Small-Town Life

Catch Me If You Can!

2008-04-05T15:38:00.002-04:00

Weeeeeeeee! I have a new look! Come and see! I'll be blogging here from now on. Thank you so much for creating my header, Sara! I LOVE it!

Tears of Joy

2008-04-03T21:28:00.003-04:00

Ethan called out to me tonight, about 45 minutes after he went to bed. I walked in to his room to find him sobbing. I asked him what was wrong,

"I'm (sob) just so full (sob) of joy!" (big sobs)

I wish I had a picture of his precious little face. He asked me if that ever happened to me, if I ever cried from being full of so much joy. I told him how I sometimes cry when I hear a song that really touches me, and at other times when I can just really feel Jesus' presence. Ethan said his joy came from the music he was listening to just then... "Sunday Morning Songs" by Bob and Larry. So precious.

A Little Commercial

2008-04-02T11:42:00.001-04:00

I just need to tell you all about the best barbeque sauce ever. After we moved, we couldn't find it. But I just ordered a case of it online today! Can't have summer without Cookie's!

The View Out My Window

2008-03-28T17:04:00.002-04:00

Anytime I look out the windows facing the back of our house, or coming down the street from taking the kids to school, I see the good old American flag waving above the houses. I can't help but think of my grandpa who was in WWII and my dad who was in Vietnam/Korea/Thailand, and the husband of my friend Tracey, who is on his way to war in Iraq. Whenever I try to talk to Tracey about it, I end up sounding like a blubbering fool. I just can't find the right words to express my thanks and gratitude and indebtedness for the sacrifice she and her husband are making for me and my family. Tracey, I'm praying for you, your kids, and your beloved sergeant. Many many prayers, not just from our family, but from millions of people all across the country, are going with him!

If Cartoons Got Saved

2008-03-27T14:44:00.002-04:00

After reading Sarah's post over at Life in the Parsonage where she mentioned her son prays for his favorite cartoons, I thought of this really cute song and just thought I'd share it, heehee!

Little Bunny Foo-Foo

2008-03-27T12:19:00.003-04:00

Okay, most of us grew up learning that song in elementary school. You know how it goes, Little B-F-F goes hopping along, scoops up field mice and bops them on the head. Little bully. But down comes the fairy and she says, "Little Bunny Foo-Foo I don't want to see you scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head. I'll give you two more chances, and if you don't stop, I'll turn you into a GOON!"

Okay, so that last part with the chances and turning into a goon, there are probably all kinds of variations of that part. But I wanted to share with you what I just now heard Ethan singing while he was sitting at the table eating some little foil-covered chocolate bunnies, marching them across the table. His exact words:

"Little Bunny Foo-Foo Hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head. Along came the fairy and she said, 'WHAT?! You're still doing that??? If you keep it up you're going to JAIL!"

And then Ethan gobbled up the unwrapped bunny he was marching across the table.

Somebody Got Stuck In The Toy Box

2008-03-26T17:14:00.002-04:00

Heehee!

Another Question Answered!

2008-03-24T13:45:00.001-04:00

I always get kind of nervous posting Biblical/Scriptural/God stuff because I'm still learning and still have a LOT to learn, but I get those "a-ha! moments" and think it's just so wonderful that I want to tell the world about it! So, if I misunderstand something, or say it wrong, I'd love to be gently corrected!

Anyway...

I love love love when this happens. Another question answered! For the past couple weeks (really since I've started that Isaiah Bible study) I've been thinking about holiness. I see a lot of Mennonite and Amish women here, and I do admire that they don't conform to the world. And I had been wondering if they are holier than me. I've been wondering what it means/looks like to be holy. I know "holy" means to be "set apart." So that's why I was wondering if those ladies were holier, because they are definitely setting themselves apart. Just this morning I was even talking to Heth about it.

Well, right now I'm doing my Isaiah homework, and I tell you what, Kay Arthur took us to Colossians 3:5. (Remember I'm studying ISAIAH, not Colossians)

BINGO!!! The whole chapter is about holy living!!! I LOVE it when that happens!

As I sit here trying to type out vs. 5 I realize that the whole chapter, chapter 3, says it all. Not just verse 5. I'll list it out. Put to death whatever belongs to my earthly nature (oh man!) like: sexual immorality; impurity; lust; evil desires and greed; anger; rage; malice; slander; filthy language; lying to each other; since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed inknowledge in the image of its Creator. There is no Grekk or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (that was a sort of summary of verses 5-11).

But I really love this part (quoting the rest of Colossians 3:12-17 and by the way those italics are my own emphasis because those are parts that really really speak to me),

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Oh man, I need to read all that every day many many times a day. Maybe I should copy it down and tape it all over the house, like on my bathroom mirror, near the kitchen sink, on the T.V. and computer for sure.

Anyway, I just love it when God answers my questions like that.

So going back to those Amish and Mennonite women. Are they holier than me? Only God knows what's in their hearts. I need to quit comparing myself to them and listen to what God is telling me and DO IT. Oh man I know I'll mess up, and I'm so thankful that my salvation does not depend on living a perfect life. But how awesome it is to hear the Word, believe it, and let it change my life. I hope I said that right, I hope that makes sense...I hope you know what I mean.

Easter Excitement!

2008-03-22T16:58:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited! Tomorrow is Easter! I've been whistling "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" all day today. And "Praise Adonai" too. But anyway, I just got back from the store. I bought all the groceries for Easter dinner tomorrow. Remember when I made my first Thanksgiving dinner last fall? I'm rearin' to go for Easter. Going to try a couple new things like cherry sauce with our ham and a sweet potato dish with apples baked in it. Yum!

On the drive home from the store I got to thinking about how our families are so far away, and we'd be celebrating without them. They'd be celebrating without us. I started feeling a little homesick but then caught myself imagining Emily being old enough to help me with the cooking. I can't wait for that, me and Emmy in the kitchen together. Now my boys are old enough and could help me, too. That'd be just as precious. But they'd rather play than cook. And that's okay. Maybe Emmy won't want to help in the kitchen, either. I sure didn't when I was a kid. I would have rather been out shooting baskets or something.

So tomorrow we'll go to church at the E Free church we've been visiting. It's the same one I've been going to for precepts. It's huge, over a thousand people, so I imagine the music will be quite spectacular. I always get emotional over the music. It's just the way I respond. Some people raise their hands, others call out "Amen!" but me, tears. I always try to hide them though, because I don't want people to think something's wrong. It just comes over me. But in a congregation of well over 1,000 people, I can't imagine anyone noticing. That's when it's nice to just blend in with the crowd.

I hope you all have a beautiful Easter Sunday tomorrow, filled with thanks and awe for all Jesus has done for us!

Sunshiny Day

2008-03-21T10:06:00.000-04:00

It's a bright sun-shiny day today, and as you can see we are still in our jammies. I love days like that. The kids have been out of school most of the week for Spring Break, and so we've been keeping busy with the Wii, building forts, playing with the neighbor boy, and Ethan even made it to a birthday party last night. Right now, the boys are chiseling away at a hunk of fossilized dinosaur poo from a dinosaur kit of Owen's.

It's not real poo. I imagine that would be very hard to find. Here are a few treasures they dug up.

And here's what I'll be doing today...

*sigh* I've been putting it off all week since Eric has been out of town. He comes home tonight, so I better get busy...

Emily Leaves Her Mark

2008-03-19T11:44:00.000-04:00

Ethan thinks it's funny to put his finger in Emily's mouth so she'll bite it. Today he learned his lesson. He was playing with her on the floor, and she reached over and bit him on the cheek. I was telling Heth about it, and she directed me to this really cute video. I hope I got it to work!

Taming My Tongue

2008-03-17T13:17:00.000-04:00

I joined a Bible study, and I'm really excited about it. It's a precepts study by Kay Arthur, and it's on the book of Isaiah. Each day I do as much cleaning as I can in the morning, because after I take Ethan to afternoon kindergarten, I put Emily down for a nap. And then, it's just me and God. I love it and really look forward to my quiet time with Him.

Yesterday my lesson really spoke to me. I'm on Isaiah 6, the chapter where Isaiah sees God sitting on a throne with the train of His robe filling the temple. Isaiah says, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."

That unclean lips part really hit me. And I learned a lot about what my lips have to do with sin. I learned that out of the overflow of my heart my mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34b). The things that come from my mouth come from my heart (Matthew 15:18). Anytime I gossip, exaggerate the truth, use a nasty tone with my kids or husband, what does that say about my heart? And what does that say about how I feel about God?

Now, Isaiah had seen the Lord. He knew that because of his sin he should die. But Isaiah recognized his sin and confessed it, so God forgave him.

God knows that I am not perfect. His Word says, "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check (James 3:2)." I recognize that the things I say and the way that I say them reflects what's in my heart and can be hurtful to others. I want Jesus to live in me and the words I say to be good and bring life. So I ask the Lord to forgive me, to come into my heart, and help me tame my tongue. I have a feeling He is saying, "Why Andrea, I'd be delighted!." Because I also learned that I'm His beloved.

Wow I love this Bible study!

Woohoo!

2008-03-15T22:48:00.000-04:00

Emily went to sleep WITHOUT THE BINKY! (pacifier)

*happy dance*

Colors

2008-03-14T22:09:00.001-04:00

This was fun! I saw it on PJ's blog.

39

Happy Birthday Ethan!

2008-03-12T21:16:00.000-04:00

My baby boy turned six today!

Per Eric's begging and pleading, we celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese's...

A little boy named Chris hopped over to our table to ask Ethan and Owen to play. When I explained that Ethan was about to open his presents, Chris asked if he could watch. I thought it was sweet. Even though they had only met four seconds prior to present time, Ethan was able to have a friend celebrate with him. The boys played with Chris the rest of the time we were there. What a sweetie.

Happy Birthday, Ethan! I love you, my precious boy!

I'd like to introduce you to a new friend...

2008-03-10T14:58:00.001-04:00

If you are like me and prefer that your coffee not taste like coffee, then I highly recommend this! It tastes like a cherry-flavored tootsie pop! Yum!

Good Ol' Dad

2008-03-08T20:29:00.000-05:00

Owen and Emily are both sick. Owen's doing much better now with the antibiotics, and I'm keeping a close watch on Emily. The moment she gets a fever I'll take her in. But maybe it won't get to that point.

But anyway, after supper tonite I was thinking that I wanted to take the kids' temps before bed. I still have a mercury thermometer which I feel is more accurate than our ear thermometer. I use that on Owen because he's old enough to hold it under his tongue and not break it. But for Emily and Ethan I use the ear one.

Thinking about all that triggered the memory of a story my mom told about my dad from when my brother and I were little kids. Dad is just like me, a chapstick addict. He must have been out of chapstick and used the Vaseline as a substitute. Do you see where this is going?

One day he came walking out to the room Mom was in as he was carrying the little jar of Vaseline. I can totally see my dad holding the jar and rubbing the Vaseline on his lips as he asks, "Why are there so many little holes in the Vaseline?" And my mom's reply?

"I always dip the thermometer in the Vaseline before I take the kids' temperatures." (We were little, Mom took our temp rectally because they hadn't invented digital thermometers yet.)

Imagine Dad's reaction to the knowledge that before the thermometer was placed in our little rears, it was plunged into that very jar of Vaseline he was smothering all over his lips. Of course, Mom thoroughly cleaned and sterilized the thermometer each time with alcohol after taking our temps, but still it is kind of gross. I suppose she didn't use that Vaseline for anything else, and she probably didn't even think about poor dad using it as lip balm.

It STILL makes me laugh!

Small World

2008-03-07T17:23:00.000-05:00

It's such a small world. I love it when things like this happen. Owen has strep throat again (that's not the cool part). He had all his "signature symptoms" and so I took him in. When the doctor was ready to write the prescription I explained that Owen does better with pills rather than liquids or chewies (for some reason they make him gag and then he throws up. Poor buddy!).

Anyway, the doctor prescribed amoxicillin caplets and explained the dosage which I was pretty familiar with. The only thing is, I did not agree with the prescription this time. It seemed way way too high. I explained that and then when it was all said and done decided to just trust the doctor because I am not a doctor myself. But when I got home, I still called my mom, left a message with Patty, and researched on the internet. It just wasn't settling with me. The internet was telling me this doctor's dosage was way way way too high, like double that of an adult.

Here's the cool part.

I decided to call the clinic where my kids went to before all this moving started. I loved that doctor and her nurse, I trust them completely and miss them TERRIBLY. But I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, since my kids haven't been patients there for two years, well, one year and 3 months. But I still called.

I explained my dilemma to the receptionist and even asked her if it was appropriate for me to call since we aren't patients anymore, but she said she'd try and see if anyone was available. I was put on hold, and then someone picked up the line. I asked if she was a nurse. She said she was a registered nurse. I explained that my name is (first name last name) and my son Owen was a patient there until we moved.

She interrupted me and asked if I was the same (first name last name) that taught at (name of school). I said, 'Yessss...." And she said, "I'm (name of daughter)'s mom! You had my daughter in second grade, as a matter of fact in the very same year you had Owen!!" I completely remembered her!

It was so cool! What a small world! It was so nice to talk to her. I had her daughter when she was in second grade. Now she is in TENTH grade! Oh man that makes me feel old. Not really.

But anyway, what a cool deal. And, I found out that even though this whole prescription thing was not how our former doctor would have done it, it still won't hurt Owen. Whew!

The really best part is that by this time tomorrow, my Owen will be feeling a gazillion times better.

Pampered Chef Saves The Day

2008-03-06T16:13:00.000-05:00

Yay! You know those brown scrapers that come with any Pampered Chef stoneware? Well, I used on of those on the plasticky stuff stuck to my stove top. It did the trick! :)

Big Mistake

2008-03-04T19:05:00.001-05:00

I messed up. I have a smooth-top stove and set a plastic measuring cup on one of the burners while it was still hot. Some of the plastic melted onto the burner and has hardened now that the burner is cooled. Is there any way to get the hardened plastic off? Or is it now a permanent part of my stove? I'm afraid to use that burner in case the plastic melts again. Any ideas or suggestions?

It's the Phone

2008-03-02T17:49:00.000-05:00

I was on the phone with Patty and Emily was whiny, so I grabbed a cookie and gave her a bite. As she walked away from me, I just kind of ate the rest of the cookie. Soon she was back, whining. I was still on the phone so I grabbed another cookie, gave her a bite, and off she went. Of course I finished that cookie, too. Do you know that during my telephone conversation with Patty I ended up eating SEVEN cookies from Emily's whine-take a bite-wander off routine? But it was great talking to Patty!

Which reminds me, I was having a nice conversation with Vicki yesterday while driving to town to do some shopping. It's a good 30-minute drive, and the last time I tried to drive it by myself I got miserably lost. And I was even paying very good attention. Well, I'm happy to say that this time I did not get lost at all! I reached my destination smoothly and in great time, even while talking on my cell phone and not really paying attention to where I was going.

Did they pass that law here that says you get a ticket with a really high fine if caught talking on your cell while driving? I better find out...

Embracing Accusation

2008-02-29T11:14:00.002-05:00

Another song I can't stop thinking about. So many times I have to pray that Jesus will block out Satan's voice so I can only hear Jesus.

Embracing Accusation
by Shane and Shane
from their "Pages" album

The father of lies
Coming to steal
Kill and destroy
All my hopes of being good enough
I hear him saying cursed are the ones
Who can’t abide
He’s right
Alleluia he’s right!

The devil is preaching
The song of the redeemed
That I am cursed and gone astray
I cannot gain salvation
Embracing accusation

Could the father of lies
Be telling the truth
Of God to me tonight?
If the penalty of sin is death
Then death is mine
I hear him saying cursed are the ones
Who can’t abide
He’s right
Alleluia he’s right!

Oh the devil’s singing over me
An age old song
That I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently
He’s forgotten the refrain
Jesus saves!

*Sorry I can't figure out how to add songs to my blog, but you can hear it on YouTube here. This particular version has an extra part added by John Piper.

For My Mother-in-Law

2008-02-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

We finally got some family pictures taken.

This one isn't too bad, except in the left-side background you can see the messy living room...

Eric didn't like this one because it covers up our shirts...

This is the one we'll be sending out...

This one's okay too, except it's just kind of plain in the background...

Keeping It Real

2008-02-25T22:06:00.000-05:00

This one's for you, Anne Marie!

Lunar Eclipse

2008-02-20T20:36:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited! Tonite, in about 20 minutes, a lunar eclipse will begin. We won't see another one until 2010. The best part about it is my dad is here!

When I was a kid, Dad spent a lot of time teaching me the different constellations. We had so much fun watching satellites go by, and sometimes we'd catch a meteorite or even a storm. There used to be a cornfield behind our house, and we'd often walk out there to observe the night sky. I'm so excited that he is here now and we can watch the eclipse together.

Heartstrings

2008-02-19T18:24:00.000-05:00

Music is really important in my life. I listen to it all the time. The only secular music I really listen to anymore is Enya from time to time, otherwise it's only Christian bands. I like a very wide range, from mild and mellow Shane&Shane to harder Blindside which surprises many people. I'm just so mysterious...haha.

When I find a song that I really love, I listen to it over and over again. Lately, I've been listening to Heartstrings Come Undone by Demon Hunter. The reason I love this song is simply because of the melody. It's unusual. Some of the lyrics are touching, but I haven't figured out what they mean. Maybe the lyrics are personal to the band. I'm wondering if the song was written for someone who is really lost and is afraid to let Jesus love him/her. Or maybe the lead singer is reflecting on a past mistake he made and how he hurt someone. When I listen to it, I tend to think of and pray for people I know who just keep rejecting Jesus. Anyway, I just thought I'd share the song with you.

Experiment

2008-02-19T18:13:00.000-05:00

Well, I thought I'd make a goulash of sorts for supper tonite. I had the macaroni cooked, ground beef browned, green peppers and onions diced, cheese and spices added, and went for the can of kidney beans. I always have at least two cans of dark red kidneys because I make chili and taco casserole a lot. But tonite there were no kidneys. I thought we could just go without, but it would really seem lacking. I thought maybe Eric could grab a can on his way home, but then supper wouldn't be ready till really late. So...

I put a can of peas in. Drained of course. We'll see what happens!

Game Time

2008-02-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

Right now I'm in the cold, unfinished basement with Emily in her exersaucer and Ethan sitting next to me on the couch. I've got a ceramic heater going which really warms the room up.

Although Owen is much more into soccer and football, Ethan loves video games. Don't worry, we don't let him play all day every day. As a matter of fact, the only time he really plays is when Owen, my husband or I am down here with him. He's too scared to be in the basement alone.

Super Paper Mario is Ethan's latest favorite. I'm down here helping him. There's a lot of scripting, and even though Ethan's reading is coming along very nicely, he still needs help with the reading.

I wish I could leave it at that. It sounds pretty good, me helping my son read the script on a video game. But that's not all I'm doing.

I've got my laptop open and I've googled Super Paper Mario walk-throughs. I'm helping my son beat the levels by reading aloud the walk-through. This gives us access to all the secret stuff and tells us how to finish each chapter quickly without having to figure it out on our own. At first I was letting him explore on his own before accessing the walk-through, but I discovered he'd get so lost and mixed up that we'd have to start at the beginning of the level in order for the walk-through to work. We both want to see the game completed but don't want to grind through it. So now I just read as we go. It's actually pretty fun. We spend about a half-hour/forty five minutes to finish a section, then head upstairs for a snack.

Okay, Ethan's been exploring in the game on his own and is getting frustrated. He spent all his coins to get access to a blue tube that seems to lead to nowhere. Better check the walk-through!

Shepherding A Child's Heart

2008-02-15T13:12:00.000-05:00

Ethan and Emily are napping now, and so I thought I'd start this book my sister-in-law introduced to me. It's called Shepherding A Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp. I've only read the introduction, and already I'm touched. Page xix (what number is that anyway?) says:

"Proverbs 13:20 says, 'He who walks with the wise becomes wise.' As a wise parent your objective is not simply to discuss, but to demonstrate the freshness and vitality of life lived in integrity toward God and your family. Parenting is shepherding the hearts of your children in the ways of God's wisdom."

I love that. I want to be that, a wise shepherd, loving and kind, for my children's hearts, just like Jesus is for all of us. I've got a lot to learn, and God's got a lot of work to do in me. I'm so thankful He's not done with me yet.

Ethan Wants to Know...

2008-02-13T12:05:00.001-05:00

Do kangaroos make sounds?

He asked me that today while we were eating our lunch. I honestly don't know the answer.

Sick

2008-02-12T13:09:00.001-05:00

Yeah, that's a picture of me at Christmas at my mom and dad's. Dad thought it'd be cute to snap a picture of me and was gracious enough to email it to me.

That was the last time I saw my mother and father-in law, too, at Christmas, and I was sick. They are here now, visiting us after our big move, and I'm sick again. And so is Ethan. They've been so helpful, taking care of Emily, helping with meals, cleaning up around the house, DOING MY LAUNDRY (the best gift anyone could give me!). Please pray for them that they don't get sick. After their visit with us, they will go see more family and friends in two other states. I will feel so bad if they are sick on the rest of their trip.

Happy Day!

2008-02-08T18:15:00.000-05:00

I know I tend to post more pictures of Emily and talk about her more, but I can't help it! It's not that I love her more than Owen or Ethan, but she's a baby and so darn cute. I came across these and just wanted to share them because I love them. She's walking completely on her own now, though. And I will work really hard to get more pictures of the boys on here.

Still Listening

2008-02-05T14:30:00.000-05:00

I mean, it's incredible! How in the world did the people keep all this straight? Did Moses jot it all down for them and make extra copies? Can't you just see the priests with their manuals wide opened, asking, "Okay, Aaron, HOW many times are we supposed to sprinkle the blood? Is this a horns-on-the altar one or an in-front-of-the-curtain sprinkling?" It's mind-boggling.

I can't even follow a recipe a second or third time after I've initially cooked it without having my nose planted in that cookbook. It's incredible everything they had to learn, the discipline and obedience required. I'm such a slacker.

But then again, I imagine they had to do this continuously, so it probably didn't take long to get it down. And they had the Holy Spirit guiding them.

Just an Observation

2008-02-05T14:13:00.001-05:00

I'm listening to Leviticus now. I'm not theological by any means, but I'm just listening, thinking about how BLOODY that tabernacle must have been! I just heard the part where if an Israelite or even the entire nation of Israel sins without realizing it, once they are aware of the sin they must present a bull, the elders must lay their hands on it and then it's sacrificed before the Lord. Then the priest dips his fingers in the blood and sprinkles it on the curtain (I think it's the curtain, I need to check on that). But just think how many times they had to do that! The priests, that must be all they did all day long is remove the innards from animals and burn them and sprinkle blood. A very gory job. Not for someone with a weak stomach (or someone who isn't a Levite~heehee! There's a little theology!). Sorry if you were looking for a deep message, but I just was observing how bloody the inside of the tabernacle must have been. And stinky. Well, except the smell of roasting meat isn't so bad. Anyway, I'll get back to listening. As I grow I'll get deeper and not sound so much like Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey.

Base Ten Blocks

2008-02-05T10:18:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! I'm so excited! I ordered a starter set of base ten blocks and they arrived today. Owen is starting regrouping, and I got tired of trying to cut scraps of paper to make blocks, so I ordered a set.

I don't understand how children can learn regrouping and truly understand what is happening without these wonderful manipulatives. I'm sure children can memorize the procedure for regrouping, but then when they get to subtraction, they don't completely know when to regroup and when not to. These blocks make it concrete! I highly recommend them. In my teaching days, I couldn't live without them, and I wish they would have been around when I was learning regrouping as a child, it would have made much more sense for me back then.

My Little Thinker

2008-01-31T16:06:00.000-05:00

Ethan asks amazing questions. His little wheels are always turning. The other day he asked me if Jesus slept when he was a baby. I said yes. His response was, "But God doesn't rest!"

Then yesterday he asked if a person has to be married to have a job. I explained that no, you don't have to be married to have a job. Teenagers have jobs and they aren't married. He asked if I had a job when I was a teenager. I said yes, that I worked at McDonald's. He was enthralled and all excited and asked all about it.

Today, Ethan asked me how babies got in the world. I asked if he meant how are babies born, and he said no. He wanted to know how the world got so many people on it. I explained that God created Adam and Eve, and they were married. They had kids. Then their kids got married and had kids, and so on and so on. He asked, "Does that mean brothers and sisters had to get married to each other?"

I was at a loss for words. I was amazed that he could put that together. But I chickened out and said, "Well I don't know! That's a great question. I do know that brothers and sisters are not supposed to get married though." His response was, "Well, maybe God just created more people so that brothers and sisters wouldn't have to marry each other." I just left it at that and said, "That could be. God can do anything." I just wasn't ready to explain it all to him, especially in the 7minute car-ride to school. But it amazed me how he thought all that out.

Coffee

2008-01-29T16:05:00.000-05:00

I was just emailing Tracey that I am either too tired or just plain old losing it. I'm home from picking the kids up from school and thought I'd make some coffee. I poured the water in and waited and waited. Our coffee pot is slow, but this felt too slow. I checked and saw that there was no coffee. I had forgotten to turn it on. I hit the button and went back to feeding my wound-up kids a snack.

I could hear the pot gurgling, it was done, so I went over and was all upset because it wasn't making coffee, only hot water. I was thinking, "Great. Now we need a new coffee pot." Then I realized I didn't put any coffee in it. *BONK!*

By the way, how do you make coffee? I don't actually know how to make it, I just put spoonfuls in till it seems right, then turn on the pot. I put so much flavoring in it that I can't really taste the coffee anyway. The directions say, "1 serving (6 oz) = 1 tablespoon, 10 servings = 1/2 measuring cup."

This confuses me, because it didn't come with a measuring cup. Do they mean a half-cup? Like a normal half-cup measuring cup? I thought it meant to use a half of the measuring thingy they gave you in the can. My can did not have one, but I always remembered my mom's cans had them from when I was a kid. I need to know this, yesterday one of my new neighbors stopped by (oh my house was a disaster!) and I didn't dare offer to make coffee because I don't do it right. Our pot is a 12-cup pot. Does that mean I just fill it up to the 10 cup line and add a half a cup of coffee? Sounds pretty good to me, I can add as much vanilla or chocolate to cover up the coffee flavor. But I don't want to scare off my visitors. Tracey, did I ever make coffee for you? Yours always turned out right...

English is so Frustrating

2008-01-28T08:21:00.000-05:00

I just found out WEIRD doesn't follow the "i before e except after c" rule. All my life (or at least as long as I've been able to understand the "i before e" rule) I've spelled it WIERD. /huff

I'm Not Wierd or Anything...

2008-01-27T14:51:00.000-05:00

Hey all! Linda tagged me for a fun meme. I would be most delighted to oblige!

The rules for this meme are: (1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Okay, here goes!

1. When I discover a song that I absolutely love, I listen to it over and over and over again until I know every word and every sound so that I can hear it in my mind without needing to use the cd. (I wish I did that with scripture!)

2. I'm terrified of spiders. I do a spider check every night before bed. I'm getting better. I'm to the point where I can crawl into bed without the lights on, but I still sweep the bed with my hands just in case a little critter is wanting to join me. I used to be much much worse, though. There was a time when I couldn't turn the light out, let alone go to sleep, without doing this routine. Check under my pillow, check under the bedspread, check under the flat sheet, lift the flat sheet way up to check in the bottom corners of the bed, check behind my pillow, check the wall behind me, check in the space behind my bed that is between the wall and the mattress, check all four corners of the room near the ceiling. Then I could finally turn my light off. Sometimes I would get that "feeling," you know, spider radar, that told me to quick turn the light back on one more time. I couldn't ignore this, too many times I'd had good reason.

I'll add to that, I used to hallucinate really badly just as I was falling asleep. I would either see hundreds of spiders falling down on me from the ceiling, or I'd see one very large spider crawling on me or the bed. When I would see these, it would appear as real as day, as if the lights were on and everything. I'd scream and jump out of bed, terrifying my husband. It's been a good couple years since that's happened (thank goodness!).

3. I just asked my husband what else is wierd about me. He says I have a huge space between my big toe and the next toe over on both feet. I do not.

4. I have a hard time making decisions. I want to please people. For example, I've typed and retyped 5 different things here for item number 4 but can't decide what the best thing to share would be.

5. You will never see me dance. I dance all the time with my kids in my kitchen, but if you see me at a wedding, no way. Also, I am totally out of my element and completely uncomfortable going to bars or dance places. But I did find myself in a mosh-pit at a Blindside concert once. Yes, I did that. It was scary.

6. I am completely addicted to chapstick/lipgloss. There is nothing worse than having dry lips/mouth. I would rather have ten thousand shots than go to the dentist and have them spray cold air in my mouth or put gauze/cotton in my mouth. Bleck.

Okay, that's enough wierdness for today :) I am calling out Tracey, Joanne, Anne Marie, Patty, PJ, and T to rise to the challenge!

I'm Going Insane

2008-01-26T20:46:00.000-05:00

My boys are having a tough time being in their own bedrooms at night. They've always shared a room with bunkbeds, and my older son, the 8 year old, was ready to have his own room. He's been having an even harder time transitioning than my 5 year old. This is not what is driving me insane.

Today I bought the boys a set of walkie talkies. Nothing fancy, but I thought they'd have fun using them while they were in their own beds in their own rooms at night. My 8 year old understands it. Push the button in. Talk. Let go of the button. My 5 year old?

I don't know how to help him understand. I've demonstrated and demonstrated, I've explained every which way I can think of, and he just doesn't get it. He's mad, near tears, insistant that it's his older brother's fault.

So maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all...

Don't Want to Miss This!

2008-01-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

Jupiter, Venus, and the moon will be having a little get-together. Sounds brilliant!

Audio Bible

2008-01-26T09:12:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna clean the house today, Doo Dah! Doo Dah! I'm gonna vacuum while I play, Oh, Doo Dah Day!

Emily has a toy vacuum that sings that song everytime she plays with it. It's very catchy. And irritating. But I find myself wishing I felt like that when I clean.

I did discover something that really helps. I got an audio Bible for Christmas (thanks mom!) and it's got background music and everything. They've been out for quite awhile, but I tell you, it's so wonderful to listen to it while working in the kitchen or doing laundry. Eventually I want to put it on my Zune so I can take it with me everywhere.

I'm on disc 6, yesterday I listened to a bunch of the laws the Lord gave Moses to teach the people(disc 5, Exodus 17-33). Normally, I'd be asleep after about the third paragraph of trying to read it, but when pretty music and different voices are used, it's so easy to listen attentively. And if I catch myself not paying attention, I just go back and listen again. YAY!

Have You Heard of This?

2008-01-26T09:04:00.000-05:00

We had some friends over last night for supper. He works with Eric and she is a stay home mom teacher just like me. They were our first guests in our new house. It was fun to have friends over, even though they still live 7 hours away (they are moving here for the company, too, and were on a house hunting trip).

I was absolutely enthralled with how she handled her three year old. She never got angry or disrespectful. She offered him a choice for every behavior. He was a very good boy, and I really admired how she didn't get sarcastic or use an angry tone with him. I finally just asked her about it, and she told me that while she was still teaching, before her son was born, she learned about Love and Logic. She used it in her classroom, so it was just natural for her to use it with her son.

Have you heard of it? It seems like a really good program. They sell kits and everything, but I'm thinking I might just try one of their books.

Maybe I Shouldn't Ask

2008-01-23T17:29:00.000-05:00

This might be completely inappropriate to blog about, but I just have to know. If it's inappropriate just let me know in the comments. I just got a call, it said "Private Caller" so I figured it was not a telemarketer (caller id is brand new to me). It was this town's police association asking me to be a hero and support the men and women in our police force with a monetary donation.

I've heard that the money given to the police associations isn't really used for what they say (for example equipment or programs), that it is actually used for the police's entertainment. Is that true? I feel so guilty saying I can't help at this time. What's the truth?

Church

2008-01-23T11:00:00.000-05:00

Ugh. I'm starting to get cabin fever. We've lived here for nearly two weeks. Is today Tuesday or Wednesday?

We need to find a home church so that I can get involved in Bible study. I'm getting bored. We've tried two different churches and will try another this coming Sunday. My problem is that I'm looking for a church just like my brother's over here where we live. I don't think I'm going to find it.
I found a church that LOOKS like his but doesn't FEEL like it. I'll keep looking. Church-shopping isn't bad is it?

Another Update

2008-01-21T19:43:00.000-05:00

Well, the house is pretty much done! I still need to hang up pictures and mirrors, and we are saving up for blinds (using paper temporary blinds for now). Today Ethan and Emily's beds came and I got them all made up and placed. It feels great to have it done.

Emily bit me today! I was making chili. She crawled over and grabbed onto my leg to pull herself into a standing position. Suddenly she bit me on the back of my thigh! It hurt and startled me. For the rest of the time I was cooking I was worried she'd bite again and so I kept trying to shake her off my leg. I noticed that when she gets excited she mouths whatever she's holding. I hope she doesn't become a biter.

I need to find my camera and start taking pictures of the kids again.

Just Hangin'

2008-01-18T17:08:00.000-05:00

I did it! I hanged (or hung?) hooks up by the back door for our coats and backpacks, etc. I also put up a thing to hang the iron and ironing board up as well as the broom/mop/swiffer in the laundry room.

This is very empowering for me, because I had to use a drill and I had to use INSERTS. I had to put the drill bit on the drill even! And I only had to call my mom for help about 23 times. But I did it!

And now I know how to use a drill! Can't wait to get those curtains hung (hanged?)!

Sleeping In

2008-01-17T09:13:00.000-05:00

Okay. NOT Fair. I just called my dad. It's 9:13 a.m. here which means it's 8:13a.m there. He and Mom were still IN BED SLEEPING.

I felt a tremendous urge to rush over there and put clothes in their dresser drawers and blankets in their closets, making sure to open the drawers and closet doors loudly. Or to fling the light on and say, "It's time to get up!" like my mom did. Or, maybe open the bedroom door and trumpet that army wake-up song through my fist like my dad always did to wake me and my brother up.

...

Actually, Mom and Dad have worked very hard in their lives and are finally retired.

Enjoy your rest Mom and Dad! I promise not to call so early next time :)

Update

2008-01-16T16:32:00.000-05:00

Hooray I mopped my kitchen floor today for the first time! The move-in happened so fast that I didn't have a chance to do it before our stuff arrived. It was just as well because the floors got all yucky from moving all the stuff in.

It felt so good to really disinfect the floor, good ol' Lysol. Can't do that with wood floors (at least I never figured out how). And with a crawling baby who eats with her hands I want the floor to be as clean as I can get it.

Okay, I'm all talk. I DO want the floor to always be as clean as possible, but I know there will be days where the food will be picked up off the floor only because Emily crawled under the table and ate it before I cleaned it up. But I can dream.

I moved the couch just a little bit to center it with the fireplace. The t.v. is in the corner, and for optimum viewing pleasure Eric wanted the couch centered with the t.v. Well, I moved it. I bet he doesn't even notice :) And it looks much better, more put together. I don't think it will strain our necks too much to turn them slightly to the left to see t.v.

The other living room is all done! It's actually supposed to be a formal dining room, but we aren't ready for one of those quite yet. Plus I need a place to put the piano.

I'm having fun! I kind of don't want to work on the upstairs in the bedrooms because there is just stuff all over the place. I'll tackle it when I'm motivated.

Oh! I found Wal Mart! YAY!

We're all doing good, the kids are adjusting to school. It was different for them in that it's not a Christian school, it's public, so no Bible time or chapel time. They thought there'd be no more memory work, but wouldn't you know I found Owen's memory book from his old school! I'll keep working on it with them. I need a reward system, because they aren't as motivated to try since the teacher isn't making them do it. I want it to be fun for them. I'll figure something out.

That's about it. I like it here, friendly neighbors, two have already brought over a plate of cookies and a plate of brownies with their names/phone numbers. That was nice!

Everything's going to be just fine.

YAY It's Today!

2008-01-15T12:32:00.001-05:00

So I didn't miss it after all, Heth! Happy Happy Birthday!!!!!

Happy Birthday Heth

2008-01-15T11:10:00.001-05:00

Heth, yesterday was your birthday. And I forgot. I called you to tell you all about me and didn't even once ask you how your day was going, let along tell you happy birthday.

I miss you terribly. You are so beautiful, fun, loving, and humble. I love how you love my kids just like they are your own. I've never ONCE heard you gossip or say anything negative about anyone. You are the kind of person other people see and say, "I want to be like her." You truly bear the fruit of the spirit. (Titus 2 woman!)

I think way back to when you and Nate were dating. You were my goobery brother's cheerleader girlfriend. I didn't know you at all, and I was too wrapped up in my own selfish life to take time to get to know you. I never would have thought back then that you would become my most best friend ever.

You marrying Nate was THE best thing that ever happened to our family! You'll never ever know how much you've touched my life and how Jesus has worked through you to change my life. I love you Heth! Happy Birthday!

It's All Good

2008-01-13T13:37:00.000-05:00

Whew! No scratches, just tape residue. But here's a funny. We put flattened cardboard down to protect the floor while they wheeled the fridge in. They weren't able to get it into the spot because the fridge was snagged on the cardboard. I asked the two guys if they wanted me to pull the cardboard out while they lifted the fridge. They said that'd be great. Well, the way the guys were positioned left me with only one option to pull that cardboard out. I had to crawl between the one guy's legs and pull. We were both pretty uncomfortable with the situation, so he really quick said, "Nah, that won't work." And so I crawled out of there lickity split. They found another way to remove the cardboard and got the fridge in no problem.

Yay we have a fridge!

We're still working on unpacking everything. It's going pretty good. Eric got his t.v. hooked up, the boys have their Wii, so with those guys out of the way I can get all kinds of work done, heehee! :)

2008-01-13T13:12:00.001-05:00

They're installing our fridge right now! WOOOHOOO! I'm about 5 feet away from them, thought I'd quick touch base since my laptop is right here. We've been in the house for 3 days now, I love it! Eric thinks he sees "dings" on the fridge, I better check it out. Gotta go!

Smart Aleck

2008-01-08T00:13:00.000-05:00

It's 12:13 a.m. and I want to go to bed but I can't. I gotta get this laundry done. The movers are coming in the morning to unhook the washer, but I can't remember if they said 8 a.m. or 10 a.m. or somewhere in between /snort.

Friendly Reminder

2008-01-07T21:38:00.000-05:00

The packers come tomorrow! GAHHHHHH!

No but seriously, this morning at about 8:30 a.m. I got a call from the moving company telling me that they would be arriving tomorrow morning between 8 a.m. and 10a.m. to unhook our washer and dryer. I told them that sounds good and we'd be ready.

Then, at about 10 a.m. or so this morning I got a call from another lady from the moving company. They'd be by tomorrow morning between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. to unhook our washer and dryer. Yep, got that, we'll be ready, uh-huh. I wanted to tell her I already got a call this morning but I didn't. I was nice.

Then, at around 2 p.m. today I got a call from the moving company AGAIN telling me that they'd be by tomorrow morning between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. to unhook the washer and dryer. YES. I GOT IT. Actually I sort of interrupted her with my uh-huhs and yeps. But I did ask her, "Am I supposed to DO anything? Or do they just come in and unhook it?" I used a friendly tone of voice even though I wanted to be impatient.

She nicely said, "Nope. You don't have to do anything. I suppose just make sure all your laundry's done! See you tomorrow!"

DOH!!!!

I have PILES and PILES of dirty laundry that I've slacked off on because I've had this whole idea that I don't have to do anything for this move. They'll come in and take care of all the packing, all I have to do is "supervise." I completely forgot about all that dirty laundry hiding in our closets.

So THAT'S why the moving company called three times. God was telling me to get on the ball and do my laundry, otherwise those poor packers would have to /gag/ TOUCH it and pack it into boxes.

I'm so sorry for the bad attitude God, and THANK YOU for reminding me to do that laundry!!

Now That's A First

2008-01-07T19:13:00.000-05:00

Another "first" for Emily! She figured out how to pick her nose. We're so proud heehee. But seriously, when the boys and I saw her, we paused and quietly watched her for a minute, somewhat amazed. Then we simultaneously said in excited voices, "Nose! That's your nose!" It was kind of funny.

Raspberry Mocha

2008-01-06T20:22:00.000-05:00

What Your Latte Says About You

You are easygoing and pretty simple to please. You don't put up a fuss... ever.

You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious.

You have a good deal of energy, but you pace yourself. You never burn out too fast.

You're addicted to caffeine. There's no denying it.

You are responsible, mature, and truly an adult. You're occasionally playful, but you find it hard to be carefree.

You are inventive and creative, but you are never weird.

Moving

2008-01-03T12:32:00.000-05:00

I just realized I only have to keep this house clean for 4 more days YEEEHAWWW! I was talking to Patty on the phone last night and we were talking about the move. She said I sounded happy to be moving. I think it's more that I'm happy that I'm not SCARED to move. Last year I was so full of fear. But now I know what to expect. I'm just glad that I'm not wrapped up in anxiety this time.

I'm excited for the boys to have their own rooms. That means no more climbing up into the top bunk to change sheets. They are probably going to miss being together, but I picture them laying in their beds with walkie talkies, chatting like they do before they fall asleep. I'm excited to see what they pick out for colors and bedding. I already have Emily's room ready to go (big sale at Target woohoo!)

The movers come on Tuesday to pack everything up. On Wednesday they load us up, and on Thursday we hit the road. Our stuff will arrive at the new house on Friday, so we'll camp out that first night.

Oh man I remember our first night in this house. Emily was a wee little grasshopper then, just three weeks old. I was trying to breastfeed, I was all emo from wacky hormones and believing I'd never get to go back to my home state ever again.

We had driven pretty far and arrived at the house around 4:30 p.m. The boys ran through every room, all excited. We had no furniture yet, it wasn't arriving until a week later. I settled in a folding chair at the card table and the boys played GameCube with the t.v. resting on the living room floor. Then Eric asked me how I was doing.

I told him I was okay, just really tired. He said, "Okay, well, a co-worker invited us over to watch the football game. Wanna go?"

Ugh. We had pretty much JUST walked in the door. I didn't feel like doing anything except crawling under the covers of the bed that wasn't here yet. I told him I just wasn't up to it. He understood and said he'd be back later.

It's kind of funny when I look back now. But even funnier was that night when we went to bed.

About a month before we moved I thought I was being all smart and used all my Cabela's points to buy a king sized aerobed. Eric brought it to the house when he moved out here a couple weeks before he brought the kids and me. He said he was having trouble with the aerobed. I figured that out when we went to sleep our first night here.

A couple hours after falling asleep I discovered that MY side of the bed didn't stay inflated. Our real bed wasn't going to arrive for another week. Common sense should have told me to just go buy a $20 twin sized air mattress from Wal Mart, but my baby blues took away my common sense. I decided the next morning that we had to buy a new bed NOW.

Eric didn't argue. We didn't have a clue where any furniture/mattress stores were, didn't have a phone book, didn't know anyone, so we did our best to find a store online. We found one and went there to look at mattresses. I think Eric was feeling bad and wanted to make things better for me, so he let me choose the mattress.

I went for the biggest softest fluffiest sink-right-down-in-it plush pillow top I could find. It felt so comfortable after being pregnant and uncomfortable for the last couple months. I didn't do any research, didn't know a thing about beds. And we bought it. And now I HATE it. And, I didn't even think about the fact that the new bed we bought would be delivered well after our existing bed arrived with all the other furniture.

I'm looking forward to our first night in our new house. I know it will be much much better than last time heehee!

Toddling Along

2008-01-02T10:20:00.001-05:00

Emily got one of those toys she can push along to practice walking. It's so cute to see her little baby body toddling along. She can stand up all by herself now and even took a couple steps at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Ah, and now she's playing with the Christmas tree again.

Buckeyes

2007-12-31T14:52:00.000-05:00

I HAVE to share this with you. I have never laughed harder at ANYONE'S posts, this one even beats out Heth's funniest (sorry Heth, but I'm certain you will agree!)

Please scroll down a bit to the entry titled, "Goodbye, Little Preciouses, Until Next Christmas."

Linda, you are so fun!

Those Wise Men

2007-12-31T10:41:00.000-05:00

Ooh! I did want to share this really cool thing I learned when we went to church with Nate and Heth. It blew me away. Year after year, from early childhood, we hear the Christmas story. The Family, the shepherds, the angels, the manger, the hay, the animals, and the wise men. I learned something amazing about those wisemen. (I am probably making mistakes here in re-telling it, so please please correct me in the comments if I'm wrong so I can make it right in the post.)

They didn't just wear fancy robes and crowns and come riding on camels with expensive gifts for Jesus. They studied scripture!

After the Israelites were captured and taken to Babylon and Assyria, their scriptures went with them. And other people there, like the wise men, found them and studied them. They knew all about who Jesus was and what he was going to do!

Sooo...when they brought Jesus gold, they knew that he was the king, he was from a royal family (King David's family).

When they brought him frankincense they knew he was a priest, the GREAT high priest (frankincense was smelly stuff they burnt and let the smell waft up to the Lord, it's a thing only the priests did back in the day).

When they brought him myrrrrh (who knows how to spell that anyway? ha!) they knew he was going to die, because myrrh is an embalming thing.

That just blew me away!!! They understood it better than anyone else there! All from reading guys like Isaiah and Micah and all. Those Old Testament books. I find that amazing. I just thought I'd share that.

Celebrating!

2007-12-31T10:26:00.000-05:00

Woohooo! We're all doing great here. Yeah, I was sick over Christmas. It came and went pretty quickly though. I woke up in the middle of the night before Christmas Eve day not feeling good. But by Christmas morning I was feeling great! I remember waking up Christmas day at 6:40 a.m. I realized I was feeling good and was so thankful. Then I realized...DANG! I missed Grandma Margaret's Christmas cookies (made by Jessie) AGAIN!

I moped into the kitchen to get a drink, and there on the counter was the box! Thank you Jessie for leaving me some cookies! I ate two right away and thought I better not overdo it. Pretty soon everyone else woke up and we went to church :)

Now, it's New Year's Eve day, and we are having Tracey and hubby and kids over YAY! I better get those smokies in the crock pot!

We're Home

2007-12-30T09:46:00.001-05:00

Even though Eric and I got the flu over Christmas, we still had a wonderful week. It was SO GOOD to see everyone again before we move.

Right now I'm listening to Shane&Shanes album "Pages." I agree, "Beg" is a great song, but my favorite song so far is the very first one, "Vision of You" It brings a wave of peace over me as I look at the incredible mess of luggage, toys, candy, mail, that waits. It feels great to just leave it, but what if someone wants to come look at the house today??? I say they'll just have to wait till tomorrow.

Poor Little Buddy

2007-12-19T10:49:00.000-05:00

Poor Ethan. Last night after the Christmas program during the cookie reception, Ethan was in the hall and well, lost his cookies all over the floor. I felt so bad, neither Eric or I were anywhere to be found. Eric was in the gym supervising Owen while Owen tried to retrieve a pacifier that Emily had thrown under the bleachers. I was in the lunch room chatting with another mom, we were waiting for the room to clear out because we were on clean-up duty. I'm hoping this is just a 24-hour bug and he'll be feeling better very soon. We are supposed to have a long car ride ahead of us tomorrow to close on the new house. Poor little buddy.

I Shouldn't Have Said It

2007-12-19T07:28:00.001-05:00

Friday night at Bunco I was reflecting on the past year and I said, "In the whole entire year that we lived in this house, NOBODY got throw-up sick!"

My Ornament

2007-12-14T17:52:00.000-05:00

Tonite is Bunco night. It's the last time I'll be able to get together with the other gals from church to play Bunco before we move. I'm really excited, because we're doing a "Good Ornament-Bad Ornament" exchange. We each will bring a nice pretty ornament and a not-so-pretty one.

In past years it sounds like the ladies have taken old ornaments with paint scratched off, damaged ornaments, unusual ornaments that wouldn't be put on a tree, etc. I decided I would just make mine.

The ladies all know we are a Star Wars family and I'm a gamer and definitely not gifted as a a scrapbooker/crafting type person, so I was going to take a Jawa or Ewok kid's meal toy from Burger King and hot-glue a little red pompom on it for a Rudolph-like nose and glue a red loop on to hang it up. But I just couldn't bring myself to damage anything Star Wars, even if it is just a kids' meal toy.

Soooooo...I got out the aluminum foil.

Voila!

Update

2007-12-13T13:02:00.000-05:00

Woohoo! I'm sitting here with nothing to do! The house is CLEAN and Emily is napping! Okay, I could vacuum, but why wake the baby? She needs to sleep anyway, she had her one-year shots today. Everything went great, 20.08 pounds, 29 inches long, no one-year molars yet.

I must say, it's a pretty good feeling to have the house so clean. Part of me, a very small part of me, is thinking that maybe I will try to keep this up when we move to our new house. I pretty much just do a smaller load of laundry each day, I squeegie the shower really well to keep it from getting filmy and mildewy, make the beds right away, stuff like that. We'll see what happens when we move, right now I'm all talk.

So far, we have had no showings. I'm not that surprised, it's the toughest time of year to sell a house. I know last year everything went really well, we had lots and lots of showings and sold the house in two and a half weeks. This time it's different, but that's okay. Eric's company will buy the house from us after it's been on the market 60 days. We found out the average time a house is on the market here is 8 MONTHS. Thank you, Nationwide, for being on our side.

But I'm ready! In case we do get a call.

I wish I could take credit for how awesome the house looks, but the truth is, the stager told me to put this here and move that there and get rid of those and add some of these. Except the Christmas tree and stockings, those were my own vision.

I absolutely LOVE our bedroom. For the entire year that we have lived here, it's pretty much been no furniture except a bed, a floor lamp, two t.v. trays with little lamps and alarm clocks on them. No color or decorations. Well, the stager said we should really try to make it feel like a retreat. My husband had no problems having us spend a little money to warm up the room. We moved the t.v. cabinet into our bedroom and I got a chair, some pillows, vases, candles, a couple of side tables, some artwork and I LOVE it! Mom helped me hang everything up and arrange it. I just do not have any artistic talent at all. I know it's prideful boasting, but I'm going to share pictures because it won't last long. And looking at this room reminds me of how much Mom has done for me.

2007-12-12T16:21:00.000-05:00

You know, things are going pretty well right now! It has, as it turns out, been MUCH easier to get this house ready to sell and keep it clean than it was last year when we moved. The boys usually make their own beds, but since everything has to be picture-perfect, I've been doing it. This morning I was up in Owen's top bunk making the bed when I realized I did this last year when I was 9 months pregnant and CLEARLY exceeded the weight limit for the top bunk. I'm surprised the thing didn't come crashing down on me. It's much much easier to get that bed made now!

The boys spend most of the day in school, and they are pretty good about not touching the walls or the furniture or sitting on the beds or accidentally drying their hands with the decorative towels, or leaving stuff laying around. We've all gotten pretty good at living here without living here. Emily's a little more challenging. I'm watching her now, she has figured out how to walk on her knees! YAY! Won't be too much longer and she'll be walking on her feeties! I see she has one of Grandma Margaret's really old books I had set on the hall table. She's into everything.

Her favorite cupboards to get into are the one with the cleaning supplies and the one with the coffee maker. The stager told us to completely clear our kitchen counters and just make a space in that cabinet there for the coffee maker. I put chairs up in front of those cabinets to keep her out. It makes her really mad.

But when I think about last year, I really don't have any stress at all with this move. I've learned that I CAN live far away from our families, that it's really not the end of the world. We'll be moving just a half a day's drive away from here, so we can come back here and visit anytime we want.

I just thought I'd throw a random picture in just for fun. Here's our tree!

Thank You, Jessie!

2007-12-11T16:13:00.001-05:00

Awww, my cousin Jessie just called. She's making Christmas cookies from Grandma Margaret's special recipe. She made them last year, too because Grandma died, just a few hours before Emily was born. I was so emotional last year from her dying, having baby blues, and dealing with the fact that we were moving 10 million miles away from everyone that I didn't even eat a single cookie. I thanked Jessie for making the cookies again this year and told her to make a LOT. She laughed and said I could count on it, because it just wouldn't be the same without Grandma Margaret's cookies. I couldn't agree more.

Birthday Pictures

2007-12-08T17:39:00.000-05:00

I felt bad. I kind of forgot all about my precious daughter turning one today. We've been so busy cleaning and getting our house ready to go on the market (which it is now, yay!). Earlier today we went out to eat at this really awesome Amish restaraunt with Tracey and Eric and the kids. Then afterwards we ran some errands and quick got Emmy some presents and a little cake.

Emily's New Trick!

2007-12-08T16:13:00.000-05:00

Today Emily turned ONE! And she's surprised us with this new trick. By the way, in case it doesn't show up well, each time she says, "Mehhh" she's blowing a spit bubble.

Our Street

2007-12-05T11:20:00.000-05:00

I just thought I'd share. Here's our street with our blue house. See it?

Our House

2007-12-05T11:03:00.000-05:00

What a week we had. We were gone last week house-hunting. It was quite a roller-coaster ride. I bet we looked at at least 30 houses. It was tough because this was pretty much the only week we could buy a house. Eric's schedule is chaotic, this was it. We had to buy a house THIS WEEK.

We finally found a house on Wednesday and decided to place an offer on Thursday. Well, we weren't in any rush, as far as we knew no one else was lined up to buy the house, so we visited a church first, then the school.

I wasn't crazy about this house. It was cute on the outside, had a nice level lot, beautiful grass, my husband loved it. But I didn't feel like the interior was functional for our family. I even woke up at 3:20 a.m. the morning we were going to make an offer, and I just couldn't go back to sleep. My mind kept turning and going, trying to figure out where we'd put our furniture, our stuff, I'd have to buy more furniture to make that dining room look nice, my red vases wouldn't go anywhere, there was no fire place, didn't have sidewalks on our side of the street, and on and on. It just didn't feel right, but I figured it would do. We'd figure it out.

So. After the visit to the church and school, we drove over to place an offer and got a call that the house sold. We were at a complete loss. I really thought Eric was going to break down. But for some reason, I wasn't really upset at all. I just knew things would work out.

We headed back to the realtor's office to start over. We ended up coming across this one house we saw when we made a quick visit back in October. I remember loving the interior, but the exterior...well...

Okay, it had a nice level lot, sidewalks on both sides, was in a great location. BUT....

Yep. It's BLUE. Actually it's "Ivy Green." And it really is pretty and cute and unique, but ALL the other houses on the street are neutral. You know, white, beige, cream...

We'll be known as The People In The Blue House. It'll be great. We'll order pizza for delivery, or have new friends over and tell them we live on Such and Such street, just look for the blue house. Can't miss it. And even better, we'll have our bright yellow Hawkeye flag hanging proudly off the front somewhere. Weeee.

I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I'm really really glad we got this house. I absolutely LOVE the inside, and all our furniture will work great in there. It's cozy and cute, it has a front porch, and the quality of the craftsmanship is outstanding. I'm happy!

We move in just 36 days...I've got a lot of work to do haha!

Mission Accomplished

2007-11-23T13:23:00.001-05:00

I shot up out of bed at 3:20 this morning, washed my face and brushed my teeth and threw on a sweatshirt and jeans. Didn't care about bed head. My friend Tracey pulled up in her van at 4:00 and brought her boys in and we nestled them in bed here with my boys. Eric agreed to watch the kids for us so we could go SHOPPING!!

We were on a mission to get this one particular item that she wanted to give her husband for Christmas before he goes to Iraq. We arrived at Toys R Us at 4:30 a.m. and got in line. Actually, the line wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be, and no line seems long at all after standing in line for 7 hours to get into the Star Wars Celebration merchandise store.

As the crowd rushed in at opening time, before we even got into the store, a lady came walking out announcing that the item we were after was already sold out. Tracey and I were disappointed, but we decided to go on in and see what we could find for the kids. We found some really good stuff at outstanding prices, and only stood in line to check out for around an hour, spending a total of about two and a half hours in the store. It was fun to just visit with each other and the people in line around us.

We grabbed some breakfast on the go and headed to Target next. We found more great bargains and were really excited that this other thing Tracey hoped to get wasn't sold out yet. It felt really good to have most of our Christmas shopping done already, and we saved a lot of money.

After grabbing a Starbucks on our way out of Target, we noticed that Office Max was right next door. It had advertised that one special item we were hoping to get, so we thought why not. Of course when we got inside they told us that it had sold out within the first 30 minutes after the store opened. We were down-hearted but thought it just wasn't meant to be. We decided to head home, where we'd make one more stop at Radio Shack before calling it a day.

As we pulled into town, I watched the Home Depot sign, Best Buy sign, Office Max sign go by. Tracey and I both commented on how that new Office Max in town was now opened. I asked her if she wanted to stop there real quick, and I could just run in and ask if they were sold out of that special item we woke up at 3:30 for. She was hesitant and figured they'd be sold out but said sure.

I ran in and found the first employee I saw. " I don't suppose you have any Zunes left?" He said they did. "Where are they??" My heart was racing. It was 11:00 a.m., the sale had been going all morning, surely they were out of the brown Zunes on sale for half price. The sales associate pointed to the back left corner of the store. I raced over there. I found the Zune section. There was one black one sitting there, not on sale. Only the brown ones were for sale.

I hustled backed to the guy with the black Zune in hand. "I don't suppose you have any more Zunes in the back?" He said they did. "Any BROWN ones back there?" He checked. They had two! "Could I please have one?" I sure could! I was thrilled! I let Tracey know right away.

It was meant to be! After all that early morning seeking, at the tail-end of all the sales, we just happened to find a Zune that was on sale for half-price, an item that pretty much sold out everywhere else we looked within the first 15-30 minutes of the store opening. Really incredible, actually. I don't know if Jesus thinks Black Friday is bad and thinks it encourages everyone to be greedy, but I was thanking Him for providing that Zune. And thanking Him for the really awesome time I had with Tracey.

We pulled into my driveway, and I hid the gifts I got for the kids in Eric's trunk. When we went in the house, Eric was sitting in the chair watching t.v. The kids were downstairs playing in the basement. The house was CLEAN. He had cleaned the living room AND kitchen, did laundry, and he made the boys French toast too! And, I found out that even though we thought all the kids were sleeping when we nestled them in and left at 4:00 a.m., they actually woke up about 20 minutes later and were playing hide and seek in the dark on the stairs. Eric got them settled back in and back to sleep. What a HERO!

Today has been an absolutely awesome day. I had sooooooo much fun with Tracey. Tonite we'll see their family again as we celebrate Owen's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. Ski ball tournament!! It just couldn't be a better day!!

I Did It!

2007-11-22T17:37:00.001-05:00

It certainly isn't glamorous, but I did it! I managed to time everything just right, didn't burn anything, and most of all I had FUN! It really was fun!Well, I ALMOST didn't burn anything. Looks like I also have the Curse of the Brown 'N Serve Rolls that you wrote about on Tuesday, Linda...

Ethan Loves Chicken

2007-11-19T21:24:00.000-05:00

Got My Bird!

2007-11-19T17:17:00.000-05:00

And I went big! As I was putting that little 10 pounder in my cart, I felt like we wouldn't have much for leftovers, and I want LEFTOVERS. With this lovely little 16.48 pounder in my fridge currently thawing, I think we'll have leftovers.

I'm sitting in the van right now. Having an attached garage is a wonderful blessing. It's cold and awful outside, but relatively warm in the garage. I'm in the van because poor Emily has the most horrible cough/icky nose that any of my kids have ever had. She is sleeping so soundly in her car seat that I just couldn't wake her up and make her try to sleep while laying down. I'm taking her in to the doctor at 3:45. And I have to pick the boys up from school in 30 minutes, so why not ramble on a little?

When I announced that I got my bird, it took me back the last few years when I'd go turkey hunting with my dad in the spring. I didn't shoot the bird with a gun, that was dad's part. My part was to get it all on video camera. And I loved it.

Dad and I would march out into Uncle Joe's land at dark thirty in the morning. We'd go to our spot that dad took time to scope out (which always seemed to be the same spot). We'd get settled in, dad's gun and my camera ready to go.

It was so peaceful to see the colors pop out as the sun came up. We'd even get visits from various wildlife as we waited for the turkeys to come into view. More than anything, dad and I just love being out there, observing, taking it all in.

Dad would use his call and I'd sit as still and quiet as I possibly could, all decked out in camo. Before long, we'd get our bird.

It has always been hard for me to observe the kill, but it helps to know that my dad isn't out there hunting for a trophy. I grew up eating pheasant, duck, goose, deer, rabbit, and fish fish fish. I love it and miss it. But more I miss being out there pheasant hunting and turkey hunting with my dad. It reminds me of the Indians, I picture an Indian boy out there with his dad making his first kill. Except I'm not an Indian or a boy. But I love being out in God's creation, especially with my dad.

Rising to the Challenge

2007-11-19T10:35:00.001-05:00

I'm doing it. I'm going to the store right now to buy a turkey and all the other stuff for Thanksgiving dinner. This will be our little family's first time celebrating, just us. It'll be my first time making a big turkey. I'm looking forward to the challenge! My mom and my mother-in-law have full confidence in me, but I'll have some boneless skinless turkey breasts on hand as a back-up just in case.

Wrestle Mania

2007-11-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

Dance Dance Bubblution

2007-11-14T20:27:00.000-05:00

Emily has figured out how to open the kitchen cabinets. Her favorite is the tupperware cabinet.

I was upstairs putting laundry away, and I could hear the boys were up to something in the kitchen. I figured they were sock-skating on the wood floor, or wrestling, or something. This just cracks me up. I came downstairs and saw this:

The boys were stomping and dancing on bubble wrap! It still makes me laugh! I asked them where in the world the bubble wrap came from. They said Emily found it in one of the cupboards. I forgot I used bubble wrap to send a gift in the mail and shoved the leftover roll in a cupboard just to get it out of the way. Emily found it!

Jibber Jabber

2007-11-14T19:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is my first video post. It's kind of long and boring at the beginning, but if you can hold out till the end it get cute. I was hoping to catch Emily jibber-jabbering like she usually does, but instead I was pleasantly surprised with her saying Mama and waving bye-bye for the first time! When you hear me saying, "Wow" I'm expecting her to copy me, she says "Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!" all the time. Well, she didn't do that :) Instead she said Mamamama! YAY! And even better, she waved bye-bye!

Strength Will Rise

2007-11-12T16:08:00.001-05:00

I recently discovered His Girl and loved how her whole family worked together to very quickly get a bunch of housework done. I need to know her secret, especially the part about how she got her kids to do it without complaining. That is awesome!

It makes me realize that the time has come. We have to get our house on the market SOON, we're shooting for before Thanksgiving. And I need help.

How do I keep my wood floors clean??? Emily is 11 months old now, and she's learning to eat people food (I guess I should say table food, she's not a puppy haha!). Also, she's still crawling, so I often find little finger paintings all over the floors where she drooled or spit up and played in it with her hands. It's cute for me, the mom, but I don't think a prospective buyer will see the beauty in it.

So. What are some secrets to keeping those floors shiny new every. single. day? And how do I get my 5 and 7 year olds to scrape the globs of toothpaste out of the sink every. single. morning. after they're done brushing? And...

Oh I could go on and on. I do have some secrets of my own from last year when we moved. I remember being 9 months pregnant, loading baskets full of laundry, clean or dirty, into my car, along with any other clutter that I just didn't have a place for so that a realtor could bring someone through the house.

It's funny to look back. I did this a year ago when I was pregnant, then some more with a brand new baby. Here I am today, not pregnant, but it's harder. I have more house to clean and a crawling tornado to keep up with. But you know what? Just like we said last year, it is what it is. If those floors aren't shiny, well, then it is what it is. And we will still move. And the company Eric works for will buy our house if it doesn't sell in 60 days.

But that doesn't mean I get to slack off. I have to try...

Jesus helped me last year. He'll help me again this time around. Last year the song that pulled me through was Let Your Joy Be My Joy from a Women of Faith soundtrack. This year, it's Strength Will Rise by Lincoln Brewster. Of course, there are many many more uplifting songs, but it seems I've connected the current days to this song.

You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God, You do not faint you, won't grow weary. You're the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need, and lift us up on wings like eagles. Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord...

10-20-30

2007-11-11T18:04:00.000-05:00

This is a meme going around. I thought it'd be fun to reflect.

10 years ago, I was in my second year of teaching second grade. Eric and I were living in our dinky apartment, and we still had that really awesome green couch. Eric was an underwriter. That summer, we had taken a vacation to Yellowstone, since we weren't able to go on a honeymoon because Eric had to work. Was 1997 a big year for Star Wars? I can't remember if we spent any time waiting in line for something Star Wars that year...

20 years ago, I was a freshman in high school. I still remember what I wore my first day! A yellow shaker sweater with white shorts and white moccasin-type shoes. I had a perm, short and kinda curly. I was really into teal and royal blue colored mascara and shimmery pink lipgloss. I was just starting freshman basketball, good ol' six-on-six 20 years ago at this time. I didn't have a boyfriend but had a huge crush on Troy Moats, this guy in my French class. I think he's an optometrist now? I ended up going to prom that year with a trumpet player I made friends with in band. I remember he was very outgoing. I was super shy. I loved loved loved my freshman science class, especially studying microfossils.

30 years ago, I was five! I'm not sure if I was in kindergarten yet. But I do remember kindergarten. I remember Pooh Corner, this little reading nook the teacher made. My favorite thing was to sit in there and read. I was already reading independently in kindergarten, I have no idea why. Must have been Sesame Street and Electric Company, plus the fact that my mom read to us a lot. I remember my kindergarten reading book, it was called "Hellicopters and Gingerbread Men." I remember telling my teacher that I wanted her to call me "Pepper" instead of Andrea. She told me that wouldn't work, because then she'd have to call my brother "Salt." I remember kindergarten had a play-kitchen and dress-up area. I never liked to play kitchen or house or dress-up. I liked the little balance beam she had set up in the room.

My favorite season in life so far has been right now. Being married to Eric, having our kids, taking care of them, being involved in our church. I love it.

My Boys

2007-11-11T16:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, our church had a HUGE Christmas Craft Bazaar. The entire gym was packed with vendors. I was absolutely amazed, how do people make this stuff? And why can't I do that? I'm just not gifted in the area of crafts at all. It was so fun to see all the people, and I was able to help out by sitting at our Pray and Play table to sell crafts that the other moms in our group made.

They had a kids' area in part of the building with games and even a shop for kids to buy presents for their families. The boys spent the whole morning in the kids' area while I worked at the table. It was absolutely precious. Owen spent pretty much all of his tickets on buying gifts for Emily, Eric,and myself. For some reason, he omitted Ethan... And then Ethan used his tickets to buy himself stuff, "Because they had really cool stuff there, Mom!" I just thought it was so cute. It just shows how they are two different boys at two different ages of development.

Sometimes I can't wait for those two to get older, I can't wait to see who they'll be, the kinds of conversations we'll have (hopefully they'll still want to talk to me). I hope that we'll be able to go camping, hiking, kayaking, all kinds of outdoorsy activities. I hope that they'll be best buds with each other all their lives. I hope all our families will be able to stay near to each other.

Radio

2007-11-09T17:35:00.000-05:00

After reading Linda's post about Amy Grant, I got to thinking about how Christian music has changed my life and impacted my relationship with Jesus.

It started I'm thinking back in 1995 or maybe '96, when Nate and Heth sent me a Jars of Clay cd. I'd never heard of them, and at the time I was listening to pop stations on "regular radio." My first reaction after receiving the cd was, "Oh." To begin with, I didn't have a cd player. I was still using cassettes. Secondly, I'd never heard of Jars of Clay. I decided to keep it and traded it in for a tape.

I really wasn't all that impressed my first time listening, mostly because I didn't know any of the songs. But because it was a gift from my brother, I kept trying. After a few days, I started to remember lyrics and found myself singing along. Before I knew it, I was obsessed with Jars of Clay, listening over and over again. I was so excited when they came to Perry for a free concert! Eric and I went, and even sat right near the band at the local Pizza Hut!

From there, it just boomed. I discovered the local Christian radio station, it played all kinds of really good music that paralelled secular bands. I remember taking the 30 Day Challenge. "Listen to our station for 30 days, and we GUARANTEE you won't ever listen to another station again!" Yeah right...

Well, I took the challenge, and they were right! The music was so uplifting and encouraging, there was no going back for me!

I've found 5 different Christian stations here. They range from encouraging talk-shows to good old fashioned hymns (organ included!) to soft and mellow, to heavier stuff, to really heavy sounds-like-they're-belching-in the-mic kinds of stuff. I flip between them all depending on my mood.

One really wonderful thing is that many stations can be listened to online. Two I listen to online include KZZQ and RadioU.

Warm and Cozy

2007-11-09T08:44:00.001-05:00

I love our fireplace~I usually sit or lay on the floor right in front of it. I love the warmth and the glow. I'm going to miss it when we move. Hopefully we'll find a house with another fireplace.

We can't let Emily be free when the fire is turned on, but the pilot light alone doesn't generate enough heat to burn her.

Last night when Eric got home from work he lit the pilot light and got it going. We ate supper and the kids wanted to play a game. We usually play at the table, but Eric suggested we sit by the fireplace. I put Emily in her exersaucer and we all sat on the floor and played Sorry. When the game was over, we put the kids to bed and watched t.v. Eric fell asleep almost immediately, laying right in front of the fireplace. I ended up watching a movie with Natalie Portman and Susan Sarandon called "Anywhere But Here." It was such a cozy evening.

Bearing the Shame

2007-11-07T13:56:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy day. Just today I've had the drywall guy come in and sand where he touched up different areas of the house, the garage door guy came to repair the garage door after I back into it while it was still halfway down, and then the appraiser came to measure and take pictures of the house so we can get it on the market.

It's so wierd. What do you do when you have people working in your house? Do you follow them around? Watch t.v.? Check email? Read? Is it okay to eat in front of them if they are there over lunch time? I've had to leave countless strangers alone in my house while I either run Ethan to school or pick both the boys up when school is over (and for at least a half hour at that, 15 minutes there, 15 minutes home).

Well, something interesting happened today while the appraiser was here. I was holding Emily, and we were watching what was going on behind our house. They built a new home, and a guy was running a little bulldozer thing all over the lot to smooth out the dirt. Not so interesting, I guess, but it was cool to see him turn instantly at a 90 degree angle with that thing.

I stood there holding Emmy for a good 20 minutes or so, watching the bulldozer go back and forth. As I was sort of spacing off and trying to figure out how he turned so quickly, I just kind of sort of passed gas in a really big loud smelly way. I didn't think much of it (I come from a gassy family. Our motto is "It's better to bear the shame than bear the pain." You've heard that before, haven't you?) Then I heard "beep beep" coming from upstairs. It was the appraiser's special measuring tool. I forgot the appraiser was there! And the way sound bounces around in this house, I'm sure he heard me. Almost certain he smelled me.

He came downstairs and commented on how cute and smelly (I mean smiley) Emily was, asked how old she is, etc. all the while I was trying with everything in me to NOT bust out laughing.

Favorite Things

2007-11-07T12:19:00.000-05:00

Heth said when you don't have anything to post, post pictures...

Check it out. I actually snapped the picture when the door stop was bent down as Emmy boinged it.

All Better!

2007-11-05T10:33:00.000-05:00

I took Emmy in and had them try to fix her bangs. She's still sporting that Martin Luther look, but he was a pretty cool guy, and Emmy's hair will grow.

Emily, Honey, I'm So Sorry

2007-11-04T18:49:00.000-05:00

I promise I will never try to cut your bangs again.

Just a Thought

2007-11-01T16:21:00.000-04:00

As I was typing that previous post, I could hear Emily in the living room playing with something that sounded like a box. I figured she'd gotten into her tub of toys.

Just now, I peeked over the counter at her, and she was pulling the baby wipes out of the container! I just kind of said, "Emmy...no no..." in a cute "I'm gonna getcha" voice. She smiled really big, giggled, and tried to crawl as fast as she could away from me! It was so cute!

It reminds me of Ethan, when he was about 18 months old, he snuck into the pantry and got a cereal bar out. He came waddling into the living room with it. I said the same thing..."Ethan, no no..." and as fast as he could, he crammed that whole cereal bar into his mouth!! Owen had a similar experience with the dog's Pupperoni treats.

I feel a song coming on, to the tune of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands..." (mom always made up songs about us, I sing the same ones to my kids)

I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
I've got three cute kids...yes I do!
And I love them oh so much....

I Think I've Changed My Mind

2007-11-01T15:57:00.000-04:00

Last night was pretty rough for my 5 year old. He woke up twice in the night, scared from that house that turned its garage, driveway, and front yard into a scary graveyard. The house was awful. I didn't even want to go near it. Ethan and I kept right on moving while Eric walked Owen up to get candy.

I cuddled Ethan till he fell asleep. He asked me why people make scary decorations. He said people should make their windows look nice for people. All I could do was tell him he was right and just cuddle him some more.

I love all that candy, too. And it's so cute and fun to see the kids dressed up in friendly costumes. But I don't think it's worth letting my kids see creepy stuff that scares them that they will remember for a long long time.

I remember being in third grade and I saw E.T. It TERRIFIED me. Many people couldn't understand why I was scared of E.T. He was a good guy, a friendly alien, etc.

I knew E.T. wasn't real, but it was my own imagination that got me all scared. I had a night light plugged in under the window, and the shadow the window valance made on the ceiling from it looked just like E.T.'s body from the side, with his neck all stretched out. It made me remember the scene when E.T. was really sick, all powdery white, laying on the floor of Elliot's bathroom, reaching out to Elliot's mom and crying.

I don't know how many days went by that I couldn't sleep because I couldn't take my eyes off that shadow, watching to see if it actually moved, which meant E.T. was in my room! Which meant he'd sneak up on me and stretch his head up over the side of my bed! And maybe he had fangs! And he might show me those fangs and growl at me...and on and on and on my imagination went.

You know, to this day, I can't sleep with my back to the edge of the bed. Maybe it's because of that old childhood fear.

I think our days of going out on the street are over...there are a lot of cute costumes out there, but there's lots of scary stuff, too. If we find a church that has a carnival, we can still dress up and have fun without the icky creepy stuff.

Trick-or-Treat

2007-10-31T20:13:00.001-04:00

Each year we've done trick-or-treat with the kids, even though I have mixed feelings about it. While I did pumpkins with the kids, I shared that story that's been going around the internet for awhile, how carving a pumpkin is like how Jesus picked us (like we picked our pumpkins), he cleans all the yucky stuff out of our hearts (like we clean the yucky stuff out of the pumpkin), makes us a new creation (like how we make a new face on our pumpkins), and shines his light in us (like we shine a light in our pumpkins). Not sure I got it exactly right, but that's the general idea.
The boys were really grossed out trying to clean out their pumpkins. I was just being silly here.

We've never put up decorations or anything like that, but this year Eric and I even dressed up with the kids. We went out with them while my parents, who were visiting, passed out candy.

It was nice to walk along and say hello to everyone, and we certainly got a lot of comments on our costumes, especially Eric.

As we went from house to house, once in awhile we came to one that had scary decorations. We also landed on a street that went all out on being scary. The kids didn't like it, and I didn't try to talk them into approaching the scary houses. It really spoke to me. More and more I feel like I want to substitute trick-or-treat with a different fun family activity. I love how many churches have a carnival on trick-or-treat night. Maybe we'll find a church like that when we move.

Even with my mixed feelings, I look at all the candy and can't help but say YAY!!

We'll see what next year brings.

Yeah, I Could Live Here

2007-10-27T20:43:00.000-04:00

Well, I must say, I LOVE it here! The view is absolutely beautiful. These aren't the snow-capped Rockies, but still spectacular.

I'm pretty tired right now. We spent the day looking at houses in all kinds of neighborhoods. I loved the developments that were more at the top of the mountains, an incredible view. The tough part was that living on a hill means a sloped yard. Hard to mow.

Another area we visited was not surrounded by mountains but had bigger, flatter lots. More than anything, it was really good to get out here and see some of these places in person after studying them online for the last few weeks.

We aren't ready to buy a house yet, still need to get ours on the market, but we'll be coming back here in another month (without the kids, what a challenge that was!) to look more intensely.

And Away We Go!

2007-10-25T08:29:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited!! We're leaving today after lunch for a half-day's drive to check out the area we'll be moving to in February. I've heard it's absolutely beautiful there, and our area is even at the tip of a mountain range. In high school I went on an extended hike through the Rockies and love love loved it. I'm not sure if these mts will even come close to the beauty of the Rockies, but we'll see! We've been warned that they have bears there. Bears?? Bring em' on! At least I know they won't be sneaking into my house or crawling into my bed at night like spiders do!!

I'll take my camera so I can post pictures as we go.

My Jedi Name

2007-10-23T22:13:00.000-04:00

Find out What's Your Jedi Name at LiquidGeneration.com

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2007-10-19T11:53:00.000-04:00

We love you and we're so happy you're here!

Boy Talk

2007-10-17T21:29:00.001-04:00

The boys had this conversation in the van today...

Owen: The first is the worst. The second is the best. Third is the one with the treasure chest. Fourth is the one with the polka dotted dress. Fifth is the one who lives in the West. Sixth is the one with the hairy chest....

(PAUSE)

Owen: Hey Ethan. Do you want a hairy chest or a beard?

Ethan: Oh a hairy chest. No wait. A beard. Can I have both?

Buddies

2007-10-16T16:19:00.000-04:00

I love it when the boys play nicely together. Here they are playing Zathura. What's really great is Owen can read the cards.

Well, mostly. Each card starts with a description and at the bottom has a command. For example, the card might read, "Pass Planet Galactagon and encounter less wind resistance" or "Your navigational experience is needed" I found Owen calling out, "Mom!" every time they drew a card, which was about every 30 seconds, so I finally showed Owen to just read the command at the bottom of each card, which would read something like, "Lose a turn" or "Move ahead 1 space." That helped them be able to play more independently, and I was able to get stuff done around the house.

Well, mostly. Emily is getting more demanding every day it seems!

Thinking I Should Cut Back...

2007-10-15T14:01:00.001-04:00

I read this.