This weekend was Jbird's turn to head into town with me. As expected, he chose his IHOP coupon.

Before eating we went to Target to look at toys. Not surprisingly, we spent 40 minutes in 3 aisles of the toy section. I just love to watch him and listen to all the commentary. I got a long list of 'wants' from him. It was a cold night to venture out - when we got home, the outside temperature was -11 (yes, below zero)! It was all worth it though.

This week has been a 'tv free' week. This morning instead of being greeted with the standard 'can we watch tv', the boys headed downstairs and we all painted and played tic tac toe. B has told me he has actually kind of liked not having tv. He keeps a reading log for school and this week alone, he has read over 7 hours. He has been reading the Super Fudge books, Magic Tree House, some biographies and I found some Hardy Boys. He will lay in bed every night with me and read and read and read. I usually have to convince him to turn out the light. He just reads and laughs and reads and laughs some more! Jbird on the other hand has been my early riser, so he and I boil some water and he drinks hot chocolate and I drink tea while we read his devotional book.

Being intentional has already paid off in many ways over the last two weeks and I look forward to seeing what other changes will unfold. There is just a calm environment in our house and I am one that thrives on calm. Another one of my goals this year is to be consistent in practicing one of my 'musical instruments'. The ones that have moved with me for many years but never get any playing time. I talked with a friend and she is going to give me a piano 'lesson' once a week. I think it might be more of me bringing all my questions to her and her making sure I am not picking up any bad habits, but it is a start.

Time for me to go curl up with the boy and get warm and read!