Motherhood is a valid profession.
It is that belief that inspired Jill Savage and a group of women to plan the first Hearts at Home conference 16 years ago. Today these conferences are a place where moms can go to find the encouragement and education they need to do this mothering thing right!
The problem is, not everyone can attend a Hearts at Home conference, so Hearts at Home University was created!
Hearts at Home University is a new resource designed to encourage and equip you in your journey as a parent! These live web casts, affordably priced at $15 each, allow you to tap into continuing education as a mom on a regular basis right from the comfort of your own computer.
The topics that will be covered over the Spring and Summer Semester include:
“Is There Really Sex after Kids” with Jill Savage“She’s Gonna Blow” with Julie Barnhill
“Redefining Romance” with Mark and Jill Savage
“Keeping Your Ducks in a Relative Row” with Karen Ehman
For information on dates and times, or to register go here.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Touch a Truck
Every year there is an event called Touch a Truck. The event fills the parking lot full of every truck imaginable. The trucks are open for the kids to not only touch, but climb into, turn on lights, sirens & beep the horns. Here are some pics I took:
Andrew is sitting in the back of a police car talking on a cellphone to daddy & holding his balloon sword. I "love" how he seems so comfy in there, just chatting away. : )
Andrew LOVES a "tire tuck". He's fascinated by them!
Andrew is sitting in the back of a police car talking on a cellphone to daddy & holding his balloon sword. I "love" how he seems so comfy in there, just chatting away. : )
Andrew LOVES a "tire tuck". He's fascinated by them!
one of these things is not like the other
Andrew is a big boy now. He is probably our most strong willed child. Not truly strong willed....I'm not at my wits end, out buying books on the subject & not knowing what to do. Just strong willed compaired to all the other Peterson animals. So, now that he is such a big boy he must do things all by himself. Quite often it is much easier to not fight the battle he is waging. In this case, as long as he has shoes on....well, he has shoes on. And in true Peterson fashion things are always crazy when we are trying to leave the house.
This particular day we managed to leave the house & run several errands all over town before I realized what had transpired. Just take a look for yourself. He didn't really see what the problem was. He kept telling me "I have shoes on".
This particular day we managed to leave the house & run several errands all over town before I realized what had transpired. Just take a look for yourself. He didn't really see what the problem was. He kept telling me "I have shoes on".
sssssssssssssnakes
For several weeks the kids in the neighborhood, including ours, have been catching snakes & keeping them as pets. It was one of the best things to happen to help bring some peace amongst the restless natives. For weeks though that is what everything was about...the snakes. They all had names. Cotton Candy & Jazz, just to name 2 of them. They had 5 total. They kept them in an old trash can and routinuely held & played with them.
On more than one occasion I would walk right up to a kid, not realizing they had a snake in their hand. I'd talk with that child, carry on business as usual....then jump back 10 feet cause I realized the snake was literally right next to me. I don't mind snakes too much. I wouldn't say that I'm scared of them, but I'm not looking to make them my best friend either. They keep their distance, I keep mine and we're all happy.
All the snakes have been released to the "wild". Which means that I no longer need to rush to the pet store to buy crickets for the snakes. (We had several "emergencies" in reguards to the "starving" creatures). And Mandy has stopped trying to talk me into letting them live in the house.
On more than one occasion I would walk right up to a kid, not realizing they had a snake in their hand. I'd talk with that child, carry on business as usual....then jump back 10 feet cause I realized the snake was literally right next to me. I don't mind snakes too much. I wouldn't say that I'm scared of them, but I'm not looking to make them my best friend either. They keep their distance, I keep mine and we're all happy.
All the snakes have been released to the "wild". Which means that I no longer need to rush to the pet store to buy crickets for the snakes. (We had several "emergencies" in reguards to the "starving" creatures). And Mandy has stopped trying to talk me into letting them live in the house.
Is it a bird? A plane? No, it's....Andrew!
We went through a phase not long ago with Andrew & Superman. It started when we went to the movie store. His eye caught the Superman movies (the original ones with Christopher Reeves). I like to let the kids watch "old" classics so I thought sure, let's get this movie. I tried to get him to pick out the first movie in the series, but he insisted on having the second movie. The big difference.....Superman 2 had a picture of him on the disc, the first one didn't. *eye roll*
Andrew watched that movie NON STOP for the next several days! He became fascinated with it all. Even if he wasn't really watching the movie he wanted it on & playing the background. It was actually a nice break from the usual t.v. and movie watching that he normally enjoys or insists on "watching". Superman out fighting crime, beating up the bad guys & falling in love. Sure it had violence and romance, but it was the kind that I didn't mind or think twice about him watching.
So suddenly everything revolved around Superman and Andrew was jumping & flying everywhere. You gotta love a kid with a good imagination. One day he wandered outside to play on the trampoline. Carmen was napping & the big kids were all at school. It was a very nice day, the windows were opened. All of a sudden I hear Andrew scream. I look out the window & see him dangling from the frame of the trampoline.
I sure wish I had a picture to show you cause it was a classic moment. And believe it or not (you'll believe it though if you know me well enough) as I was running out the door to rescue him I thought "I sure wish I had my camera in my hands ready to go, I really want to capture this!" The situation did not allow me to get much past that thought. Although he wasn't in any immediate danger he certainly wasn't in a position (literally) to stay put for a moment longer.
You have to picture it though. We have this big trampoline with a net around it. The net has a 3 foot or so tall door that you crawl through to actually get on the jumping part of the trampoline. We keep a step stool below that spot to help aid the getting up & down on the frame. When Andrew stepped out onto the frame to get down his foot slipped and got caught in between the springs of the frame. While his foot was stuck there the rest of his body continued forward and he was dangling upside down from that spot. His stuck foot was the only thing keeping him from hitting the ground.
I got him rescued from his predicament and had a little scare as I initially thought he had broken his leg. Once safely on the ground & amidst all of his tears he tried to explain to me that he was trying to be like Superman & fly. Ah-ha so the truth comes out....he wasn't trying to get down in a normal fashion, he was trying to "fly" down from the trampoline.
Well Superman had quite the scare. Even though it didn't deter him from being on the trampoline he seemed to stop flying everywhere we went.
Andrew watched that movie NON STOP for the next several days! He became fascinated with it all. Even if he wasn't really watching the movie he wanted it on & playing the background. It was actually a nice break from the usual t.v. and movie watching that he normally enjoys or insists on "watching". Superman out fighting crime, beating up the bad guys & falling in love. Sure it had violence and romance, but it was the kind that I didn't mind or think twice about him watching.
So suddenly everything revolved around Superman and Andrew was jumping & flying everywhere. You gotta love a kid with a good imagination. One day he wandered outside to play on the trampoline. Carmen was napping & the big kids were all at school. It was a very nice day, the windows were opened. All of a sudden I hear Andrew scream. I look out the window & see him dangling from the frame of the trampoline.
I sure wish I had a picture to show you cause it was a classic moment. And believe it or not (you'll believe it though if you know me well enough) as I was running out the door to rescue him I thought "I sure wish I had my camera in my hands ready to go, I really want to capture this!" The situation did not allow me to get much past that thought. Although he wasn't in any immediate danger he certainly wasn't in a position (literally) to stay put for a moment longer.
You have to picture it though. We have this big trampoline with a net around it. The net has a 3 foot or so tall door that you crawl through to actually get on the jumping part of the trampoline. We keep a step stool below that spot to help aid the getting up & down on the frame. When Andrew stepped out onto the frame to get down his foot slipped and got caught in between the springs of the frame. While his foot was stuck there the rest of his body continued forward and he was dangling upside down from that spot. His stuck foot was the only thing keeping him from hitting the ground.
I got him rescued from his predicament and had a little scare as I initially thought he had broken his leg. Once safely on the ground & amidst all of his tears he tried to explain to me that he was trying to be like Superman & fly. Ah-ha so the truth comes out....he wasn't trying to get down in a normal fashion, he was trying to "fly" down from the trampoline.
Well Superman had quite the scare. Even though it didn't deter him from being on the trampoline he seemed to stop flying everywhere we went.
God's Kids performance
Mandy Brianna & John had their God's Kids performance. For those that don't know it's basically a muscial put on by the churh kids. Each did a good job at their part! Here are some pics I snapped after they were done. They were a little wound up!
Here they are with some good friends of the family:
!
Here they are with some good friends of the family:
!
ALS 5k
I ran in another 5k race, this one was local, right here is Galesburg. The weather was very nice. There was a very small turn out, about 40 people.
I had been battling a back injury. I'm not really sure what the problem was, but it was in my lower back & it hurt. Exercise seemed to make it worse so I scaled back a bit. I don't think I wanted to admit that running was making it worse. If I admitted that then I could easily justify not racing.
The race itself went nicely. I actually ran a faster time than my previous race. Someone told me they thought the course was a little long, which made no sense to me since I posted a faster time. Maybe it was a little short? Not gonna argue with my time though. I actually had a slower first mile, but was more consistant over all. That is good, something I strive for. I finished in 21:51. I like that. I did have someone not too far behind me, that helped me push. I didn't want her to catch me. She finished about 30 seconds behind me.
Once I had finished I had horrible back pain. My back seized up and I was limping. THEN I was to admit that running was my back pain culprit. And I haven't run for 2 weeks either. It's been what seems like a very long healing process. I'll be back at it again soon...I promise.
Here I am receiving my award. I was the top female finisher.
Here I am with some friends, posing for some photo opps. We've done many races together. We like to have fun & goof around while supporting each other during the race (we all have different running paces & abilities).
This was us before the race (notice big smiles & not a lot of sweat). Us 3 gals all work at the Y. So we always have to get our Y staff photo taken so we can post it on the bulletin board at work. We'd like to see more Y staff & members come out & race. It doesn't matter if people run or walk, if they are fast or slow, young or old. Just come join us for some fun & support whatever cause the race is for.
I had been battling a back injury. I'm not really sure what the problem was, but it was in my lower back & it hurt. Exercise seemed to make it worse so I scaled back a bit. I don't think I wanted to admit that running was making it worse. If I admitted that then I could easily justify not racing.
The race itself went nicely. I actually ran a faster time than my previous race. Someone told me they thought the course was a little long, which made no sense to me since I posted a faster time. Maybe it was a little short? Not gonna argue with my time though. I actually had a slower first mile, but was more consistant over all. That is good, something I strive for. I finished in 21:51. I like that. I did have someone not too far behind me, that helped me push. I didn't want her to catch me. She finished about 30 seconds behind me.
Once I had finished I had horrible back pain. My back seized up and I was limping. THEN I was to admit that running was my back pain culprit. And I haven't run for 2 weeks either. It's been what seems like a very long healing process. I'll be back at it again soon...I promise.
Here I am receiving my award. I was the top female finisher.
Here I am with some friends, posing for some photo opps. We've done many races together. We like to have fun & goof around while supporting each other during the race (we all have different running paces & abilities).
This was us before the race (notice big smiles & not a lot of sweat). Us 3 gals all work at the Y. So we always have to get our Y staff photo taken so we can post it on the bulletin board at work. We'd like to see more Y staff & members come out & race. It doesn't matter if people run or walk, if they are fast or slow, young or old. Just come join us for some fun & support whatever cause the race is for.
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