Waiting out the rain

Greetings family,

I just finished reading a book by George Barna called "revolutionary parenting". It wasn't all that revolutionary compared to what Kendra and I believe, but it provided some good insight about the common factors that lead to raising spiritual champions.  It confirmed a few of our parenting methods and gave some language to what I've been working through over the past few years.  The most shocking revelation is that the majority of parental influence stops around age 13.  That means we have about 4 years left of influential years left to shape and mold them.  ouch. 

The twins are staying up until 8:30 now as their official "lights out" time.  from 8:00 to 8:30 is reading time.  7:30 to 8:00 is bed time routine. so my nights are pretty well spoken for from the time I walk in the door until about 8:30. 

then I do my 30 minute work out video routine and get ready for the next day to do it all over again. I'm enjoying every moment knowing that i'll have plenty of time for hobbies and personal time when the marathon of parenting starts to wind down.

Easton is still very interested in Pokémon books, cards, shows, and gear.  His latest pajamas are Pokémon themed.  He's still into minecraft and Halo though too.  He's reading a book about minecraft as his bed time reading.  He doesn't like pictures much so this is a rare one of him smiling right at the camera.  I'll take what I can get here...

While we were out for dinner some evening I captured this candid shot of Layla and I conversing.  We both look goofy and I don't really care about that.  What I care about is how engaged and connected we are.  This makes me very fulfilled to see the fruits of my time and efforts bearing out results like this. 

I told Easton he is in charge of cooking dinner.  He's seen me grill before, but this time I didn't touch a thing other than the BBQ lid because he is too short to open and close it.  He cooked a great flank steak with my coaching.

The neighborhood park is swarming with kids every sunny day after school.  Here is Layla and Easton and a neighbor kid counting while the others go hide.  Layla is making sure the boys don't peak. 

it is still chilly enough in this neck of the woods for us to wear warm clothes around the house and wrap up in blankets.  Layla has this one that is shaped like a mermaid tail and Easton has one shaped like a shark. They lounge in these as we hang out in the upstairs den because it is turning into the regular evening spot for our devotions, movie times, and game nights. 

Kendra bought Easton a new shirt because he is growing out of his clothes so quickly.  Easton put this one on and told me Ouma will NOT like this one bit.  The tarantula even has a fuzzy patch on the shirt where the abdomen is.  super creepy, but he loves science and nature. 

These are a random sampling of the interactions I have with the twins, but during this rainy part of the season we aren't having many adventures.  We're saving them up for the summer time!  I've been working at my new company for 6 months and haven't taken a single day of vacation yet.  I'm letting it build up for us to have the greatest summer ever. 

See you soon!