Naomi's Frozen Party

Frozen has become a family favorite around here.  It's such a fun movie- especially the music!  It's especially fun to watch Anabelle sing (and act out) the songs.  She'll say, "Naomi, I'll be Anna and you be Elsa" or the other way around.  She'll then proceed with acting out different scenes, voice inflections and all.  And believe me, she'll quickly let you know if you're not getting something right!

Anyway,  Naomi always has so much fun planning her own birthday party.  As soon as the credits were rolling the first time we saw Frozen, I had a pretty good idea what this year's theme would be.  Sure enough, she was quickly planning her party around the movie.  When it comes to her parties, I usually just follow her orders requests as far as the food and decorating and she takes care of the games and activities.   We have fun looking at pinterest to come up with fun ideas, but have to keep in mind that easy/quick decorating stuff that is readily available and inexpensive in the states, is not so easy to find here!

Decorating was easy with the blue and silver balloons Jason brought back from a recent trip to the states, and these helpers who've been making snowflakes in their spare time for weeks...

Daddy was the designated balloon/snowflake hanger from the living room ceiling...

A dear friend in Lebanon made this paper mache snowman with Maddie years ago and it has remained a fixture in Naomi's room to this day.  She changes his hat and decor with the season.  Anyway, he was the perfect centerpiece for our food table....

Speaking for food, we all had lots of fun making the snacks.  

Click here for our favorite (very versatile) popcorn recipe.  You can change it for different seasons depending on what color sprinkles, food coloring and m&m's you use.  

Most of our other food ideas can from this website.  She had some really fun (and pretty easy) ideas.  We had to improvise a little based on what we could get here.   For example, I couldn't find bright blue jello, so we had to use purple and add some blue food coloring so it was a bit darker than in her pictures.  Also, her punch called for blue Hi-C.  Also not available here, but I did find purple Koolaid.  So our punch was equal parts purple Koolaid, sprite, blue food coloring and vanilla ice cream.  Ummmm- yummy?  Well, at least the kids thought so!

I knew the ice castle cake would be something fun to try.  I used my old favorite recipe for birthday cakes which is this yellow cake (with coconut flavor).  It makes enough for our favorite 6 layer rainbow cake.  This time we did 3 thicker blue layers.  I did use the icing on the Frozen blog though as I've yet to have any luck with the cream cheese buttercream in this climate.  It worked great and the cake held together well!  

We had fun making the blue candy that served as the ice castle.  

Heating the sugar mixture to "hard crack" stage...

I'm still scrubbing this dark blue sugary goodness off my floors after the party yesterday!

It worked perfectly and was fun to break up and decorate the cake with.

Here's the inside of the cake.  I almost forgot to get pictures before it was gone!  The good thing about this cake is that it's yummy for adults too and isn't the typical "kid's birthday cake" with crisco icing that, in my opinion, is not worth wasting calories on!

The girls enjoyed making snowflake sugar cookies.

We also had carrots and ranch dip (Olaf's nose), and jello cubes (ice cubes) along with the snowflake cookies and popcorn and cake.

Naomi's had the games planned for weeks.  I had to scale them down a little bit.  For example, I'm pretty sure the ice castle building that she had planned would have been a little hard to execute.

We played "pin the nose on Olaf"...

(She drew the Olaf poster and a little holder for the carrot noses)

... and a Frozen version of Hot Potato.  The doll is Elsa (notice the blue frozen heart that Naomi taped on her).  Elsa was the hot potato that you didn't want to end up with or your heart would freeze...

They also played "freeze dancing" which best I could tell involved playing the soundtrack to Frozen really loudly and bouncing all over the living room.  Was very entertaining but I didn't get any pictures.  

We also played some Frozen trivia while the girls ate with extra points if you sang your answer.  Questions like, 

What is Anna surprised to discover they own?  (1000 salad plates)

What will Olaf be if you put him in summer (a happy snowman)

What does Anna tell Else that Arrendale is in? (deep, deep, deep, deep snow)

What doesn't bother Elsa (the cold)

That's just a sampling- we had about 30 questions!

Anyway, it was a fun party and the birthday girl was thrilled (the most important part).  Here are a few more pics from party day...

Happy Birthday Naomi!  We love you!!

So you're traveling internationally with a two year old?

From someone who's been there/done that, let me offer a few pieces of advice from our experiences...  

First of all, throw all of your expectations and rules out the window.  All of them.  You have a 14 hour flight, do you?  Well that 14 hour flight could very easily become 16 hours if you have to sit on the runway for 2 hours before even taking off while waiting for the captain to show up!  Oh really?  You had seats together?  Aisle #17 on the side just might be about 2 aisles up from aisle #17 in the middle- thank goodness for teenage daughters who are excited about sitting alone!

Thankfully, 2 hours in (still on the runway mind you!), this little missy was still pretty fascinated by the whole flying experience!

 (notice she found the perfect place to store her crackers in the seatbelt holder- she was initially quite distressed that there was no cup holder for her milk....)

 Ok, so maybe don't throw ALL the rules out the window...   Probably the only rule you should keep is one related to doing all you can to not be a disturbance to the passengers around you.  Which essentially means that rules for your two year old are secondary.  You are in a survival game.  It's not about who has the best disciplined child on the plane.  It's not about who's 2 year old is the most obedient on the plane.  It's about who will survive the plane ride with their sanity still intact!  As the parent of the 2 year old who could easily turn it into a miserable experience for surrounding passengers, you must be ready to break some of your rules to prevent meltdowns at all costs.   Believe me when I tell you that I  have tried the "we are keeping all of our normal household rules while at 30,000 feet approach" and it didn't work out so well.  I speak from experience when I tell you, don't be afraid to break your own rules!! 

There may or may not have been some diet coke actually in that can...

...and she definitely ate her dessert before (instead of) the rest of the food on her plate...

(the whole eat your veggies first thing doesn't work wo well with airline food....)

Bring plenty of activity options and try and space them out...

We had a few new coloring books saved just for the plane.

Naomi brought her spiral art kit.

I was actually amazed how far the coloring got us- all the way from hour 2 to hour 3!  Notice how she has colored the eyes and bows on the dress very deliberately and is working on the apron- sweet girl!

We managed to hold off "Doc McStuffins on the iPad" until about hour 3 or 4....

This particular trip had a pretty rocky start: fighting with the airline about getting seats together, sitting on the plane for 2 hours before even taking off, and that heart-wrenching 10 minutes when there was a "functionality problem" with all of the TVs on the flight meaning no inflight entertainment.... Believe me when I tell you this was a huge deal on a 14 hour daytime flight with 4 kids.  I was very close to shedding real tears.  

Thankfully, they started working and we had quite a selection of games and movies.  

AB was somewhat fascinated by the games.  She liked the movies too, but wouldn't wear the headphones, but she seemed content to watch.  (and there was always "Doc McStuffins on the iPad")

Naomi is 7 and has reached the age of being an easy traveler.  She was happy with the food, the entertainment, pretty much all of it .  

Another important thing to remember when traveling on long flights with toddlers is not to be afraid of a little drug induced sleep (doctor approved of course!).  We were hopeful that AB would nap, but considering we took off at 11 in the morning (Jordan time), it was not necessarily a guaranteed thing since she is kind of on the brink of giving up her nap....  Anyway, thanks to a little Benadryl we got a 2 hour nap out of her....

This was our first time to do the extra long flight straight from Amman to Chicago.  In the past we've done a flight from Amman to somewhere in Europe (usually Paris) and then on to the US.  That first flight usually leaves around 2 AM.  So there's a 5 hour flight leaving in the middle of the night, a layover and then another 9-10 hour flight.  The way we did it this time, our flight left (well, was scheduled to leave) at 10:30 AM flying 14 straight hours to Chicago where we'd have a 4-5 hour layover and head on to Memphis.  Leaving in the daylight hours after a full nights sleep was definitely the better option in my mind, even though it meant 14 hours straight on an airplane with 4 very excited kids. Let me just say that with about 4-5 hours left of that 14 hours, I was beginning to think that I would have to be committed to the looney bin.  I mean.  At least on an 8-9 hour flight, when you're halfway done, you only have 4-5 hours left.   I swear at one point I thought, SURELY we are close to done and we had  like 6 hours left- GOOD GRIEF!!

But I must say, that I would do it this way again.  Overall, Anabelle did amazingly well.  She really entertained herself pretty well.  Another piece of advice for traveling with this age, would be to confine them to their seat area for as long as possible.  I did not want her to discover that she was "free to move about the cabin".  

We had a little sing-a-long.  Pretty sure at this point she was bursting out with Alicia Keys "Girl on Fire"

We did let her move up to join big sisters for about an hour.   One of the games on the in flight entertainment was a matching game that she loved.  Kept her entertained for quite a while...

Also, with about 4 hours left (when I had decided that I was completely losing my mind), the fairly large man behind Naomi requested that she not lean her seat back.  By this point it was about midnight our time and I had encouraged her to try and sleep for a few hours.  She did (try) at which point he leaned up and said to her that she shouldn't lean her seat because he didn't have enough room....  huh...

And of course, AB fell asleep about 5 minutes before we landed meaning that when we landed and had to de-plane, gathering up all of our many belongings, she was complete and total dead weight.  But we made it, and more importantly, we would do it again!  (which is a good thing I guess, considering in about 9 days we don't have much choice....)

So anyway, remember that thing I said about expectations.  Make sure they are still set aside.  Because your 5 hour relaxing lay-over in Chicago, may turn in to a supposed 1 hour layover once you've gotten through customs, re-checked your bags, stood in line at the ticket counter to get boarding passes that they refused to give in Amman, stood in line in security (all the while with a cranky, very disoriented toddler).  You may rush through the meal that you planned to relax through, only to rush to your gate and find that your plane has been delayed for 30 minutes, oops make that 45, nope an hour.  Oh and wait- now we're changing gates.  And now it's snowing so some de-icing will have to be done.  And that will take 30 minutes once we get you on the plane an hour late.  Oops, no, not 30 minutes, more like an hour and a half.  All that meaning that you arrive not at 11:30 but more like 3 AM.

And your sweet little toddler who doesn't even have any idea where she is anymore may just steal all the chick-fil-a nuggets that her Annie bought for her and her sisters the day before (it is Sunday after all) and heated up in the oven at 2 AM...

...and she may even steal one of the Krystal burgers that her uncle John brought (apparently if you are awake in Memphis at 2 AM it is mandatory to buy Krystals- and not just 1 or 2, like 10 or 12) and refuse to let anyone near it.  She won't eat it, mind you, but don't you dare touch it!

Remember, the main rule to remember is there are no rules.  Keep that in mind, relax and get ready for an adventure.  It probably won't be too fun, and it definitely will be exhausting, but if your destination is anything like ours, it will undoubtedly be worth it.  

Twas the Night Before the Open House...

...and all was NOT well!

I love entertaining and having people in our home.  I've grown to especially love doing so over the holidays that can be particularly difficult for expats living overseas.  It's nice to be able to provide a little holiday cheer both for our family and those friends who have come to be like family that we are surrounded with on this side of the ocean.  

I've always loved the idea of hosting a big open house at Christmastime but have never really lived in a place that was conducive to a very large crowd.  Thankfully, the apartment we moved into last spring has at least enough room for a large dining room table so we decided to go for it this year.  

So we baked and baked in advance- all our favorite Christmas goodies.  Like in the states, there is just so much going on at this time of year, I knew we'd have to get most everything done in advance.  Saturday, December 14 was quickly approaching and our calendars were full to say the least!  

I had plenty of helpers!

However, with snow-mageddon 2013, we found ourselves with a lot more baking time on our hands when we became snowed in for all of the days leading up to the Open House.  

Unfortunately, by Friday evening, when this was the view out my kitchen window...

.... I realized that all the stubborness in the world (on my part) to will this event not to have to be cancelled would not allow friends from across Amman to be able to get out of the 18-24 inches of snow most of us were buried in!  

So we put it off one day and re-scheduled for Sunday afternoon, hoping that  maybe the roads would be somewhat cleared after a day of forecasted sunshine.  

Unfortunately snowy roads were the least of our concern.  We woke up Sunday morning to no electricity!  Thankfully, our stove/oven works on gas along with our hot water so we could still take hot showers and wash the dishes.  Also, thankfully, we had done most of the cooking in advance so things just had to be taken out of the freezer and thawed.

We even made the fillings for the whoopy pies in advance (which would have required the electric blender or a lot of elbow grease to whisk by hand) so all I needed were my helpers to fill them.  Maddie and Naomi were a big help in filling the red velvet and choco-mint whoopie pies. 

I had planned on heating the wassail, pumpkin spiced lattes and cocktail meatballs in crockpots but we had to go to plan B for that as well.  We were glad to have an excuse to turn on the stove to help heat up the kitchen which has turned out to be one of the coldest rooms in this apartment...

Since we had done most of the prep work the day before, my helpers were able to take a break for a manicure mid-day.  Still no electricity but thankful for gas heaters!

Naomi was eager to help Jason clear off the front walk-way so that people could get to our front door safely.   We realized that parking would be an issue on our icy but prayed it wouldn't be an issue....

Some good friends bailed us out when our gas to the stove almost ran out by braving the elements to bring us one of their bottles.  They also provided extra crockpots just in case the electricity came back...

Anabelle helped me get the living room ready and in the process discovered that she could see her breath- doesn't take much to entertain her!!

The table was set and the house decked out in full Christmas mode.  Now we just have to hope our guests can make it!  

Our list of goodies included:

German chocolate cake

Blue cheese bites

Snowball cookies

Mini cheesecakes

Pecan coconut tarts

Red velvet whoopie pies

Chocolate mint whoopie pies

Gingersnaps with pumpkin dip

Angeletti cookies

Cocktail meatballs

3-cheese cheese balls

Christmas raspberry/cream cheese dip

wassail

pumpkin spiced lattes

fruit punch

and lots of other amazing treats that our sweet friends brought to share.  

The electricity came back on about an hour before the party was set to start so we were able to crank up the crockpots and not worry about running out of water (which needs electricity to be pumped up to the roof...)

All in all it was a big success.  I think people were stir crazy like us and those who could get out of their houses were eager to.  We originally expected around 75 and we had around 60 come.  Not bad for an open house in the middle of a snow storm!

Middle Eastern Snow Days

So last week there was snow in the forecast.  It was scheduled to start Wednesday evening and snow/rain pretty steadily for the next 24 hours or so.  The temperature was to be hovering around 35 or so- never truly freezing over.  

As you can imagine, this being the Middle Eastern desert, they are not exactly structured to deal with a big snow.  I was extremely skeptical that anything was actually going to stick and said so multiple times to the girls.  Wednesday morning (when there was a light rain, not even snow yet), we got a text from the school saying that IF there was school the next 3 days, it would start an hour late due to the potential for ice on the roads.  That's right, the potential.  Sure enough, by Wednesday evening, we received another text that school would indeed be cancelled the next day due to weather.  Good grief.  Don't get me wrong, this southern girl loves a good snow day, but it wasn't even SNOWING yet.  Of course the girls went to bed excited about the winter wonderland they were sure to wake up to...

Well...  Ok, so there was snow falling out of the sky and it was definitely pretty.  If you squinted really hard you might could say that it was sticking.  And Naomi was able to scrape together a "snow ball" (and I use that term loosely- it was more mooshed slush).   

I confess that I was kind of a scrooge when it came to going out and playing in it.  You've probably heard me talk about the heating (or lack thereof) in apartments here and honestly, I just didn't want to deal with not being able to warm back up after running around in the sleet- as that's all it was at that point...  Anyway, the girls had fun.  

Smart puppy, knew to stay inside where it was warm!

Checked the forecast and it was showing rain/snow for the rest of the afternoon/evening but it was hovering around 38 degrees and didn't really seem to be sticking.   A friend called offering to take the older girls to the Hobbit which had just come out here, so we sent them on their way to the movie.

Naomi thoroughly loved playing with all the neighborhood kids.  (remember, me=snow scrooge, I didn't even go outside to take pictures, but I did give her my camera to snap a few)

They were able to scrape together a snow/ice man with what was on the ground by late afternoon.

About 6 or so that evening we looked outside and realized it was REALLY coming down.  When the girls got out of the movie at 7, it was pretty bad.  It ended up taking them 3 hours to get from the movie theatre back to our friends house (normally would take 15-20 minutes) and they had an impromptu sleep over.   

Naomi had fun playing with the neighborhood kids.  We somehow managed to keep Anabelle from discovering how fun playing in the snow could be.  Thank goodness, since I have realized that I am severely underprepared for cold weather, at least as far as the girls clothes go.  Anabelle's only shoes are crocs which just really wouldn't do in this weather.  No one has a heavy coat, and well, just not prepared.  Anyway, AB had fun discovering new things inside.  We got out the dominoes for a family game of Mexican train and she sat right here at the kitchen table arranging and rearranging the dominoes in a line for close to an hour.  

No idea what she was doing, but it was apparently quite entertaining...

This was what we woke up to on day 3 of snow-mageddon 2013:

This was day 4- it just kept coming!!

We actually got less than most of the rest of the city- some places it was close to 2 feet.  Craziness!  

It's now 8 days later and the girls JUST went back to school today for exams.  Naomi's school actually got called off until after the holidays but AJ and Maddie had to go back for one last day to finish exams.  

Let's just say we are beyond stir crazy!!  I posted on facebook at one point that the little 2 were literally bouncing off the walls-as in throwing themselves into the wall and falling down and laughing.  And not that we needed to add to the stir-craziness, but in true Cox fashion, someone HAD to come down with a stomach virus the week we are scheduled to travel internationally.  Naomi kicked us off Monday night with what we hoped was a quick passing virus, and by the next night, it took another 4 of us out.  Thankfully, Anabelle is holding on as the only non-sick Cox family member- pray with us it stays that way before Sunday morning when we are due to fly out to the US!!

3 Tips for Moms in the Trenches of Toddlerhood

That's right, 3 things.  Not 10, not even 5, but 3.  Besides, I already wrote about 10 things I would tell new moms that you can find here, and there is some overlap, but these are 3 things that I really think are most applicable in the toddler stage, or at least are so important to start thinking about by the toddler stage.    

 I'm right there with you - deep in the trenches of toddlerhood, and I know that if you're like me, as much as you want to have loads of time to read, process reflect, you simply don't.  And if you do actually have the time, you probably don't have the brain power-at least I don't.   

I started my last post about not being such a great toddler mom anymore with the intent of sharing some things I've learned from having little people in my home, but I decided to separate them into a different post for the sake of simplicity.  

So here they are: 3 things that I really think have helped me keep my sanity (well, mostly) that I've learned largely by trial and error and making plenty of mistakes.   3 Things that if I were to do it over again, I would focus on more deliberately.  And finally, 3 things that I hope will encourage other moms who are also deep in the trenches fighting for the developing character of their little people.  

1. Comparison: just don't do it!  

 It's amazing how much more difficult this has become in the 10 years since I was first in this stage of parenting.  With facebook, pinterest, blogs, instagram, twitter- wow, the list goes on and on, anyway, with all these different forms of social media constantly at our fingertips, it is so easy to begin to doubt yourself and the choices you are making for your family when you see what the Jones' next door are doing.  There is a constant temptation to compare birthday parties, room decor and even daily activities that you engage in with your little one, because at any given point, the activities of so many others are just a click away.  The reality is that most of us don't share our failures or mundane activities in these places, and since we know that to be true, why do we see the highlights that others post, and assume that the grass is so much greener on their side of the fence?  It's amazing really how quickly I can begin drowning in my sorrows because of all the many things I am NOT doing that it appears everyone else around me IS doing- at least according to their facebook wall or pinterest boards 

.

Remember that just as God gifts us all uniquely as individuals, he also places us in families with different strengths and areas of service.  Families are not cookie cutter molds of one another, so don't make decisions on what is right or wrong for your family based on what is right or wrong for someone else's family.  God leads us all and guides us according to His unique plan for our lives, and Scripture says that He "gently leads those that have young."  (Isaiah 40:11)  The pleaser in me wants everyone around me to be pleased with the decisions I make for myself and my family, but reality says that is just not possible.  We will make decisions for our girls that others around us may not agree with.  We may choose to fight certain battles with our toddlers that others may not choose and vice versa, but if we are making our decisions based on the conviction of Scripture and the Holy Spirit, then we should not second guess ourselves if we value certain things as families that others don't.

Also be careful that you don't take comparison in the other direction.  As in: "well at least my kid doesn't do THAT"...  Give grace to others just as you hope they would give you.  That mom in the grocery store aisle with the screaming toddler who just tuck a piece of candy in his mouth, may very much value healthy eating habits for example, but she just wants A FEW MOMENTS OF SHOPPING IN PEACE or she will lose it.  It's very easy to talk about how our kids will never eat sugar BEFORE we have kids...  Anyway, GRACE!  We all need it, often much more than we are sometimes willing to give it, especially in the trenches of toddlerhood.

2.  Cyberspace can be a dangerous "go-to" source
I know that I am showing my age here, but having gone through a season of toddlerhood with my first 2 when the internet was just really not a factor, I think I can see the comparison between then and now and speak to this a little.  With so much information literally at our fingertips, whether it be something as simple as what brand of stroller or carseat to buy or something a little more serious like childhood vaccinations, we need to be very, very careful in the way we view the internet as a credible source.

I'm not talking about stroller purchases here.  Obviously, I see the benefit of being able to comparison shop, read other people's reviews, and even jump between stores to check availability all at the stroke of a key.  No, I'm talking about bigger, often medical things.  As a nurse, it scares me a little when I hear people referencing blogs and/or internet articles they've read as reasons for making major decisions for their little ones.  When did the internet become a substitute for the years of medical practice and expertise that our doctors and scientists have?  Whether it be childhood vaccinations, dietary patterns and the restrictions of certain foods, sleep patterns for babies, home birth vs. hospital birth, I guess what I'm saying is check the sources of the blogs and articles you count on as information sources.  Is it credible or is someone's opinion based on their specific situation?  The internet IS convenient and does offer a wide range of information, but it cannot see the bigger picture of your situation the way an actual person can.  Most of you may be thinking, "do you REALLY think I'm going to make a major decision based on someone's opinion on a Facebook post?!"  Maybe (hopefully) not.  But some people do seem to truly seek advice in that way.  You're probably going to get a lot of "you should never" or "you should always" on certain topics, and you just have to be so careful.  Especially if your emotions are already raw from being in the trenches with your toddler.  And, yes, I do have a reason for my soapbox when it comes to all things medical and the internet, but since that's not the thrust of this post, I'll save it for another day..

From personal experience, when you're raising toddlers and you're sleep deprived therefore physically exhausted and likely emotionally exhausted on top of that, sometimes you just want to know that you're not in it alone.  So you throw some post out to cyberworld seeking to know that others relate and often end up getting reactions to and advice for your current situation that is not necessarily the best.   I remember when my oldest 2 girls were toddlers, receiving the advice to make sure that God was still my main source of advice, comfort, wisdom etc. because it could be so easy to find yourself turning to other things before God.  In that day and age it would likely be parenting books (remember this was before facebook in the age of dial-up internet so books were on your bookshelf and not online) or simply calling up a friend (again, I raised them in the dark ages before texting was a thing-you actually had to call, and sometimes you had to be still because the phone had a cord attached to it....), as opposed to turning to God first whether it be through prayer or searching the Scripture.  I guess this is essentially what I am saying (to myself as much as anyone else), it's just 10 years later so it applies a little differently.  Make sure you have searched Scripture/talked to God about whatever "it" is before you surf the web, or at least before you turn to the web for the answer that you're seeking.  The other sources aren't bad in and of themselves, just as the internet is not bad, it's just not the best.  God is the best, and your kids deserve to have you seeking Him first.  Toddlers are such volatile little people - they can bring amazing joy and overwhelming stress sometimes at the same time and end up leaving us as parents thinking, "AM I DOING ANYTHING RIGHT?!"   Allow God to be the first one to speak to that heart cry and lead you in the direction He would have you go.  Remember that as a parent, He desires to gently lead you and your young.  (Isaiah 40:11)

3.  Center your family around Christ, not your child
 I loved the advice early on in our parenting journey that children are to become a welcome member of the family, not the center of the family.  It is obvious in reading the Word, that God very much values children and the family unit.   Scripture calls our children a blessing, a heritage, a reward (Psalm 127).  Jesus tells the disciples to let the children come to him (Matthew 19:14), and we are commanded as parents to require obedience of our children (Proverbs 19:18) and impress upon their hearts the commands of God (Deuteronomy 6:7).  Recognizing the value of our children as huge PARTS of our family, however, is vastly different from setting them on a pedestal and creating a family life that revolves completely around them and their activities.

To clarify, I know that in the trenches of toddlerhood, you are probably thinking (especially if you are a stay home mom) "how in the world can life NOT revolve around my child?"!   As toddler moms there is very little that we do that does not relate to our children.  That is normal and is not what I'm referring to.  In my opinion, in the toddler stage, it's more about establishing the attitude from the start of teaching your children that the world does not revolve around them and their needs.  Things like keeping time with your spouse a priority, being willing to be flexible with your child's schedule if other needs or priorities of the family demands it,  or simply praying regularly for the wisdom to recognize if something, or someone is starting to take the place of God as the focus of the family, are things that can go along way in establishing a family centered around Christ, not children.

Yes, of course we love our children.  I don't know about you, but I actually adore mine.  They are amazingly precious gifts from God.  But we are not doing them or ourselves any favors if we begin to worship our children as opposed to the God who created them and gave them to us.
~~~~~~~
Toddlers are funny, amazing, aggravating and delightful little people.  You never know what to expect and no two days are ever the same.  They bring an energy and an excitement to life that can be contagious and exhausting all at the same time.   Just because you've successfully navigated the toddler trenches with one, even two, does not even begin to qualify you for the challenges and joys that the next will bring.  Days are never dull, that's for sure.

 If you're like me, with my current toddler, (my other 3 have long passed this stage...), I go through some days wanting to pull my hair out, but at night when I go in to kiss her sweet little cheek, I am just overcome by the preciousness of the gift that she is to our family.  I pray that for her sake, for the sake of all of our girls, Jason and I will keep our priorities straight as parents as we strive to raise God-fearing, Christ- loving young ladies who will be ready to face the challenges and joys life brings them.  We are far from perfect parents, but thank goodness we serve an infinitely perfect God.  And it is only in His strength, that we are able to navigate the trenches of toddlerhood in a way that won't leave us too battered and bruised on the other side.

"He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge."
Proverbs 14:26