-slice pizzas. And at 11:15 am I am on my way to school, arrived there even before their lunch time. And it was a blast. They all love it! Not just Jakob's Grades 1,1,3 class but we even get to share them to the teachers and the Kinder and Grades 4,5,6 classes. And I think they were hungry :D; here's why (the other box is still awaiting to be finished by the Kinder kids who are still finishing their lunches from their mommies!)

Wow, Chuck E. Cheese! After school, we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's for some fun and games for Jakob's birthday. Jethro was overwhelmed at first, not so sure if he wanted to play but it took him less tahn 5 minutes to convince himself that this is his place to run and play and jump all he wants! We spent about 2 hours and more than 50 tokens in games. They had fun. I was relaxed this time, knowing that my kids are big enought o jump and play and run without me having to run after them all the time. I know it will get better from here (though deep inside I am wishing they would stay as little kids).

Wow, it's a celebration! Our families in Canada joined us on Saturday for Jakob's 8th birthday celebration. Lots of food, lots of laugh! We had a "Give me" game -- anyone who can bring the item asked first, gets to pick a prize from the treat/prize box. Everybody joined the game; this is a nice alternative to "just kids" games in every party. We all had full stomach from all the food (thanks to my in-laws for helping with the food!) and we had enough food to take home...now that's perfect! hehehe.


note: this is a repost. The images in the original post does not show on my blogger edit page and I cannot reorder them so I only placed a few pics here. You can view them all at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80197&id=656876124&ref=mf

PIC OF THE WEEK: Jakob at CEC's

Happy Birthday, Jakob!

Jakob is 8!!!!

Happy birthday, Jakob!  Our firstborn is now a big 8. 

He can now officially be out of his booster seat (he was looking forward to that!).

It seems like his first 8 years went by so fast.  We love you, son.  Our prayer is that you will grow up loving and serving God. 

You've Got Mail!

Jakob gave me a question that I couldn't answer yesterday -- "How come I don't get any mail?". Okay, I can answer it but to answer it in a simple way for an 8 year old (7, turning 8 in 2 days) at an instant seem impossible for me that time. I just told him he's not old enough to get mails, then we never talked about it again for the remainder of the day.

And today, when we got home after I picked up Jakob from school, there was something waiting that would bring a smile to Jakob's face. Guess what? You've got mail! I told him, "There's your mail that you were asking for yesterday." He wore that big grin as he read and opened the envelop. It was a birthday card from FaithWay Baptist Church signed by Pastor Baker. To his joy, he asked me when is Pastor Baker's birthday coz he wanted to make a card for him too on his birthday. What a spirit! Hope and pray he stays the way he is :D

PIC OF THE WEEK: Jakob and the Grizzly Bear

Learn To Skate

Yesterday was Jakob's first learn to skate 40-minute lesson. He did very well (of course, a few falls here and there!). It's actually his first time on the ice without any aid (well, the very first time was when he was assessed, but only for a minute, so that does not count!). Watching him made me and my husband realize that he probably really does not need a lesson to learn to skate. He can slide, move forward, move backward (well, barely), hop, stop and I even saw him turn a few times (not intentionally!). But too late to back out. We have to religiously attend the lessons for 10 weeks and after that I hope that Jakob would be a better skater -- good enough to join his friends for a game of hockey! I guess what we have to aim here is not just to learn to skate but to learn to skate PROPERLY. We also decided that this coming skating season, we will bring all 3 kids skating as much as possible so they can be confident on the ice and hopefully learn to skate by themselves...and that includes me!