Mother and son

A few pictures of me and my eldest, Jordan

Man, I love that boy to pieces!

Change

My husband has been gone for some time now. We miss him dearly, and try to find ways to speed up our days to make the days go by faster. Charlotte and William have been aching to go outside and play for some time now, but the weather is so vastly changing here from one extreme to the next, it makes it hard. Yesterday, we had blue skies..... for about two hours...

.. and then the Maka showers started to bless us before the rain hit. That lasted all about 45 min. During this time the babies sat, gazing out the door, waiting for the blue skies to come back. As soon as the rain was lifted, and settled into a subtle drizzle of Maka showers once more, Charlotte's exceptional motor skills opened up the door, and the both of them took off.

Thank goodness they did not leave further then the front porch.

It was a good day with a slight chill. It made it perfect weather for playing outside, and escaping the hotness of the sun.

We played outside for about two hours until Jordan came home.

When he came home, Jordan had the best news! Holding his Jamba juice in one hand, jacket draped over his other arm, and lugging his backpack full of all his books ran to me shouting "I am the student of the quarter Mom!"

Through all his hard work, and dedication to his studies (not to mention a slight attitude adjustment), he will be awarded the student of the quarter award on Monday! We are all so proud of him for doing a great job, and being such an outstanding role model for his younger siblings.

I promise that there will be pictures soon to follow!

Have a great day!

JORDAN - WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

Wordless

Peek-a-boo

This past weekend was a whirl wind for us. Saturday and Sunday were days filled with children non-stop running through the house, staying the night, playing games, and enjoying some fun filled laughter. This was the first time we ever had seven children under one roof all ranging from 19 months, 20 months, 2 years, 2 and half years, five, seven, and eight. It was purely delightful and chaotic! We were watching the children of two separate groups of dear friends.

Jordan and Brayden playing a fun game of peek-a-boo

no, he is not in time out. Brayden is counting while Jordan is hiding.

6 years ago

Six years ago tomorrow will be the anniversary of the tragic death of Jordan's father, my late husband, Jason Bordwell. Although he is buried in New York, Jordan and myself will be visiting a grave site out here to place flowers on.  Jordan has been asking A LOT about his "angel" daddy lately trying to connect (I think) in some sort of way with him. He even writes him letters from time to time for me to send to a special address (my parents). It pains me to think that with each and every year that goes by, that he might be slowly forgotten. As you can see, that waking up to my son each and every day is a constant reminder of him considering he is a spiting image of his father.  

It was a hard time then, but through the ups and downs and hurdles life presented me with, I found a great man, a loving man, that loves me and my beautiful boy more then anything. I can guarantee that Jason would be so proud of the little man Jordan is today. 

Welcome home with lessons learned (for mom and child).

One of my favorite times during the work week is the time Jordan comes home from school.  Just before the bus arrives I open the front door, and that always sends a signal to the babies to run to the door screaming "Jicka's Home!"

From the moment he walks in, he is bombarded by both babies, the dog, and of course, ME! He always tells me what color of the day he was on in the form of a question. Today he asked me "What color am I pointing at?" I looked around, and yelled with excitment "GREEN!!" It is such a fun and sweet moment at the time of his arrival. 

He is the best big brother in the world! He always takes the time before his after school snack to spend a little quality time wrestling around with the babies. From the moment he walks in, puts his book down, and lays down, William and Charlotte are always all over him giving him HUGE hugs and kisses. 

(here is William giving him his welcome home hug)

(... and here is Charlotte giving Jordan his hug, trying her hardest to wrestle with him.)

I would love to say that my children have grown up to be exceptional with their manners, happiness, and love from the child rearing that Chase and myself have done, but somethings are just simply "Them".  The Lord has blessed me, and my life with these bubbly little people full of love, happiness, and contentment. Of course, just like any kids, they all have there moments, but the good definitely out way the bad. 

Just the other day, I received a phone call from Jordan's teacher during school. She told me about a little hiccup that happened at school, and that Jordan wanted to tell me himself. Turned out that my sweet boy was found cheating on a test. During a spelling test, he placed a piece of paper with the words from the test next to his actual test. I realized (and so did the teacher) that this was seriously not his fault, and should not get into any trouble for it. He was perfectly innocent in the fact that no one ever told him that he was not allowed to do it. He thought what he was doing was allowed, and was SHOCKED when his teacher told him that what he was doing was wrong. My poor sweet boy was in tears over the phone with me. I had to calm him down, and let him know that what he was doing was cheating, and that it was a bad thing. "I didn't know mom!" he kept crying over the phone to me, "Hunny, well now you do, and so from now on, this won't ever happen again, right?" He was so relived to hear that he was not in trouble. That this was a time for a lesson to be learned. 

After that incident, I realized to myself that when our children start to get older, we begin to assume that they know what is right and what is wrong. It dawned on me that us, as parents, are not being completely fair to our children in this regard. I thought long and hard about all the times I used the phrase "you should have known better", and immediately felt like a horrible parent. It is my responsibility to point that finger back at myself while using that phrase. I am the one who should have known better, I am the one who didn't teach them these things, therefore, it is my fault, not theirs. I look at it this way from now on, if they do something that they truly didn't know was wrong, then the punishment should be taken off the table, and after a brief talk (as much at their attention will hold), then it should be written down in the books as a lesson learned.

I try my hardest to be the best mother I can be, but also, I am perfectly aware that their are plenty of things to improve on. I make it my mission to become a better parent with understanding and patience for my children's sake. I love it, and embrace it each time my children teach me a lesson or two. 

Acts of Kindness

"Love Letters"

In the mornings I try to leave little "Love letters" in my son's lunch bag for school. I want him to know that I am thinking of him, and that I love him very much. I remember as a small child going to school my mother would write my name on my lunch bag with hearts and smiley faces. I thought it was so silly as a child, but as I got older, I started to miss it so much. Do you leave any sort of love notes for your children to let them know your thinking of them?