Jump Start

From our bed, Eric and I have a clear shot into our bathroom. So, when Caleb, who has no scruples about peeing in front of anyone and rarely ever shuts the bathroom door while doing any business in there, bounced off the bed and announced that he had to use the potty, we simply looked the other direction to give him privacy. However, when he didn't return after the five seconds that it usually takes him to potty and wash hands, we took a look in. There he was standing in much concentration over the potty. After about another minute, he started slapping at his bottom saying, "Come on, come on." I guess it worked, because the stream started flowing and our four-year-old could carry on with his day.

Seth has just recently started showing interest in the potty. I don't think he is anywhere near ready to start training, but he gets really excited to just sit on the potty (usually fully clothed) for a few seconds, flush, put the lid down, and then wash his hands. The whole routine makes him feel like such a big boy. My personal hope is that big brother will do most of the actual potty training, but for now Seth is enjoying this little introduction phase. Any actual progress would be a big bonus at this point.

One day this week while changing his diaper, Seth was adamant that he had to go "pee pee" and kept pointing toward the bathroom, so I placed him bare-bottomed and all smiles on the potty. For one small glimmer of a moment, I thought he might actually potty there. Caleb followed us into the bathroom and was cheering Sethie on. After about a minute, Caleb started patting Seth on the back. I asked Caleb what he was doing and without hesitation he responded, "I am giving him a jump start! It works for me!"

It didn't work this time for little brother, but maybe that will be a tool we can use in the future. Thanks Biz!!

Can You Really Top Chocolate Frosting?

Love those sweet chocolate mouths and kisses that go along with them!!

Happy Birthday, Andrew! What a fun party!

God Smiled at Me...In the U-Scan Lane

I am not sure why I still do it. Maybe it is habit? Maybe it is that I think I have something to prove? Maybe it is a false sense that it will somehow be faster? Or maybe it is just pure ignorant bliss? In reality, it is probably a combination of all. But nonetheless, I seem to get temporary amnesia as I approach the U-Scan lane at Wal-mart with a full cart of groceries and two Workman boys in tow. EVERY TIME.


I started using the U-Scan lane at Kroger, because it is much faster, especially since the Kroger where I shop only seems to ever have one cashier lane open at any given time. I usually only have a few groceries there, so it is much quicker to check myself out and avoid the line that snakes around the front of the store. Then, I graduated to trying it out in Wal-mart with a few more groceries. I guess that whole "being in control" thing can be exercised when checking out at the grocery... and I like it! I got tired of having to go to customer service after each trip through the check-out lane because an item had been scanned twice or the wrong produce code was punched in by the cashier. And since I don't think a lot of people have gotten the U-Scan bug, those lanes are usually always open with no waiting. So, I have become a habitual U-Scan user...even with an overflowing cart.



Grocery shopping has always been a fun family outing. I know that sounds crazy, but as I have said before, my boys thrive in the grocery store. When Caleb was really little and would get fussy, a trip to Wal-mart was an instant soother. Maybe it was being surrounded by all of the food? Maybe it was the bargains? I don't know. But our shopping excursions continue to be a welcomed part of our week.

That is until check out time!


Until recently, it really hasn't been too big of a deal to utilize the U-Scan lane, even with a pile of groceries. Caleb usually sets his sights on those little toy cell phones, etch-a-sketches, and cameras that they strategically place in the check out lane and sits and plays with them while I check out. Or he goes around sniffing all of the packaged gum. Seth is usually content to remain in his seat and watch all of the action. Over the course of the last few weeks, though, Caleb's urge to be the "big grocery helper" has reemerged and Sethie doesn't want to be left out! As we roll up to the check out, those eager boys are ready to help. In the past, I have found it to be a lot of fun having Caleb help me put the groceries on the conveyor belt and talk about all the things we had bought, so I was excited when Seth wanted to partake, too. However, I failed to anticipate just how CHAOTIC it would be to have both boys throwing food out of the cart, with one trying to scan the items ("Only scan it once, PLEASE!") and both doing amazing balancing acts to try to stay in the cart. Who knew that trying to keep my eyes on two boys in one shopping cart would the impossible task? It is only one cart, after all. It isn't like I am trying to patrol them in some crazy maze. It looks like fun. The commercials make it look so easy and enjoyable. But for me, it is one big challenge that results in a big ole headache. I do love it that my boys want to be big helpers. I really do. But I must admit that I am task oriented person and sometimes I just want to get the job done quickly. Okay, most of the time, it IS a race to see how fast I can get it done. And as all mothers know, when you have a little helper, it takes twice as long to accomplish a task. With two little helpers, double that already doubled time.

I think a lot of times I miss the little ways that God answers my prayers and sends blessings to me, because I am looking for something huge and miraculous. Or I am looking for all of my struggles to just be wiped away after a mumbled prayer. Lately, I have been struggling with just the day-to-day parenting issues. I have been more irritable and I have been viewing simple inconveniences as major catastrophes. I have been praying Psalm 119:33-40 over myself as I seek God and His wisdom in my life and strive to keep the things that He has deemed important at the forefront of thought, instead of the things of the world that I can get caught up in and cause me to lose focus. I lose focus A LOT and end up getting consumed by the little inconveniences and let the unimportant things have control over me. Some days, I tend to think, "Where are you, God? Do you see me struggling here? And why am I struggling with such miniscule things anyway? HELP!"

Yesterday, I had a revelation...right there in the U-Scan lane!! As the chaos was in full swing, the sweet cashier overseeing the U-Scans came over to help me out. It was one of those situations when as a mother, you want to say, "I don't know what has gotten into my children, they never act this way." The lady was just so encouraging as she saw my energetic children throwing food on the belt and bouncing all over the cart. Right as Seth missed the belt and the yogurt landed with a splat on the floor opening into a great mess, the lady laughed and said, "At least your boys want to help. Enjoy it! When they get to be teenagers, it won't be this way." How did she know that she could not have spoken any more perfect words to me in that moment? She had such grace and patience with us, offering to go get us more yogurt (and also another box of crackers since Seth had gnawed a hole in the box...I declined on both, since neither damage was the fault of Wal-mart) and kindly stepped in to mop up the yogurt with paper towels, SMILING the whole time. I thanked the lady profusely for all of her help and she smiled and said, "I really miss those days. Treasure them." As I was rolling my crew out of the store, I really felt God smile at me. He may have even winked. I felt him say, "I do see your struggle and that is why I sent my Son. I may not take every challenge away and make every task smooth in order to stick to your plans, but if I did, how would you see my Son in the everyday things and know how desperately you need Him? And how would you teach the boys the things they need to learn? I am ALWAYS with you...even at Wal-mart. I never said life would be easy, chic, so buck up and bask in the blessings I have given you." (Okay, I added that last sentence...I don't think God actually called me chic or told me to "buck up." That was more my own realization.)

I was also reminded in that moment of another blessing, that I had forgotten to truly see God's fingerprints on. While in the U-Scan lane (AGAIN) a few weeks earlier, a lady and her pre-teen daughter unloaded my ENTIRE shopping cart for me, as Seth had a breakdown mid-check out. Jesus chose to reveal Himself to me, a struggling mom, just trying to get the grocery shopping done before lunch, through that sweet Wal-mart lady and another mom, who had probably both been in my shoes at an earlier point in her life. No condemnation, no rolling eyes, no comments about how next time I should do X, Y, or Z (or just chuck the whole thing and leave the kids at home). No, they did not judge me; they just saw there was a need and chose to love on me, being the arms of Christ.

Thank you, God, for the blessings in life and for how You reveal Yourself to me through the kind acts of others. May you use me in the same way.

Two Brothers on a Couch

Another Chat with Caleb

Caleb: "Mommy, why did you pick to marry Eric?"

Mommy: " You mean, Daddy?"

Caleb: "Yeah, Dad."

Mommy: "Because I fell in love with him and we have fun together."

Caleb: "Like did he play pirates with you and race hotwheels?"

Mommy: "Well, not exactly, but we did other fun things together."

Caleb: "Yeah, Daddy is fun...but I DO NOT want to marry him."

It's Genetic!

With my love for maps and Eric's love for state trivia and history, we were bound to have U.S. geography enthusiast!

Bowling...Without Kids

Trash Talking--We had that (Didn't we, Matt and Katie?)

Close games--We had that

Lots of laughs while wearing funny shoes--We had that

Flying high fives--We had that

A matching bowling duo--We had that



A little air hockey action--We had that



Cosmic bowling that really threw some of us off our game (however, I am not sure how much game "us"--namely me--was having prior to the lights going out anyway)--We had that



Bowling balls being thrown at us backwards--We had that, too. Right, Kristin?



Good food--We had that



Ice cream--Of course, we had that



Potty breaks with the kiddos--We didn't have that




Chasing children down the bowling lane, bribing little ones to eat, and playing referee to a bunch of little boys--We didn't have that, either

Ahh...Sometimes it is nice to have an Adults Only night out!

In the end, I think Matt was hailed the Bowling Champion. However, it was a nasty fight to the finish in the first game with Katie leading the whole way and Matt snatching the glory away from her in that final frame. Just moments after a little of that Songer/Davis trash talking I mentioned earlier. In the second game, Eric creeped up to grab second place while nobody was looking. Way to go, honey! Chris and Kristin each had respectable middle of the pack showings, while I finished last in both games. I was consistent, however, scoring almost the same low score in both games--a 77 in game 1 and a 74 in game 2. Not even one strike or spare was made by moi. Oh well. Maybe next time I will dazzle with some mad bowling skills.

ACES Wild

My friend Katie's most recent comment on my blog prompted me to write this post explaining the origin of the blog's name--ACES Wild. Don't worry, Katie, your observation skills have not failed you; Nowhere on this blog or in any previous post have I ever mentioned the reasoning behind the name. I am notorious for assuming that just because something is in my head then everyone else can see it, too. Just ask my dear hubby.

For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, ACES is an acronym for our first names--Amy, Caleb, Eric, and Seth. So, ACES has become our family acronym, so to speak, inspired by Memaw and Pepaw. PAGE is the Workman family acronym--Patti, Andrew, Gary, and Eric. All of Pepaw's boats have been named PAGE. I think they are on PAGE IV now. Eric and I always thought that was cool and since both of our names started with vowels, we thought we might have a shot at having a snazzy little acronym of our own.

And since the majority of the time, this house is a WILD house, I thought ACES Wild was a most appropriate name. So there you have it!

And yes, Katie, it was your worst case scenario...I assumed everyone would figure it out that it is an acronym. But rest assured, my dear friend, you are not the first person who was puzzled by it. I have had lots of people ask, "Where in the heck did you get that name?" And then go, "Duh!"

Inquiring minds can now rest assured.

A Big Tree Fight

I am not sure who was declared the winner of this battle. But there was no bloodshed, so it was all good.

An Afternoon Hike

Eric took the day off on Monday (Hooray!), so that afternoon, we decided to head to the park for a hike. Caleb played guide and leader for the majority of our journey. We have taken the boys on that same hike many times and our destination is always "Pride Rock," an affectionately Workman named rock ledge, located off the beaten path, that overlooks the trees and is a really peaceful place. Eric and Caleb found it during one of their first hikes together, which must have taken place during The Lion King phase.

Our boys are alike in a lot of ways, but this adventure together really highlighted some of the contrast between them. Caleb is an adventurer. He came out of the womb that way. Few things have ever caused fear in him and I don't think any sort of physical challenge has ever caused him to flinch. At the start of the trail, he found a hiking stick and immediately his mind was set on exploration and adventure. He led us right to "Pride Rock," by the way. We went down a particularly rugged trail at one point and Caleb was way out in front of us, finding his own ways to climb up steep hills and maneuver through a thick bunch of branches. And if he stumbled, he just got right back up and tried it again or figured out a different way. Eric commented that you can just throw Caleb into any situation and he will jump right in and instantly adapt...or just do his own thing, which is another way of adapting. That is similar to my personality. He loves to be around people and especially loves an audience.

Seth, on the other hand, is more like his Daddy. He is more the casual observer. He doesn't just jump right in. He has to stand back and be acclimated to the situation before he sticks his toe in. And then if he feels it is worth his while, he will go for it. But it takes time and has to be on his terms. He likes people, but is just as happy to play by himself. He has never been a real demander of attention. He is not shy; He is just not much of a risk taker (which can be nice. I am not sure how I would handle two of them). For the first part of our hike, Seth wanted to be carried or on Daddy's shoulders. He wasn't quite sure he was going to be game for all of the adventure, so he wanted to stay close to home base. He didn't go head first toward the rocks, dirt, and hills and say, "Yes, this is an adventure!," like Biz. He hung back and waited for big brother to test the waters and then he made baby steps. Granted, he is not even two yet, so I think this is normal behavior for a toddler just learning about the world. We just never really had this phase with Caleb, because he hit the ground running and never looked back. By the end of the hike, Seth wanted to walk by himself and explore everything. He was even climbing hills on his own, with coaxing from the rest of the family.





















Gradual, cautious, well-calculated, observer--that's our Sethie
Instantaneous/spontaneous, fearless, challenge-seeker, problem solver--that's our Biz

Both boys are so full of life, but it is expressed in different ways.

On our way back from the trail, we stopped so the boys could play on the rocks by the creek. As always, Caleb instantly found a buddy and they took turns throwing big rocks in the water and laughing at the big splashes. Daddy and Seth took turns throwing Sethie-sized rocks in. Good fun.

Caleb got a little ambitious and started leaping from one big rock to another. Although I had warned him that it might be slippery, my adventurous 4-year-old only saw this as a challenge. Right as we were getting ready to leave, I looked down and there was Caleb in the water up to his knees. I guess he missed the creek bank when jumping. He pulled himself up and looked at Eric and I and said rather dramatically, "Why does this always happen to me?"

All Eric and I could do was snicker. I can't really recall another time that Caleb has fallen into the water like that, although he proclaimed it was a regular occurrence. But it was really funny and gave us all a good laugh.


We are anxiously awaiting Spring. Camping, here we come!!!

Oh, and what better way to end a day than with a ride down the curvy slide together back at the park.

I guess those Workman boys aren't too different! Of course, Sethie refused to go down the slide until Biz came along and "tested the waters" first.

FINALLY...A Day Outside!!!

Not only has it been FREEZING here in middle Tennessee for the past couple of weeks, the past five days found the Workman clan home bound due to yucky sickness. Usually our family is gracious enough to let each member have his/her own turn at being sick, but this time such grace was abandoned, as the two little boys and I decided to simultaneously share the sickness spotlight. Caleb had his first bout with strep throat and Sethie and I decided to share a nasty little stomach virus. All of this coincided with an incredibly busy week at work for Eric that took him away from home an extra night. However, his absense from home did not allow him to escape his turn with the yuck. By week's end, we had passed off our little virus to daddy, too.

Ahh...but Friday came, and the sickness was gone, for the most part. At least enough to get us out of this house and save the last bit of sanity that remained in me. What better way to celebrate? Take the monkeys to Pump It Up and let them run amuk! I can think of no better way to burn off pent up energy than bouncing all over the place on oversized inflatibles.

And the sun was shining! God is so good. I felt like I had emerged from a germ-ridden cave...and I didn't even have to wear a coat. First time in weeks. It felt so good to rejoin the land of the living and see the world again.

Today was an equally beautiful day and this time, we got to spend some, much needed, time outside at the park. I think most everyone in Franklin had the same idea, since the boys ran into many of their friends enjoying the park, as well.

And all four of the Workmans were very happy!!!
(I think the Songers were glad, too!)