How to get a Child to Play Nice

That was the title of an email I just got from BabyCenter. I can tell you the answer. PRAY!!!

My good friend, Gina, and I have been getting together once in a while to have lunch. Gina's oldest, Elijah, will be 4 in September and Carson will be 3 in December. So there is a little bit of an age difference. There have been several times when the two of them just DO NOT GET A LONG in the littlest bit. Taking toys from each other, yelling at each other, just being naughty with each other. Some may say, "Oh, they're just being boys." Well. I do NOT think it is OK for my son to behave like that with his friends. So, what I have been doing the last couple times is praying. I pray that the Lord's peace will reign over our house, in us, and in anyone who comes over. Daily, I also stand on the promise of Isaiah 54:13 that says "All my children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be their peace." The last couple of times when we have had them over it has been completely different! Praise God!

I am sure it is helping that they are older every time we do see each other, but I am giving credit to where credit is due. God. He is so faithful! We have also been working with Carson (with neighbor kids and church friends) on being nice to kids. Not hitting, pushing, or taking toys out of other kids hands. We still have more work to do, of course, but there has been major progress! Thank you Jesus!!!

Just wanted to share on how I get kids to play nice at my house. :)

On a side note: I am sure that Gina and David also work with Elijah on his behavior just how Trever and I do with Carson. I haven't talked about this today with Gina, so I can only speak for myself.

ALOHA and may you be richly blessed and touched by the Lord.

WOW!

"God no longer sees me as a sinner. Because of His Son's blood sacrifice, He looks at me...and sees Jesus there instead." Beverly Lewis, The Longing.

Think about what that says. God doesn't see the bad we do. Not forgiving as fast as we should, getting frustrated with kids, with our spouse, work or bills. He doesn't see the pain or hurt we might temporarily cause someone. He sees Jesus in us!!! Amazing. God is so wonderful! Think about the love He has for you. The love that He sent to die in our place. Simply AMAZING!!!

ALOHA!

Savings, Savings, Savings

We have become very fond of special deals. Sales, coupons, clearance items, clearance items with coupons...

We got our hands on some Kohl's $5 coupons. With those coupons we bought:

ITEM, ORIG. PRICE, WHAT WE PAID
pnk earings, $14, $.40
bangels, $30, $.40
turq. earings, $14, $.60
womens tank top, $16, $1.40
sports bra, $36, $9.40
mens socks (6), $10, $2.00
Toddler polo shirt, $16, $1.40
2 baby sleepers, $16, $3.00
baby jumper suit/bib, $12, $1.00
-------- -------
$164.00 $19.60

That is a savings of $144.40! Not bad, if I say so myself! :) It was a little crazy with Carson and Gabe. Carson was tired and not doing all that great, BUT we did get it done. And Gabe was sleepy after only getting cat naps in since we went to church...not to mention we were all HOT! Can you believe this weather??? SUMMER IS HERE!


What have been your BIG savings lately??? What is your favorite way to save?

ALOHA!

2 WEEKS in a ROW!!!

8:31 Sunday morning and we are getting ready to go to church. AGAIN! Wow! 2 weeks in a row. Can you tell I am feeling a little proud of us? :)

ALOHA!

Already?

Carly came over yesterday to play with Carson for a bit and eat lunch with us. She is so great to have over. Carson loves her so much! He gets REALLY wound up and doesn't really behave that well with having her over. We were praying that he would CALM DOWN and he was shaking his arms all around. Don't know how to get him to realize it is OK, and he can calm down and still play. :) Carly is such a trooper with Carson and his behavior. She said he was "snuggling" with her, but it was hurting her tummy. :)




Today, Gabe is 4 months YOUNG!!! Man, where does the time go? I think he is teething some, so that hasn't been so great. Before today, he hasn't been taking naps all that well, waking up too early. He has owie mouth. His hands, blankie or something around him is in his mouth all the time. I was holding him last night and he was digging his gums into my shoulder. There was a blankie on my shoulder and there was a red mark from him when I took it off. Makes me sad for the little guy.

Praise the Lord! Trever got some business from a family member of a previous refinance he had done. We are ever so thankful to the Lord and the family for referring them to Coster Capital. :) Thank you!

Carson is now only in diapers for nap and night-time. He had 2 accidents last weekend. One time while he was with Papa and the other when we were outside seeing our family for the BBQ last Sunday. I think he was too excited and didn't want to leave all the fun. We are SO proud of him! I am so amazed at how well he is really doing. Thank you Jesus!

ALOHA!

A Change

Today, I cut off about 12" of my hair. About 10 1/2" are getting mailed to Locks of Love tomorrow, but the rest fell on the salon floor...

About 2 weeks ago, the idea of cutting all my hair off and donating it got put in my head. I don't remember how that all came about, but it did. I know it is just hair, but I haven't had this short of hair since I got married, almost 7 years ago! I thought it would be nice to help out a child (it takes 30 hair donations for ONE wig!), feel cooler for the summer, look/feel healthier, and maybe not so easy for Gabe to pull on?!

I wasn't totally sold on the idea, either was Trever. But, last week I talked to my cousin Christian (picture below), who has had a hard last month or so, well really year. With 2 back surgeries and an emergency surgery on his abdomen, I would say that counts as hard. He was saying that after about 15 years of having long hair, he cut it all off after being out of the hospital for 2 days! My Gramma got home this afternoon from being out East, helping him, so I haven't seen pix yet. After having a wonderful talk with Christian, I decided that if he can do, so can I! Thanks for the push Christian! ;) I love you lots!

So what do ya think?


ALOHA!

WEEKEND

I find that Monday's, Tuesday's and Wednesday's fly by every week and then on Thursday's I always have to remind myself what day it is and figure out how many week days we have left until the weekend. Usually I feel disappointed that we still have Thursday and Friday to get through until the Trever can be home with us. As much as I do look forward to the weekend and Trev being home, this last Saturday morning I chose to over react to some silly event, and ruined a good hour of our morning. I got out of my "funk" and we had a good rest of the day.

We had missed a call from Mimi, so Carson called her back. She was trying to have him ask us something, but it wasn't going so well, so Trev finished up the phone call. The bottom line was that they had been given 2 $25 gift cards to the Olive Garden and wanted to know if we would join them for dinner. The last time Trev and I went out to dinner was in March to celebrate our Valentine's Day. I couldn't even tell ya the last time we went to dinner with Mimi and Grandpa. Trever hasn't even been to the Olive Garden in Medford before!!! I have been there one other time, about 4 or 5 years ago, so needless to say we don't eat out much and never eat at the Olive Garden. It was funny though, cause we were both so excited!!! We all loaded up into Auntie's car (they had our car in Seattle) and went on our way. Gabe fell asleep in his bucket seat and Carson behaved very well. It was so enjoyable. Both boys did a great job being out at the restaurant. The car ride home was interesting since it was past Carson's bedtime, but we all survived it.

The last several Sunday's Trever has been going to open houses to talk to realtor's and give them his business cards, so we haven't been going to church. This weekend he decided he didn't want to do that, so we went to church. It was the 2ND TIME GABE AND I HAVE GONE SINCE HE WAS BORN (he will be 4 months on the 25th)!!! I know, I know. It was so nice to be back there! The worship was wonderful! The teaching was great too. It was the 3rd week of a marriage study, so that was nice to get in on. And Carson had a great time in Sunday School.

Before we left for church he said, "I will not push Paige over." We had a little talk about how we are nice to our friends, and we do not push them over. So, after Sunday School, he said, "I didn't push Paige over." We were happy to hear about that. :) We not only went to church, but also went to WinCo and Fred Meyer for some groceries. Major outing for the Coster family! :)

Trever's Uncle John, Auntie Barb, and cousin Sivje (her girls India and Ahnalin) were in town for a couple nights resting before making their way back home, so we ended up having a BBQ across the street in the open space with them and my mom. It was great to see them face to face and not just see their blog and Facebook accounts. :)

1 inch. That is the depth of Gabe's first roll on his leg when they are out straight.

Any potty training experienced moms have any general tips that would be helpful? Anything that pops out in your head? Tips? Tricks?

ALOHA!

BIG Day!

Today was the 3rd day this week that we have worked on Carson not wearing a diaper and wearing big boy pants (excluding nap time). Monday, Thursday and today were ALL successful in big boy pants without ANY accidents. Today was the first day that after nap we put the big boy pants on until bed time and still, NO ACCIDENTS! I am so amazingly proud of Carson. It sounds so cheese-ball, but my heart is just filled with joy and happiness for him. I don't know if or how I can really convey that to my 2 1/2 year old.

We were outside a lot this morning where he went pee and poops, but then we were inside plenty to where he had to go in the potty. So AMAZING! Boy, never thought I could be so proud of the little guy. Before his nap, I told him that since he has been doing such a good job of going in the potty, that after nap he could have a treat. I also told him Papa would be home when he got up. So, after he woke up, Trev went and got him. He said, "Hi Pop, can I have a treat?" The little guy has a GREAT memory! :) Then he came out into the living room and asked me for his treat.

Part of our morning was spent watering and playing with water. I got the Elmo sprinkler out of the garage that used to be big Cuz Cole's, and happened to noticed a frog in the garage. That is right, a FROG! So, my first thought was, "I need to call Michael and Karter and have them come up and catch it." Second thought was, "If I leave, it might hide and I won't be able to find it." So, I toughed it out and caught it myself. That might not be a big deal to some bug/small animal friendly people, but to me, it was! In the middle of me trying to get him, he hopped behind some stuff, so I had to guide him back out to where I could get my hands around him and get him out of the garage. It took plenty of tries of me getting my hands close enough around him, him having to hop so I could pick him up and me trying to keep all the squealing down to where I could focus and get the job done. I am happy to report, that I DID DO IT! I got him in my hands, and carried him outside and put him in a plant. Whew! We had to call Papa and tell him all about it. I think my adrenaline was going, cause I felt like I had just had a work out! :) I would have liked to take a picture, but didn't want to turn my back on him, so he could hop somewhere else. So, this time we are picture-less.

ALOHA!

Diapers and Fair.

This morning after changing Carson out of his night-time diaper and jammies, I put big boy pants on instead of a diaper. He had them on for over 4 hours and DIDN'T have ANY accidents! YEAH CARSON!!! I am just so proud of him. He went a lot! Some times on his potty, and then other times standing on a stool to go on the big potty.


Last summer we went to the Siskiyou County Fair in Yreka. It was SO great! We got there shortly after they had opened and it wasn't too crowded, VERY shaded by large trees, clean, great fair food, animals and rides. My FIL keeps asking me when it is this year, and I just found out. August 12-16. I would HIGHLY recommend this fair over Jackson or Josephine County Fairs. And it looks like Clay Walker is supposed to be there also!!! Here are our pictures from last year that you can look at for a peek. Write it down on your calender! You won't want to miss it, if you are a fair loving person.

ALOHA!

Pray

Yesterday while Carson and I were having lunch, he decided he needed to pray. He was holding his sandwich and said "Carson pray." He set his sandwich down and said, "Jesus, help Kasia not fall down on the horsey and not fall down. Amen." This was the 1st "Carson prayer" that he has said without being prompted that I had heard. I told Trever about it and he said that yesterday morning after talking with Carson and disciplining him, he said a prayer to Jesus about disobeying. Pretty neat what the 2 year youngings can do!

Today Gabe is 15 weeks young. We went up to ACH again and got him weighed and measured. 15.12#'s and 26."

ALOHA!