First Day of School

When does this happen? How do they grow up right before our very eyes? The night before school started, I think, no I know I wanted to have another baby. What? Why, you ask? Because I have no children left at home. NONE. The baby is in kindergarten, so when do I stop calling him the baby? When he's 30 and getting married? And if Annie gets married at the same age as her daddy and I, she'll be getting married in 10 years. But she's not doing that, so I don't even have to think about it!

Anyway, they were all babies like yesterday...no, really yesterday! And now, Annie is in middle school as the cutest 6th grader there is, Belle is a 2nd grader and her smile is still contagious (like when she was a baby). And Charlie, well, we've talked about him being in kindergarten (all day kindergarten). So, here's to all the mommy's who feel lonely right now. All of us who have sent ALL our little ones off to school and thinking for one brief moment (very brief because it's not possible) that they want to have a baby. Right about now Cam is thinking thank goodness we took care of that!

These are those same 3 sweet kids 5 years ago before Charlie's baptism and they are still blessing our lives everyday!

So, I guess you could say this is the Then to our Now.

I am so proud of all of this "Pico Power" and the craziness I like to call family.

Family Devotional

In our family we are trying to get into a very new, sometimes difficult to achieve short family devotional before we go to bed each night. Now, for all of you who know our crazy family personally you are probably wondering how this gets achieved: a lot of patience and turns out a pretty good sense of humor on the dad's part (who typically presents our "lesson"). We learned some important things the other night that I will share here: when it comes to the different age groups in our family, short really is sweet; asking really open ended questions sometimes gets you in trouble, like when the dad asked "what did we just read" and Belle answered, "Go, Dog, Go". This was a completely correct answer because right before devotional Cam finished reading that book to Charlie and Belle! What wasn't the answer the dad was looking for?

We thought a book might help guide us that had a scripture and then a passage to guide you through the scripture and it probably does help, if you're not 5 and you're not Charlie rolling around on the floor trying too figure out why Freckles the dog is always trying to get away from him (a little honesty here). This particular night, mommy does not have the spirit and would not have earned her participation points had she been in school. The dad is trying his hardest to keep everyone engaged on this lesson about how God doesn't always give us what we ask for and He meets our needs as He sees them, not our wants. Very hard lesson for even this grown-up to understand, but he asks some good questions, gets some good answers. Cam asks THE question starting with the baby "what was this lesson about? what did you learn?" Any good teacher makes sure their students know what they've just taught. So, while we wait for Charlie's answer and it must be a good one because it's taking awhile, he says "God loves you". And the Pico girls start laughing hysterically and Cam can't hold out long before he realizes that is a perfect way to wrap this night up because that had nothing to do with our lesson. Not one thing! Don't get me wrong, it's the absolute truth, but Charlie knew it was a devotional and knew he had a shot a getting this one right.

Here's my final bit of advice: if you are ever stuck for an answer in Sunday school or Bible study class, follow Charlie's lead and answer with "God loves you"!

Mothers & Sons

First of all, I know in some parenting book, somewhere, some expert has written about the negative aspects of the family bed. Second, we don't have a family bed. I love sleeping with my husband and since we moved into a two-story house, our dog who used to sleep in the family bed no longer sleeps downstairs. I'd like to think she sleeps upstairs to "protect" the kids.

With that being said, our bed has somehow (I blame it on the move) become a place Charlie thinks he can visit every night and most nights we are both too tired to drag him back upstairs and tuck him in, so we let him stay. I often love the snuggle time with him, as if we are not together enough during the day. And yes, there is the potential that he may someday be a "mama's boy" (if he's not already). And what's wrong with a "mama's boy"?

What I don't enjoy is the little arms and legs I remove from my own body throughout the night. So, we've been talking to Charlie about staying in his own bed ALL night. We've even resorted to bribery: chocolate if he stays in his bed 10 nights in a row! I know what the parenting books say about that too, but I say whatever works. The other night as I'm putting my son to bed and reminding him to stay in his bed and what a great job he's doing (3 nights in a row), he looks at me as we are hugging each other good night and says, "Mama, do you know why I like to sleep with you? It's because your arms and legs are SO warm when I crawl in next to you". I decided right there, that he's only going to be "the baby" a little longer and what the heck, what's one more warm body in the family bed? I haven't asked him since then to sleep in his own bed. Although, he does start out every night upstairs in his bed tucked away under his sheets.

When he's 12, I'll be lucky if he even wants me to tuck him in at night, but until that day comes I'll keep my feet and legs warm under the covers and enjoy the snuggling just a little bit longer. The girls are welcome too, but Annie refuses to sleep in my bed because she says I snore. I'll save that for another blog. Here's to keeping our kids "babies" just a little longer!