This and that

Yesterday I cut myself while slicing bread. It was a stupid thing to do. The knife just sliced right down on my thumb that was holding the bread. It hurt like the dickens, probably because it went into my fingernail, too. It was bleeding pretty badly and hurting so I wrapped it in a paper towel and sat down to try to get the bleeding to stop. I had asked Steve to help me (I was thinking medicine, bandages, etc.) but he wasn't very sympathetic at first. Joel, however, was! He asked if I wanted him to get his "doctor stuff". Of course I said yes, so he got his stuff and came to my rescue. He took my blood pressure and my temperature. He checked my heartbeat - in my arm. He used the tweezers to make sure it was clean, too. What would I do without him?!?

While Joel was being my knight in shining armor, Evan was preparing for his first "fairy tale ball". It is today at school, and it is just about all I can do to keep myself from hanging out with his class all day and taking pictures. I did get some shots of him this morning after he got ready for the big day. (I had originally thought they would dress like princes or knights, but it was just Sunday dress. Since our church is very casual, I "had" to go shopping for him.) I am concerned that he will be a little disappointed with today's activities, though. He seemed to think that this would be like his fall carnival and that he would get to play different games that involved balls. I tried to talk this through with him, but we'll see how well I did when he gets home today.

Snazzy dresser

My little goofball - likes to ham it up

They really are learning good stuff, too!

Last night Steve was trying to reinforce the boys' Sunday school lesson by going over the papers they had brought home. The lesson was on Jesus' healing of the ten lepers. While looking at the pictures, Joel started asking where the "tin man" was. Through my laughter, I explained to Steve that Joel was confusing the tin man from the Wizard of Oz with the "ten men" Jesus healed. We tried to explain it to Joel, but then he asked about the "one tin man" that came back to thank Jesus.

Steve then tried to get the boys to sing a praise song by Brenton Brown titled "I Will Remember You". Evan decided to change the words to "Let's Go Potty in Our Underwear". (It fit really well, and this is a skill that Evan has picked up from both Steve and me. However Steve and I don't usually sing about bodily functions.) Joel thought that was great change and picked up the new lyrics immediately.

By then, we decided it was time for bed and to try again tomorrow. At least I got a good laugh out of the evening.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And what a day it has been - at least for Steve, my knight in shining armor.

So, it started with a trip to the gym this morning. I had a nice walk on the treadmill, stretched and chatted with a friend, and then tried to leave. Unfortunately, I had a VERY flat tire on the back of the van. My friend and her kids were supposed to be coming over to play. I couldn't call her because I didn't have my cell phone. Thankfully she had left her phone in the gym, so I caught her as she was going inside to get it. She let me use her phone to call Steve. During this time, I was trying to get the jack and spare tire out to change it myself. I couldn't find the spare because I didn't know if we had 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive. Plus, the directions for finding the spare just weren't that clear to me. I did know where the jack was, but it was jammed into the storage compartment and there weren't any directions on how to remove it. Steve is getting all of these questions and play-by-play over the phone, so he offered to come and fix it. I didn't think I would be able to do it, so I "let" him come and take care of it for me. The boys and I walked to McDonald's, and my friend and her kids joined us there for lunch and playtime. Steve did get the tire changed and then replaced at the dealership. Now I should be able to take the boys to the zoo tomorrow! What a GREAT husband I have!

The boys and I came home for a little while, where they watched a short movie about St. Patrick on VeggieTale's "Sumo of the Opera". (Really they watched the whole video, but I put it on for the St. Patrick short.) After that we got on our St. Patrick's Day green and went to our local library for a cake walk. The boys were very excited about the prospect of winning a cake. It took several "rounds", but they both finally won. In fact, right behind each other. Each player was assigned a colored number. Each round a winner was drawn from each of the three colors. Evan's number was drawn and while we were getting his certificate to pick out his prize, Joel's was drawn, too. So, technically, Joel wasn't there when he won, but he had walked around enough that he got his prize, too.

We had looked over the prizes earlier, and each of the boys had decided what they would pick. Evan's first choice was gone by the time we got there, so he picked some chocolate chip cookies. Joel's first choice was still there and he grabbed it up - a plate of brownies.

They could hardly wait to get outside and eat one of their treats.

Another exciting part of this event for Joel was getting to see all of the mascots that there were. He loved them all and kept waving at them, giving them five, etc. Evan, on the other hand, didn't want to have anything to do with them. He would tell Joel where they were so Joel could see them, though.


After they were done eating they got their faces painted too. Evan picked the rainbow first. Joel said rainbow at first, but was easily swayed by the suggestion of a shamrock. He said he wanted white, but then he was swayed to white outside and blue inside. He was very agreeable today. ;)


The boys are outside playing now, while our Irish dinner of corned beef, potatoes, and cabbage finishes cooking. I haven't made this meal before, so I am hoping it is good.

Well, that about sums up our day - except that I just discovered Joel was playing outside in his underwear but no shorts. It has been a while since I blogged, but maybe I will have more pictures and stories to share this week since it is Spring Break.

Catching up ... a little

I haven't blogged in a while so I thought I would share some random happenings today.

First:Joel and I were in the paper (our local, once-a-week paper)! This was from the storytime at McDonald's that we love. (2 local McDonald's each host it once a month and we try to attend both each month.) There was a photographer there the last time, and I was thankful that I wasn't wearing jammies and had done my hair.

Second:
After Bible study on Wednesday's Joel always want to get a sucker from some of the office staff. It used to be Ms. Tammy, the children's director, but then he found out that Pastor Mark has big suckers so he has become the go-to-guy. (Big suckers are full size Tootsie Pops, in case you were wondering.) Anywhoo, yesterday Joel got his sucker and then we went to Pastor Aaron's for a brief meeting. Psator Aaron had Girl Scout cookies and offered to share with Joel if it was okay with me. I told Joel he could have one (remember he already had a sucker). After Joel took the sucker I said, "What do you say?" Joel immediately replied, "I want two." Thankfully Pastor Aaron has grandkids and thought this was funny. I promptly explained that we should say thank you, but I am not sure that Joel got it. Later Joel asked me if Pastor Aaron was going to eat all of the cookies. Pastor Aaron said that he would share them with other people and that he would share some with Joel next time he saw him. Joel wanted to make sure he heard this right so he asked, somewhat incredulously, "You are going to share me with them?" (He mixes his words up sometimes.)

Third:
Meet Evan, our one-man-band (kazoo, tambourine, and xylophone). He really makes his dad proud when he does stuff like this. He actually was doing a pretty good job, but I can't remember what song it was right now.

Fourth:
I actually exercised today! Yay for me! It has been way too long and it felt good. I pushed Joel on his bike around the neighborhood for about 45 minutes. Joel couldn't understand why we weren't going to the park, but he decided by the end that the ride was fun. (Bike rides with Dad usually end at the park up the road from our house. That would have been fun, but the park is part of an elementary school, so no dice this morning.) We are planning to do it again tomorrow. Since Evan doesn't have school on Fridays, he wil be able to go with us, too.