Jrew's First Experience As A Camper

Jrew was able to be a first-time camper this summer for the first time ever... at three different camps. Hello, he can't help it. He's a camper hog. Just kidding. But really, Jrew was a camper at Mega Sports Camp in Murfreesboro, Lego Camp at CPA, and now at Barefoot Republic! He has been a sweet boy and has enjoyed his summer. Here is an amazing photo taken by the amazing Kristen McCann. He is walking with his team and his counselor Mr. Will. We can't believe he is growing up so fast. First grade here we come!!!!

In other news, we have been absent from our blog but not absent from a busy and fulfilled life for sure. We have been very blessed. We welcomed a new baby girl (Estella Joy Rose) in October 2013. She is precious. I will post again soon about her name, it's origin, and her milestones.

Jazzy is 4 1/2 and is a very mature little princess. She loves pink, purple, and Doc McStuffins. I think she deserves her own post too, don't you think?! 

Okay. So I am reviving the blog and adding pictures when I can. Here's to the Fall of 2014!

-Dita

Walmart Jail and much more....

I can't use the title "catching up" on this blog post as I have done that so many times before. What a shame. I can honestly say that keeping up with this blog is NOT related to leading a boring and uneventful life. On the contrary, I am finally catching up with kids laundry and cleaning the bathroom sinks.

Jrew and Jazzy are growing up so quickly. I try to imagine them as small babies still but then when they are playing with other babies I realize how much they've grown. They are very close. Many people ask me if they are close and if they get along. Of course, they are siblings so they are close with the occasional disagreement or spiteful reaction. :) Here are some quirky things to note for the family history books:

Jrew is 4 years old. Sensitive hearted and learning how to read. Yes, I said learning how to read. He's working on consonant-vowel-consonant words like mat, sat, fun, etc... He is very intelligent and learns quickly. He is also learning how to add because he wants to play this adding game on my phone so bad but he doesn't know how to add. So, I'm teaching him. And he just squeals because he loves it so much. He is so very good at puzzles and plays with them all the time! He continues to play drums and loves people!

Jazzy is a talker. She is so full of life. Still, she's a remarkably independent and as cute as she could ever be. Her hair is sooooo long but no one can tell because it's so curly. She loves to sing and play around on the piano. One of her favorite songs is "I love purple, I really really do. I love purple and I hope you like it too." :) She loves her white shoes and almost always asks to wear her "cat" shirt. Needless to say, she has her own idea of what she wants to wear!  She is also learning how to count and can count all the way to 10 by herself. She is still 2years old and will be 3 officially on December 7! She can even tell you when her birthday is!

Walmart Jail: So, a few months ago Jrew and I were making a quick (but late) run through Walmart for a few things. Okay, don't judge me. We may have been at Walmart later in the evening, but we had our pants pulled up and our hair fixed nicely... unlike all those Walmartpeople.com pics you see.

Never mind that. We were at the check-out line and Jrew was standing in the buggy. I asked him to have a seat again and of course, he wasn't taking me seriously. I said to our cashier (with a wink) "I think you need to help remind us about the Walmart rules of sitting down in the buggy." The male cashier who was next to our register heard me and turned around... using his "brother voice" he said "Someone not sitting down?!" Jrew shrunk immediately to his knees as he was a little frightened. Then, he said "What happens if you don't sit down?" I was, of course, being silly and I said "I don't know. You might get arrested and go to WalMart jail." His eyes widened and he sat down right away. As we were leaving Walmart he gasped... "There it is mommy. It's Walmart jail!"

WalMart Jail

So, most of you are thinking I"m a terrible mommy. But I did finally tell Jrew that he wouldn't get arrested and that I was just joking. He did wonder why people can get their hair cut and eat while they're in WalMart jail! 

Here are some pics of some of our fun times! I've lost my camera so these were taken with my iphone. Go iPhones!! Look for another update coming quickly on our CD and new recording project. We'll be in the studio again tomorrow and are so excited to share with you all about this amazing opportunity!

You are LOVED!

Me. “Jrew, you get to go to school tomorrow.”

Jrew. “I don’t want to go to school. I don’t like school.”

Me. “Why?”

Jrew. “I’m afraid M will be mad at me.”

Minutes later. “M and E said they were not my friends.”

Me. “Is there someone in your class who can be your friend?”

Jrew. “No. Everyone was mad at me. While everyone was sleeping, while they were snoring, I went to the “other” class. Mrs. Boo and Mrs. Liz said “You will not go in another class. but I didn’t listen. I didn’t want to listen. I went to a different class. They will figure out which way I went. So they kept looking.”

Me. “Is this a true story?”

Jrew. “no... yes. I ran out the class. I goin’ out of it.”

Me. “Did you go to time-out?”

Jrew. “Yes. since teachers put you in time out.”

Fast forward again.

Jrew. “Everyone was mad at me. They were all mad at me.”

Me. “Jrew, is there anyone who is your friend?”

Jrew. “Yes, Eli is my friend. He doesn’t get mad at me.”

Much of this conversation hasn’t been included for the simple fact that he said so much in a short 15 minutes and I cannot remember it all. He baffles me with his understanding and vocabulary. Seriously. I seriously cannot believe that Jrew is having this conversation with me. He’s only 3 years and 7 months. What?! Girls are already stirring up drama and Jrew is planting himself right in the middle. More importantly, does he really think everyone is mad at him? I really don’t want him to grow up with the same self-confidence issues I grew up with. Doesn’t he know how awesome he is?! Doesn’t he realize how blessed we all are to have him and how God has amazing things in store for him. It’s up to me to teach him. NOW. Not when he’s 13, but when he’s 3. I am so thankful that God gives me this special time with him now. So thankful that he confides these things in me and I hope he will always feels like he can tell me the truth.

Playing Catch-Up

I'm only behind a few months right? Well, here are a few snapshots and a quick update. My plan is to update again this weekend and pretty soon I may also post a huge update/informative story about our house being burglarized... twice! (But that's for another day).

Jrew is 3 years and 5 months. He is so smart. He knows all of his letters and is learning how to write them. He LOVES his drum set. Each holiday/birthday he keeps asking for new additions, so at this point he has: a 3 piece starter drum set (kick, snare, small cymbal) + a new tom & cymbal + a hi-hat & throne (seat). He picks up rhythms so fast and practices nearly every day.

Jazzy is 2 years and 1 month. She loves to sing, dance, play, and boss Jrew around. She is learning to sing her ABC's (thanks to Jrew) and is so gorgeous. Her hair is probably 5 inches or more long, but since it is so curly, it looks about 2 inches long. Heehee

Okay. Here goes the it: a couple pics to tide you over until I write another blog.

Above was Jazzy's birthday cake. The pic is terrible since I took it at about 1 am when I finally finished making it. So what. the table is messy but the cake is cute. :)

Thomas edited this pic on his phone and it was quite funny how we had to compromise on the shading... either I was too white or he was too dark. So, here is the best we could do even though my nose almost disappeared. Hahaha... By the way, this was a fun date night we had before Christmas. Woot!!!

We snapped these two shots (above and below) with T's iphone. We took the kids downtown Nashville to see the big tree and just like most family photos... there is no one second where everyone is smiling at the right time. But it was fun anyway!

The funny things they do

NOTE: If you are short on time, scroll down and watch Jrew and Jazzy singing and Jrew preaching in the 3 clips I have posted.

It is long overdue that I update family and friends on our sweet children that are growing up so very fast. Jrew said tonight that he didn't want a "baby spoon" because "I'm not a baby anymore." So, we traded out his spoon for a metal one.

Jrew is 3 now and of course, I think he's one of the smartest kids I know. He loves to play the drums and has a full set (kid sized). He loves it and can name every single drum. He is always tweaking his set up, moving a drum up or down to fit his "style". He will play for a long time and loves to play with me on the piano. He truly has some talent because he has picked up so many different rhythms and styles. It's such a blessing to hear him playing and we are considering starting him with official drum lessons soon.

Thomas has a flashcard app on his phone that he was letting Jrew play with. The app shows 4 pictures and a voice asks for you to press the picture for a specific object. Surprisingly, even with words Jrew had never heard before, he was able to deductively reason which picture to select. For example, Jrew saw several pictures of planes and the app asked him to select the hang-glider. Jrew looked at the pics for a few seconds and without hesitation, selected the picture of a man on a hang-glider. WHAT???

He also wrote a song. :) It says "Go away, go away. Don't climb on a tree 'cause it's dangerous"

So, it took me a day or two to figure out why he chose those word until I remember. Basically, a few weeks ago I was working on a new song that sort of talks about getting out of a situation that is dangerous or sinful, or whatever and how it is urgent to get out of those kind of situations quickly. In the song, I referred to getting out, walls are on fire, etc.. THEN IT HIT ME - he was writing a song that said basically the same thing. Don't do something that is dangerous. Go away, go away when I said Get out, get out. How does a 3 year old even know how to parallel a song like that. AMAZING!

Jazzy is just as cute as ever. She is getting so big. She talks all the time. She says many complete sentences and can usually tell me if she's hurt or something. She is absolutely NOT AFRAID of anything. She climbs on everything. Her preschool teacher said that she would climb up on this netting type thing on the playground, but would get "stuck" at the top. Afraid to climb over onto the other piece of equipment, she would freeze. She didn't cry or call out though. Usually, a bigger kid would see her and tell the teacher that Jazzy was stuck. The teacher would say "Jazzy, are you stuck" Jazzy would quietly say "tuck, tuck". Then the teacher would say, "Do you need help" Jazzy would say "Hep, hep". So, this happened (apparently) alot. The teacher did say it was a good thing I didn't see her doing this because it would make me too nervous. After a few weeks of this, Jazzy finally started to climb over to the other piece and the kids and teachers all noticed. They all started cheering "Go Jazzy! Go Jazzy!" and she did it. She made it to the other side (whatever that is). Whew! Good thing I didn't see her. I would have yanked her down from there so fast.... just kidding.

Jazzy's hair is so different from Jrews. Her is also very curly but somewhat more relaxed and very soft. She used to hate for me to fix her hair, but now she's getting used to it and loves it when I put it up in pig-tails. She also asked me for a dress the other day. She basically said "I want dress.." over and over until I got her ready for church in a dress. (Sshh.. don't tell her but we are buying her dress-up clothes and purses for her birthday). At this rate, Jrew may read this blog to her and spoil the whole thing. LOL

Jazzy is also counting to 10. If I start counting with her, she usually bulldozes ahead of me with the numbers!! Jrew is also counting to 20. More recently, I have worked with Jrew on concepts like which plate of cookie has the most & which item is the biggest. He picks up skills so fast! We are also working on identifying digits 0-10. He has many of them down already. He knows just about every single letter of the alphabet. He still has some trouble with K, I think. He can spell his name on the fridge using magnets!! and we are working on rhyming. Can you tell I'm a teacher? :)

Funny quotes:

#1 (This one may be a little personal.. hope Jrew doesn't kill me one day) While going potty, Jrew said "Mommy, a big, big coconut tree came out in the potty and", making his eyes wide, "I was so scared."

#2 Jrew asked me if he could touch me. I was like "Um, yeah." He started stroking my shoulder and said "Mommy, you're actually pretty."

#3 While listening to the radio in the car, Jrew said "Nice music, mommy!"

#4 Tonight, the Kroger cashier gave him a sticker. He said "Wow. That was so nice of her." She laughed and said she was so happy to hear someone saying something so polite to her.

#5 Jazzy is starting to sing with her songs in the car and is actually matching the pitch! She loves to talk on the phone. And she's not biased as to what kind of phone she talks on.. she talks on banana phones, brush phones, hand phones, book phones, and anything else she can put up to her ear. She also loves to talk to people. Tonight, she leaned over the booth in a restaurant to talk to the family behind us. She spared not personal space as she leaned in close to the 10 years old boy behind us. He loved the attention and she did too. So funny.

Strangers: Several months ago, Jrew saw a lady nearby that he did not recognized. I think she came near us for some reason or walked by.. he said "She scares me." I was nervous that she heard him and I wasn't quite sure what to say. So, I said "She's not scary. She's just a stranger. A stranger is someone you don't know." Of course, this conversation has been repeated many, many times in the past few months. He most often thinks that men with bears are strangers and sometimes gets so scared he cries. One time, he just froze in place and started crying hysterically. I swear to you, he was frozen with fear. I finally got him into my lap to calm him down and figure out what was wrong. Well, a father who was playing with his kids at the next table, saw Jrew watching and smiled. Jrew did not think that was friendly. I don't necessarily want him to be okay with strangers smiling at him, etc... but I also don't want him to have such a scary experience just because someone smiles at him or walks by him. We have reiterated over and over that he is with mommy and daddy and we will keep him safe.

Here are a few clips of Jrew and Jazzy "playing" guitar and putting on a show for me and my friend Aimee. I had to upload them in a few separate clips to make it work.

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Today we celebrate the birth of the amazing, most selfless, honest, and Godly man I know.... Thomas Rose III. It was nearly 15 years ago when we first met, not knowing that day would change the rest of our lives for the better. We have celebrated 8 1/2 years of amazing marriage & 2 beautiful children. I am attaching a link here for you to go to. Please check it out. I wrote this song for Thomas back in February but I wanted to offer it up again of any who missed it. Once you get to the link, click on the second set of words entitled "Gave You My Hand MP3".

Thinking back, I thought I'd share one or two stories about Thomas and I. If you know me, I could go on and on about our adventures together. However, I will try to reserve just a few. Sometime after I met Thomas, I began to play piano for his church. Of course, it quickly became my church as well. I would ride with Thomas every Sunday from the campus of Charleston Southern University, because I did not have a car. He would always pick me up from Little John Parlor at a specific time.. and that never changed. However, after months and months of hanging out at church, I would start to call him on, say, Thursday or Friday. I was "just checking" to be sure he was going to pick me up at such&such and at the same time. etc...

Many months later, I asked Thomas if he would fill out a reference form for me so I could apply to the North American Mission Board for summer missions. He obliged and called me up one day to tell me he had the form ready. He said he would meet me in (again) Little John Parlor and added that he didn't know I was such an awesome girl.... and that he would have to marry me some day. (wink) Perhaps that is a real-life example of foreshadowing... Thanks God.

Also, Thomas and I dated for a long time before we decided to tie the knot. Everyone was always asking us if we would ever get married. One New Years Eve, Thomas and I went to a New Year's Eve Party with college friends. I don't think any of us were in college anymore, but we still had occasional get-togethers. So, we were all gathering in the living room to watch the ball drop in NYC when Thomas motioned for me to follow him to another room. He pulled a chair into the middle of the room and asked me to take a seat. Of course, you know by now that my heart was pounding out of my chest. I thought I was going to pass out and that this was the moment I'd been waiting for my entire life.

Then, Thomas said it.

"Let's pray". He had planned on praying in the New Year and had apparently forgotten to mention this small detail. I don't how I made it through the rest of the night without just bawling or falling to pieces. But, this story speaks to the overwhelming heart of gold that Thomas had. He has always and continues to desire God, His will. He is always quick to thank God for His mercies, grace, and overflowing love. I couldn't ask for more in a husband.

Thomas did propose to me in December of 2002. Nearly 5 years after we began dating, we were married in a most amazing ceremony and we have never looked back. Some people say your first year is the toughest. We NEVER felt that way.. we have always been happy together. We have had our fair share of arguments, blow-ups, and disappointments... but we have kept our vows and we love each other more than we have ever loved.

Someone else recently asked me if we were happier before we had children. She had read in an article that a certain percentage of people report they are not as happy with children as they were with children. Or that their overall happiness level was down. I asked Thomas later to see if he agreed with what I had to say to my friend. It was like he had read a script of our conversation. He said exactly the same things.. we were always happy together: but now we are a family. In every sense of the word, family! We both come from "broken homes" or "non-traditional homes" so this is for us OUR VERY OWN family. Whole. Healthy. and Loved.

Thomas Rose: I hope you know today that you are loved so much. I would never trade what I have for anything else in the world. I am honored to be your wife and to have this amazing family with you. Thank you Lord for blessing me with this unbelievable life with Thomas. Thank you for giving him life xx years ago. :) And thank you for giving him to me for the rest of our lives!!!

Happy Birthday BABY!

Jazzy and her quirkiness...

Jazzy is 20 months now... but these pictures are from her 18 month old check-up. I thought they were too cute not to share even though I'm way late.

But first, let me give you some updates on Jazzy and her quirkiness. She is starting to talk so much. Actually, this week she is becoming a parrot and she repeats everything I say even if I'm not talking to her. She knows where her eyes, nose, hair, face, mouth, feet, and tummy are. She also points at her shirt and says "shirt." She says some sentences that usually include: I want eat, I dropped it, I want daddy, I want night-night, and much more.

A few nights ago, I was trying to work on the computer and Jrew was having a hard time going to sleep. So, I let him lay down next to me while I worked. A few minutes after we settled in, I thought I heard the doorknob jiggle.. and I looked up but didn't see anything. So, a few minutes later, I heard something else in the hallway. I thought maybe Thomas was home so I said "THOMAS?" and I heard "mama".

Jazzy had gotten out of her crib and was coming to get me. I was freaking out.. how in the world did she get out of her crib. But, sure enough... she can get out on her on. I took her down to the room (which I'm trying to refer to as the kids room for Jrew's sake and not baby room.). Anyway, she was able to get up to the top of the crib railing in probably less than 30 seconds. Of course, I stopped her before she could get out completely. But last night I again found her getting out of her crib just before she dropped down to the floor. I may have to put a bunch of pillows there until we are able to get the conversion kit that turns her bed into a toddler bed. Wow... what fun!

Enjoy the pictures... I took them while we were waiting for the doctor. She's just toooo cute!!!