I LOVE GOING ON DATES.

Of course I love to date my husband...  but I'm talking about dating my little men.  My first date with Caleb, when we both dressed up and called it a date, was when he was four years old.  He took me to ISLANDS, for burgers and fries.  His Dad had given him money to pay and then reminded him as he harnessed him into his car-seat, to "hold the door open for Mommy and make sure you tell her how pretty she looks... because girls like...

Yesterdays blog post about my new friends, caused me to think of some of the most encouraging friendships I have right now in my life.  

They are, simply put, The Mothers of Other Brothers... Specifically those women who have multiple, interesting, strong-willed, boyish-boys in their home....

Flipping through the XM stations in my car yesterday, my three year old let out an enthusiastic "This one! Choose this one!" when we hit the "Classical Pops" station. I pulled my hand back from the dash and looked in the rearview mirror. Asher had closed his eyes and a smile played on his face.

I love Classical music; the strings, winds, and piano all intricately weaving evocative notes together in joyful or in mournful harmonies. But how do you teach your children to love ...

If you've been here more than a couple of times than you know I delight in seeing my children mature in virtue, in character, and in our family's values.

One of those core family values is what we call "Brotherly Love."  In the past three weeks Caleb has absolutely excelled in displaying this specific type of love in our home.  Since he was given his first Baby Brother, when he was just  22 months old, it's been obvious that God specifically crafted him to be ...

I've received many sweet notes of praise concerning my tough-love parenting yesterday.  And since many have asked for an update over how things went in the afternoon... I thought I'd post this picture and the following.

It was raining when I picked Caleb up, but instead of finding my cold, dejected, remorsef...

"Do, or do not... there is no try"

-Yoda

Every time I hear Yoda speak the above words, ...

I waited until my first born was the ripe old age of five before I introduced him to any shows with fighting, swords, blasters, guns, or wild play.  What a good Mama, Yes?  Of course that means Brody was three when he first saw Star Wars, and Asher (only one at the time) learned to walk with a Light Saber in each of his sweet little hands.  We called him General Grievous.  So much for sheltering our children from violence.  But with older boy cousins and neighbors who...

My husband and I shared a few rare moments alone this morning over breakfast at Panera.  We didn't set out to have a deep, life-assessing conversation, but that's what we got.  We talked about the goals we've spoken of before but not done anything about - both in our marriage and in our parenting.  One of the main things we discussed was Matt's desire to invest in masculine boy-time with our guys each weekend - hiking, camping, working, laughing, swimming,...

I mentioned in yesterday's blog that this is the first year we have intentionally taught all three boys about character traits that are important to our family.  Here are a couple of pictures of the little ones signing (in Asher's case "scribbling") their name to their Family Values Contract (below).