Life with boys

A new way of life

2012-01-23T22:49:00.000-06:00

A lot has happened since the last time I updated the blog. For starters, we moved hundreds of miles away from our home in Rowlett, Texas to start a new chapter of our life in the Pacific Northwest. But, let me back up and give a brief review of some of the other things that have happened.

Joel had a birthday! He turned 6 this year, and for this birthday he wanted to invite his 2 best buds to Chuck E. Cheese. We were hoping it would be lower-key than normal, but that place is a zoo on weekend afternoons! His buds were able to come, along with Grandma and Grandpa, and he had a great time. He got lots of Lego goodies, but more importantly, he had a lot of fun with his "posse". Hopefully this link will take you to some of the pictures from his party. And this link will take you to some more pics from his actual birthday, including a trip to Chick-fil-a to celebrate it's birthday, too. (They opened in Rowlett on his first birthday.)

After Joel's birthday, Steve left to begin work at his new job in Seattle. I joined him for the first couple of days to househunt, while the boys stayed home with Grandma. Then I had to come home and the boys and I were alone for a few weeks. During that time we went to the Rowlett Holiday Parade. This is an annual trip for us and I will miss it!

We also celebrated Thanksgiving. Joel's class did a special program and had a huge feast. Evan's class had a feast, but I didn't get as many pics from it, and I think the ones I did get were deleted from the computer.

At the first of December Steve came back and we got ready to move. It was hard saying goodbye to everyone, but it was also exciting to be setting out on this adventure. We were living in an apartment in Seattle for the first few weeks. At that point, we weren't sure if the house we were trying to get would work out. While we were waiting and Steve was working, the boys and I played around Seattle. It was a lot of fun and felt more like a vacation than a move. One of the most exciting nights for Evan and me was our attendance at a Seattle Seahawks Monday Night Football game. We also visited the Seattle Aquarium and the Space Needle. Steve went with us one week to see Santa and his reindeer at the Issaquah Reindeer Festival.

We moved into the house after Christmas and the boys started school after New Year's. So far, they seem to be doing really well. They are making friends and seem to be transitioning well with the curriculum, too. They like their new school, but still talk about their old friends sometimes, too.

They did get about a week off from school last week thanks to the big snowstorm. Thankfully we did not lose power at our house, and we were able to get out a few times and play in the snow. This was the best sledding we had ever done. It probably helped that we finally got real sleds.

So, that is a brief summary of the last few months. I have to admit that a lot of it is what I remembered thanks to the facebook photo albums. We are starting to develop our new routines. The boys get to ride the bus to school Joel only goes half a day to kindergarten. After I pick him up we have some time together before we meet Evan at the bus stop. Then it is home again for snacks, playtime, and homework.

We have been working on getting the house organized and put together. We are down to the last bits that need to be unboxed or stored. Since we weren't sure which house we would be in, we brought some things that we ended up not needing. We also picked up a few new (to us) things for the house. These last few things usually end up taking the longest, but I am hoping to get it all knocked out this week. Then I will have some pics of the house to share, even though it may not be in its final decorated state.

We didn't get our Christmas cards out this year, but I am hoping to get some Valentine's cards out this year. Hopefully I will be able to post on here before then. I am going to try to keep up the blog better this year. Wish me luck!

Howdy, folks!

2011-10-03T20:27:00.001-05:00

And welcome to the Great Fair of Texas!

After living in the DFW area for over 8 years, I finally made it to the state fair. Joel heard a lot about it at school, so he had been begging to go all week long. (It just opened last week.) I figured that the boys were old enough this year for me to take them while Steve was at work. And it almost worked out well.

We started off with some of the famous Fletcher's corny dogs for lunch.

Then we walked around and found Big Tex, but he wasn't talking when we got to him. Joel really wanted to see his mouth move, but that didn't happen. We could hear him at times, but by the time we got to him he had stopped again.

Then we walked around checking out all of the sights and sounds until it was time to meet some friends at the Birds of the World show. That was a really cool show with birds flying right over our heads! There were even some ravens trained to take money from your hand and put it in the collection box.

After the show we walked around some more and found ourselves near the rides. I had told the boys they could each ride one ride. Evan picked the log flume, but Joel wanted a faster, spinnier ride. Unfortunately he wasn't tall enough to ride the one he picked out. He decided to do the log flume, too, and it seemed to be the right choice. They had a great time!

Can you see Evan?

How about now?

Is this better? I'll give you a hint - he's in front of Joel.

He was ducked down so he wouldn't get wet. Silly boy!

We had spent about all of the money I cared to spend by that time so we went to the petting zoo. There were lots of cool animals, but not many of them were interested in eating by the time we got there. The boys still seemed to have fun and got to pet some cool animals.

I was hoping to find the entries for things like biggest produce and photography, but I was not successful. Evan had been having a rough day with intermittent stomach cramps (and lots of bathroom trips). I finally decided to just get him home.

All in all they declared the day a success - and I agree!

Football Frenzy

2011-09-10T15:55:00.001-05:00

College football season has started.

The NFL regular season has started.

Football frenzy has taken hold of our house. Evan and I are enjoying it, and Steve and Joel are tolerating the ride. But, what does that have to do with what we did this morning.

Any guesses?

Here are a couple of visual clues:

This is a punt

This is a kick off of a tee

So, where were we and what were we doing?

I didn't get a picture of the pass, but he did that, too.

We went to an NFL Punt, Pass, and Kick Competition. I had been wondering how to get involved in this and our city sponsored a local competition this year. Evan was pretty pumped when I told him about it, and he had a good time.

Joel was old enough to participate, but he didn't want to. He just sat in the (dead/hibernating) grass and ate his snacks.

After Evan was finished we played on the playground. It was a nice morning and nice to enjoy together!

Another Vintage Pearl Giveaway

2011-08-24T19:20:00.000-05:00

I just can't get over how much I love this store's jewelry. And they have been churning out quite a few new products lately, too. The one that they are spotlighting now is a fortune cookie that can be personalized with your own saying. I love their inspirational take on the necklace, too. You can check out the blog for more info on this piece and for the chance to enter to win a free necklace of your own!

http://www.thevintagepearl.com/blog/2011/08/faith-and-fortune-cookies-a-giveaway

I heart faces ... and beautiful eyes!

2011-08-15T00:07:00.001-05:00

I love looking at the entries each week for the I Heart Faces photo challenges. I have entered a time or two, but when I saw the theme for this week, I knew I wanted to enter. I love taking pictures that show off my boys' eyes! The hard part of this challenge is picking just one to share. While I enjoyed reminiscing through lots of photos of the boys, this is the one I decided to go with. It was the one I originally thought of, and I just love the color combo in it and the whimsy that is still a part of his personality. It is also a reminder of our wonderful time in northern Virginia.

Check out the other entries for the week and the I heart faces blog!

There and Back Again - A Saunders Tale

2011-08-07T14:39:00.000-05:00

We "just" got back from a week-long trip to visit family in California. Actually we got back on Friday. I ended up sleeping most of the day yesterday, apparently suffering from jetlag, extreme heat, or coming off of the vacation high. It was a long trip and didn't go exactly like we initially thought, but it was a good trip.

It had been a few years since we had visited Steve's family out there, and we knew that some of them were having some health issues. Joel was a baby the last time we went, so we wanted to go again so that he and Evan would hopefully be able to remember spending time with them.

I wasn't sure how Joel would do on this trip, but he was really good. He was a little shy around some of the family, but having his Grandma Sherry there helped him quite a bit, I think. He warmed up pretty quickly and had a lot of fun with everyone. Evan had been bashful on previous trips, but he wasn't at all this time. He even put aside his love for the Rangers to make a "Giants Rock!" sign for his great-grandma (which was all his own idea). He even cheered for the Giants (for her) when we watched the games with her on TV. He enjoyed getting to meet (again) the cousin who sends him baseball and football cards, and was overjoyed when he got more on this trip. Joel decided he liked them, too, and now has quite a nice collection going.

We really enjoyed the time we spent with all of the family, and exploring a different area. The land, the plants, the views, the weather, the architecture, the food, the cultures - we could find differences to explore in all of these areas. It would have been nice if we had more time to do that, but the boys probably had enough of it as it was. I did want to make a list of observations that we collected while on this trip of some of the differences between California and other areas we have visited:
1. The summer-time brown mountains are beautiful, but different from most other mountains we have seen.
2. There's a lot of fog/smog in this area which can sometimes make it hard to see the mountains! We weren't sure how much was fog and how much was smog.
3. There's a lot of locally grown produce in the stores.
4. Some of the groceries are the same price, and some are twice as much.
5. Locally grown, but free, oranges are abundant and taste really good.
6. It's hard to find plain sandwich bread - even whole wheat sandwich bread.
7. Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way in parking lots.
8. The speed limit may be 35, but the lights can be short in neighborhood streets, so you better be ready to go when the light turns green. (And expect to get honked at if you aren't that fast.)
9. While we were enjoying wearing shorts and short sleeves without sweating, others were wearing jackets.
10. Mountain hikes are great exercise, but be careful in your choice of shoes. Loose sneakers will hurt your toes going downhill. Tevas will give you blisters (if you don't wear them frequently) if you try to hike quickly for an hour or so.
11. I can exercise without getting dizzy there!
12. The waves of the Pacific are bigger than others we have seen, and they are COLD!
13. People come from all over the world to see San Francisco. I don't even know what all of the languages that we heard in Muir Woods were.
14. If you want to enjoy the peace and quiet in Muir Woods, it's probably better to not go during the summer.
15. If you are going to go off the main trail in Muir Woods, get a map. We used ours frequently. We also met a couple who had been wandering around for over 3 hours after getting lost on the aptly named "Lost Trail".
16. Don't expect to find tourist shops and seafood places all along the beach in Santa Cruz. I know there are some there, but they aren't super easy to find.
17. Surf shops are quite easy to find in Santa Cruz, but they are for real surfers and don't sell cheap souvenirs (or beach towels for people who forgot to bring them).
18. There were not as many shells on the beach at Santa Cruz as I expected. Most of the ones we found were in the loose, dry sand instead of the wet sand closer to the waves.
19. Be prepared to pay for parking in the Santa Cruz. One little town looked especially cute to walk around and had a nice beach, but all of the parking spots (along the beach, in front of stores, and in the big public lot) were metered - and took coins only.
20. Older people love little kids. Okay, I already knew this, but it was neat to see how Aunt Helen and Great-Grandma Vine both perked up around the boys. It was even neat to see the other residents and workers at the nursing home enjoying the boys.

Well, that's a lot more than I thought I would write, but once I got started, it just kept flowing. As you can tell, we had a great time. The boys didn't even ask about when we were coming home, even though we didn't take many toys with us. I think they would say that they would have rather played at Aunt Judy's house with all of the family around than go on the day trips we took, too. But I know that they had fun on the day trips. They did ask frequently about going to the beach, so that might be the exception. They were determined to get in the water at the beach, too. We told them they could if they wanted to, but tried to warn them it was cold. They didn't care. They both got soaked head to toe at least once, and they kept on playing. After about an hour and a half, they did decide that they were cold and it was time to leave.

Our other day trip was to Muir Woods and a (very hilly!) driving tour of San Francisco. That day I got tickled every time I said "Francisco". The way I said it one time reminded me of the movie Elf, and it was all over from there. I can still make myself laugh just saying it in my head. It's nice to be so easily entertained. ;-)

I was excited to be able to get in some workouts while we were there, too. I was able to eat pretty well, too, so my attempts to "get healthy" weren't too de-railed by our vacation. And while I do think that I am getting healthier, I still don't like the pictures of myself. So you won't see many of them from this trip.

Anyway, we had a great time, and I took lots of pictures. I uploaded a bunch to facebook, but it would be too many to try to post here. I will just post the link to those instead. (Some of them have descriptive captions, too.)

Our summer seems to coming to a close, but hopefully we will have a few more adventures before school starts up again. Until then!

A Super Cool Giveaway from a Super Cool Jewelry Store!

2011-07-06T13:15:00.000-05:00

The Vintage Pearl is having a great giveaway and coupon code right now! I drool over so many of their designs and products. And they seem to be coming out with new stuff pretty frequently these days. Their products range from vintage to classic to new and modern to chunky and funky! They have things for ears, fingers, wrists, and mostly necks. They even have stuff for men. If you want to check out the giveaway and the site, just click here.

Celebrating America!

2011-07-05T21:10:00.000-05:00

What a great 4th of July weekend for us! It started with the boys and I taking a trip with some friends to pick blueberries. We went to Edom, TX (near Tyler, TX) to a pick-your-own farm. Evan had picked blueberries before at my dad's house, but this was some serious picking - and hot! They both did great, though, and seemed to have fun. I taught them to sample as we picked to make sure that they were getting good ones. I think they liked that part.

But the best part was getting blueberry ice cream and blueberry lemonade after we were done.

On Sunday we went to church, and then spent the afternoon at home. That night we went to see some fireworks on Main St. The boys got to do some fun stuff, too - like bounce houses and spinning wheels for prizes. The fireworks show was nice, but they were tired and thirsty by that time. So Steve and I enjoyed the fireworks more than them, but not as much as we normally would have. ;-) There was a good variety in the show and some different kinds than you normally see. I still give the night a thumbs up!

On Sunday we had a little party at our house for some of our community group friends from church. Only 2 families were able to come, but we had a good time! The kids had a lot of fun playing together, and the adults were able to enjoy some grown-up conversation. Of course, there was a lot of food, too.

What's more American than baseball ...

and Apple Pie?!? (and strawberry and blueberry pie)

Some festive snacks

and an All-American family!

Mother's Day Memories

2011-05-09T09:58:00.000-05:00

With the coming of Mother's Day I have been thinking about my mom a lot lately. Sometimes it's hard to believe that she has been gone for over 9 years already. I miss her so much some days, and wish that she was here to see my boys and take part in what they are doing. I talk about her with them, but it makes me sad that they will not get to know her here on this earth.

But memories of Mom are not all sad. I also think about the happy times with her. Going through a bunch of old pictures recently has increased all of this, too. I hope that I am building happy memories for my children. I know that they are building happy memories for me. They have had me laughing a lot lately. And they filled my heart with happiness this weekend as we celebrated Mother's Day.

These are not from Mother's Day, but are pictures of me and Mom together.

Steve helped me have a great weekend, too. For starters, we had planned to work on the new fence this weekend, but Steve got all of this weekend's work done without me! I had joked with him that he could do that, and he tried hard to get it done. While he was working on the fence, I was helping at a baby shower for a new mom-to-be in our church. What a great start to Mother's Day weekend! On Sunday, Steve was working the lights at all 3 services at church. The boys got up in time to go with him early in the morning, so I got to sleep in and just get myself to church. I didn't get my usual breakfast in bed, but I think it was a great trade! What a great husband I have!!!

The boys were sweet that morning, too. They came into the room and kissed me on the cheek and told me "Happy Mother's Day" just before they left. They had already given me some presents, but they made some more at church and game them to me after church. We bribed them with M&M's to get some pictures of them with me and their presents to me. Then we just hang around the house most of the afternoon. We played a game of Sorry together and then Steve and the boys played a video game while I took a little nap. After that we went to Carino's for dinner. I was stuffed by the end, but it was so good! We have cut back on our dining out and sometimes I have trouble even picking out a place to go. But I finally settled on this, and it was great! After we got home and got the boys ready for bed, Steve and I watched Runaway Bride. It was a relaxing and happy day, and I was very thankful for it.

A family first ...

2011-05-03T20:25:00.000-05:00

The first cast belongs to ...

Joel

He fell at the playground and hurt his wrist on Saturday. I was at home cooking dinner and not with them. When they got home he was pretty upset and we were trying to ice it. To help him calm down and stay still we ate dinner in the living room while watching Kung Fu Panda. By the end of the movie he was laughing hard and not complaining about his arm any more. We noticed that he wasn't using his hand very much, though. That continued on Sunday and Monday. He wasn't even playing with Legos. So I took him to the doctor on Monday thinking that it was a bad sprain, but better safe than sorry. Well, it was more than a sprain. It's a buckle fracture above the wrist. He got the cast right away and it was a very quick and easy process. It's actually a really neat waterproof and fiberglass cast and he got to pick out the color. He will have to keep it on for 4 weeks. His arm was still a little swollen so if the cast gets too loose he may get a new one earlier than that.

The cast hasn't slowed him down. In fact, he is more active now that he has it. We went to Target after the doctor and he got a new minifigure Lego. As soon as we got home he put it together and started playing with his other Legos. He had his first day at school with it today, and that seemed to go well. I forgot to pack his lunch this morning, so I got him a Happy Meal after my workout at the gym. That ended up being a good thing since he got some Batman toys in it that he could play "quietly" with at recess. Of course, as soon as school was out he was running everywhere. It's hard to keep this boy still unless he has Legos near him.

First Spring 2011 Flag Football Game

2011-04-09T19:56:00.000-05:00

Evan had his first game today as a Wolverine, and it was pretty exciting! His team didn't win, but they played well and seemed to be learning. (He is playing Upward, so they don't keep score, but we can usually tell who wins.) Evan played really well - at least we thought so. Some of his highlights were:

On defense:
- 2 interceptions
- disrupted another pass
- made at least one "tackle"

On offense:
- made 2 good runs
- was quarterback but I don't think he attempted any throws

He is number 13 this year and is glad to have a "higher" number. (Last year he was number 6). Today they were the visiting team, so he is wearing the white side of his jersey. Now you can find him in the pics below!

Playing defense and the looking for the ball

He got it! This was the first interception.

He was excited, but he kept his poise after the play.

Handing it off - right in the gut.

Cool giveaway!

2011-03-21T17:46:00.000-05:00

I love reading and I have sampled many authors through the years. One of my favorites is Francine Rivers and I recently learned about a free e-book and a chance to win a completely library of her books! I don't have enough room to store them all, but I would love to keep some and share some if I win. There are some good ones that I borrowed to read and would love to read again. Anyway, if you are interested in the giveaway you can go here to check it out!

By the way, here is a picture of us together at a book signing in Dallas. She is very nice in person, too!

Snowpocalypse 2011

2011-02-07T08:44:00.000-06:00

That was one of the terms bantied about last week when everything shut down for about 4 days. Evan went to school on Monday, and Joel and I walked to pick him up at the end of the school day. That was about the last time we left the house until Friday. We still weren't driving anywhere until Saturday, though. (That is for me and the boys. Steve went to work Wednesday and Thursday, and made it safely though he agreed the roads were a little rough.)

Monday night we got some hail, sleet, freezing rain - something that turned into ice on the ground and the roads. Then we stayed way below freezing until Saturday. The snow didn't arrive until Thursday night, so we didn't go out to play until Friday. Joel didn't want to play at first, but he finally went out Friday afternoon for some sledding fun. The guys went out again Saturday for one last day of fun, and it was probably a good idea because most of the snow was gone by Sunday. You can see the pics from our week here.

Today we are above freezing again, and should be tomorrow, too. But we have a chance for more snow on Tuesday night, and another winter storm warning. I really enjoyed our 4 days off last week, but I am not sure another day off this week would be a good idea. But, there's really no use spending any mental energy on that right now. For today, we are going to focus on returning the library movies that kept us occupied last week and getting some supplies from Costco - just in case.

The Science of Science Fairs

2011-01-27T10:52:00.000-06:00

Evan completed his first science fair project this year. I guess he had the opportunity last year, but didn't want to participate. This year he did, so we started brainstorming ideas with him as soon as we found out about it. Steve suggested an experiment on the evaporation rates of different liquids. A friend had told me about her daughter's on which type of cup keeps hot chocolate warmer and I suggested that one. Evan decided to go with the evaporation, so I started making plans to carry it out. We tried to perform the experiment the weekend before it was due and the results were the following:

The method I selected (and discussed with Steve) was not a good one for this experiment.
We needed more time to complete the project.

So, we went with Plan B (a.k.a. "Keeping Hot Chocolate Warm"). After church on Sunday I picked up a digital candy thermometer. When I got home I made a new caramel hot chocolate recipe, and we proceeded to experiment. It took Evan, Steve, and me to keep the experiment going. The first time we tried to measure the temps every minute, but that was pretty hard. I basically was measuring the entire minute. The second time (since my husband is an engineer we had to do two trials) we measured every 2 minutes. We only kept the every two minutes measurements from the first trial, too.

Guess which cup kept the hot chocolate warmer

Evan had worked on the wording of the purpose, hypothesis, etc. with me the day before (because I had a feeling we would be using plan B and wanted to be ready). After the experiment it was time to analyze the data. Steve kind of took over that part, with me throwing in things every now and then. Evan then came to me to write the results section. This is where the whining started. I was about to lose it. I wanted to finish so that we could relax and watch the playoffs. He apparently wanted to do that, too, but without finishing the project first. Steve took over for a while, and we were able to finish the project. Phew! Then Steve took over the formatting of the document into slides for printing. I wanted to rearrange part of it and it took me a while to figure out how to get it to do what I wanted. We have new "stuff" on our computer (Windows 7 and different Office programs) and while I like some of them, I know how to use the old stuff better. And I haven't used PowerPoint in a long time anyway. But ... it got done in time to get printed and put on the board way before bedtime!

And we did enjoy some caramel hot chocolate in the "winning" cup.

Surprised? We were (except that this was my friend's result, too.)

The first thing Evan told me when I picked him from school the next day was that he won at the science fair! It was hard to figure out what he won, but it was an honorable mention! I think that they judged all of the kinder-3rd graders together and had a 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winner and then some honorable mentions. He was excited and so were we! I think he learned some stuff, too. I wasn't sure he would want to do one next year after all of the "torture" of working on the results section, but I think that the joy of winning may have replaced the pain in his memories.

Winter Wonderland

2011-01-16T23:26:00.001-06:00

I have been negligent in posting again. We have enjoyed some snow recently, but it makes me long for more! We only got a couple of inches and it was only "playable" for one day. Thinking of snow always takes me back to our early days in Virginia (when we lived there for 9 months about 3 years ago). The boys were so much smaller then and they had never really seen snow before. The wonder and excitement really were magical. They still love the snow, but it's not quite the same. I have the physical pictures, and I hope I will always have the mental pictures, too.

This post has been submitted to an I Heart Faces photo challenge.

Another attempt at catching up

2010-12-13T08:45:00.000-06:00

I realized a couple of weeks ago how many pictures I have that I haven't posted and how many stories I haven't told ... and then another few weeks passed and the number grew! I posted a bunch of pictures onto facebook, so in an attempt to catch up more quickly, I will just be posting the link to the facebook albums here with a little synopsis of each.

After our trip to the Smokies, we had a birthday party for Joel at home. I put a picture or two up on the blog, but there are many more here if you want to see 5 year olds celebrating like Iron Man.

Before Thanksgiving, our city has a holiday parade that has become a tradition for us. I think we all enjoy watching the parade, although the boys probably enjoy the candy more. We were able to go again this year, and while I didn't get too many pictures of the parade this year, we did get a family picture with Santa. We also ran into some friends and had fun visiting (adults) and playing (kids) with them after the parade while we were checking out the booths and activities.

Evan's school had a lot going on for Thanksgiving for this year. All of the second-graders in the school decorate a turkey and then the school votes on the best one. With all of the traveling and partying we did between Halloween and Joel's birthday, I completely forgot about Evan's turkey. Thankfully someone reminded me the day it was due (after Evan was at school). I was able to "magically" guess how he would want to decorate the turkey and start cutting out some supplies that morning. (My good friend helped by punching out some letters for us to use, too!) I then picked him up from school at lunchtime and he missed lunch and recess to put it together. He also added a few details of his own.

The day before Thanksgiving was the big feast, complete with a visit from a Pilgrim couple and Squanto. They talked about life in the colonies and the Indian village around the time of the first Thanksgiving. They also demonstrated how to plant corn. That was also the day of a school-wide Run for the Cures (kind of like a turkey trot). I hung out with all of the grades a little to take pictures. Basically I was at the school most of the day taking pictures of one thing or the other before we left for Mississippi for Thanksgiving.

Somewhere in there was an awards assembly for the second six weeks. Evan got an award for all A's and a Pearson Pride award. All of those things have a picture or two represented here.

We traveled to Mississippi to have Thanksgiving with my family there. We saw more people in my family this year at Thanksgiving than we have in a long time! It was great! Of course, I didn't get pictures of many of them. Both of my brothers were there and that was really nice. If only all of my nieces and nephews had been there, too! I did get a few pictures from some of our fun (but not black Friday shopping) and I borrowed some from one of my cousins.

Joel is continuing to amaze us with his Lego skills. He can now follow the directions with the kits, but he will also look at a picture and figure out his own way to make it. That is all he wants for Christmas this year, too. Our house runneth over!

We are prepping for Christmas, but I think we are mostly done. I have a few more things to do around the house before I host a cookie exchange for my Bible study group on Wednesday, but that is mostly cleaning. I have been working on my sewing skills some as I prepare Christmas decorations, but I will have to share those pictures later. For now, I need to go and finish some cleaning and organizing. Then I can do some more of the "fun" stuff later today and maybe have more to share!

Happy Birthday to my baby!

2010-11-08T18:32:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow my baby will be celebrating his 5th birthday. He has been celebrating for over a week now, but that's not really the point.

It's hard to believe that he is 5 already! It seems like just yesterday I looked like this:

And then Joel looked like this:

And our family looked like this:

But, that wasn't yesterday ... that was FIVE WHOLE YEARS AGO!!!!

Today, Joel looks more like this:

Oh, no! That's Iron Man! Joel looks more like this:

Joel has had 2 birthday celebrations so far. Last Saturday he had a party in Chattanooga with family, and this past Saturday he had one at our house with some friends from school. On his birthday he will also be taking a special snack to school. What a full week of birthday celebrations! And now that it is almost over he has started planning what he wants for Christmas and for his next birthday. Time never stands still!

Fall in the Smokies

2010-11-08T17:02:00.000-06:00

I know that's not a very original title for this post, but I don't care. Because I got to go the Smokies this year in the fall!!! I have been wanting to do that again for years, but something kept coming up to prevent it from happening. We planned a trip this year (as in recent years), and I sat back and held my breath to see if we could finally make it happen. The Monday before we were going to leave (on Thursday morning) Evan came home from school saying he felt sick. Then he threw up. I began to get worried. He threw up one more time, but no one else got sick!!! In our family, this seems to be a small miracle.

So, we headed to the mountains on Thursday! We stopped over for the night outside of Nashville and made it into Chattanooga around lunchtime the next day. We had a relaxing afternoon with some family, and then Evan and I saw some more family that night at my nephew Nathan's last high school football game. I had never gotten to see him play football, so I was very excited that I was getting to see this game. I was not so excited when he went down with an injury with one minute to go in the 3rd quarter. When he didn't get up I got even less excited. He ended being taken to the hospital and was diagnosed with a broken back. The injury is more like broken ribs, as it is where the ribs connect to the spine that is broken. He could move around, but was in pain. Thankfully, he should heal in a few weeks and be back to sports (specifically, basketball).

The next morning, we had a family birthday party for Joel at a park. Joel's birthday is fairly close to Thanksgiving so family doesn't get to visit often for his birthday. I was excited that he got to celebrate with his cousins this year. Of course, they couldn't all make it, but we had quite a few people there!

We were planning on going to a trunk or treat that afternoon, but everyone was having so much fun playing in the park, that we just got some pizzas and stayed at the park longer.

We went to visit the laid up football player that afternoon, and from there some of us went trunk-or-treating. Joel's only objection to this trip was that he wouldn't be home for trick-or-treating, but we took our costumes and got candy so that made it better. We went to two churches and had a lot of fun. They had games, candy, and real food, too, so the parents were pretty happy, too.

The next day we went higher into the mountains. We hiked up a trail (about 1 mile) to visit a waterfall. Everyone did great! Joel got a little tired and upset toward the end, so he was carried the last little bit.

After the hike we went to my favorite mountain store - The Apple Barn! I had an apple dumpling for the first time and it was so good! I also bought some goodies to make my own apple goodies at home. I can't wait to get busy with those!

We still had lots of daylight when we finished at The Apple Barn, so we headed back up the mountain to Cades Cove. We were on the lookout for bears, but we just saw some turkeys and some deer. Normally when we go there we see lots of does and fawns, but this time we saw several bucks. We got pretty close to them, too.

The next day we started our trip back. We were able to see one of my older nephews, Shane, in his college town on our way out. We too him out to eat at Mello Mushroom, which I had heard about, but never visited. The pizza was great and the company was, too! I am so glad that worked out!

We spent the night in Little Rock and had a rainy drive back to our house the next day. It was rainy, and I slept, but we were safe! We had a great time and I am so thankful that we got to see everyone and make this trip. It just makes me wish I lived closer to my family, though.

This and that

2010-10-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

I haven't shared a funny kid story in a while, so here is one about Joel. The other night he told me that his dad had drank all of my water. I said, "Ohhhh, I am gonna have to have a little talk with him." A few minutes later, Joel told his dad that I was going to be talking to him about drinking my water. His dad gave him a little grief for ratting him out, in good fun. The next morning the first thing Joel said to his dad was, "Did Mom have a talk with you last night about her water?" I got a laugh out of that. At least one of my guys is looking out for me! ;-)

Evan got new glasses this week! It was a good thing we had ordered them last week because his current pair had been badly battered over the last year and finally broke on Saturday. He was having to wear a really old back-up pair that was hurting his nose. I was looking forward to the new frames because the legs are so much sturdier! And the part over the ear is a neat material that looks comfortable, but also has a little grip to it. I am hoping it will keep them from falling forward even if they get loose. Evan liked the new frames for an entirely different reason. He thinks the design looks like Clone Troopers' helmets. I think they look pretty cool, too.

Last night I made chicken and dumplings for the first time ever. I can't believe I call myself a southern cook and had never made those before. Actually I can believe it. I watched my granny and mom make dough from scratch and the thought of doing that was very intimidating. I used a recipe from Southern Plate that called for canned biscuits for the dumplings. It was much easier and turned out pretty good. Not like I remember from my childhood, but I think I need to work on the technique some more.

And, I have injured my pinkie toe in a freak shopping accident. I kicked a wheel on a shopping cart and cut my toe and lost part of my toenail. Now, I have kicked many a shopping cart wheel (on accident, of course) and never had anything like this happen before. I was in Ikea when this happened and happened to already be on my way to the bathroom. I tried to clean it up, but loose toe nails bleed a lot. I was able to get it mostly clean and then I got some assistance from the really nice and helpful Ikea employees. Someone came to me with a first aid kit and doctored me up, too. I was able to finish shopping and get back in time to get Evan from school. Then I propped it up for most of the night. Today I am going to try to work out. I will let you know how it goes.

Pumpkin ... it's what for dinner!

2010-10-11T16:36:00.000-05:00

When we went to the pumpkin patch the other day, I bought several pie pumpkins for cooking up. I have only recently decided that I like pumpkin and I like it mostly in breads and cookies, but I have been wanting to branch out and try something new. One of my friends passed along a pumpkin penne recipe and I finally made it this weekend. Since I have been reading so many food blogs, I decided to take some pictures to share, too.

I didn't take any pictures of the pumpkin before I cut it up, but I added a similar one to this picture in case you weren't sure of the size of a pie pumpkin. I cut the pumpkin up, put it in a bowl, added two inches of water and cooked it in the microwave. I also washed and saved some of the seeds for roasting.

Joel had to jump into the picture and "smell" the pumpkin.

Once the pumpkin is cooked, you can scoop it out with a regular spoon. Sometimes you can pull the shell off, too. It was still a little hot so I opted for the spoon.

Once you have all of the insides scooped out, you can use an immersion blender to mash it. My little pumpkin made 3 cups of mashed pumpkin. I only needed 2 cups for the pasta, so I will be making some pumpkin cookies soon.

This is what the pasta looked like! If only we could smell it, too! Steve and I liked it. The pumpkin had a mild flavor in this dish. The boys did not like this, but I think it's because they heard that there was pumpkin in it before they tasted it.

The sauce looks a little lighter in this picture, but that brings up an interesting point about cooking with fresh pumpkin. It is not the same color as canned pumpkin. I am not sure why that is true, but just know that your dishes will have a slightly lighter color if using fresh pumpkin.

I think that we will be having our leftovers of this dish tonight. The first time I served it with ham. Tonight we are going to try it with turkey meatballs. I am also going to add a little nutmeg to my serving tonight to see what that does. I will let you know how the pumpkin cookies turn out, too. ;-)

Friday morning reflections

2010-10-08T08:57:00.000-05:00

My morning did not start off as I had imagined it would. In the midst of trying to unload the dishwasher and get Evan ready for school, Joel threw me a curveball. He went outside and found the bags of "stuff" that are waiting for a charity pick-up. In one of the bags he found a small, stuffed Snoopy. It was some sort of freebie that Steve had picked up at work. It had gotten played with a little when it first came to our house, but it was quickly forgotten and had been sitting in the stuffed animal tub for a couple of years. However, when Joel saw it this morning, he apparently decided that it was a pretty cool toy and asked if he could keep it. I was in the middle of a couple of different things and trying to answer questions from Evan and Joel at the same time so I gave him a curt "no". He asked again and got the same reply. At this point something strange seemed to happen. Evan went outside to wait for his ride, and I thought Joel had joined him. But I also had an idea that Joel had gone somewhere and was crying. I couldn't tell for sure, so I kept on with my task but with an ear turned to the mysterious but quiet sound he was making. After a minute or two I decided to investigate, and found Joel in his room with a red and tear-stained face. Yep, he was crying for the stuffed animal that he probably hadn't even known was there until he found it in the give-away pile. I sat beside him and we talked about it. He said that he hadn't been playing with it because he couldn't find it. I thought that was interesting, but not interesting enough to retrieve the animal from the bag. I assured him that we still had a Snoopy and that we had kept many more animals than we were giving away. He seemed to be calming down a little, but was still upset so I asked if he wanted to lie down with me. He did and we had a little "timeout" together in his bed. By the time we got up (just a few minutes later) he was smiling and laughing - and he hasn't mentioned the small Snoopy again.

As I went back to my interrupted task of unloading the dishwasher I was thinking about what had happened and a few ideas - or lessons - began to surface:

1. Joel really might have been crying because of the curtness of my answer. I wasn't looking at him or focusing on him and I really wasn't very nice. I was being pretty dismissive. I know I don't like to be treated like that so why would I not expect it to bother my 4-year-old.

2. To make things right with Joel, I just needed to take some time out, focus on him, listen to him, be there, and hold him. I really didn't try to reason with him about giving the animal away. I didn't decide that we could keep it. But I hugged him, rubbed his back, and held him. (We probably could have avoided the whole situation if I had given him that focus earlier on. But I also don't think he will be in therapy years down the road because of this incident.)

3. I wonder how many times I respond to God the way Joel responded to my "cleaning out" this morning. It felt so good last night to think about all of the "stuff" that had been cluttering our house that was going to be gone today. I knew there was more to get rid of, but it was nice to know that some of the clutter would be gone. None of this stuff was really bad, but it wasn't useful for our family any more. I wonder how many times God wants to de-clutter my life, but I resist. I cry out and hang on to stuff, not because it is useful to me or others, but because it is mine. This could be a whole other post (which I have been thinking about for some time), but let me summarize with this realization: Everything belongs to God; He has entrusted me with some things, but He is still the owner.

So, what does God want to remove from my life that I don't really need? I am not sure, but I hope to spend some time over the next few days being quiet before Him and listening. I might be surprised at what I hear, but I hope that I am open to hearing what He has to say.

Pumpkin Patch Time

2010-10-07T09:19:00.000-05:00

The boys were out of school Monday and Tuesday, and since our weather has been so nice I decided to fill that time with some outdoor activities. We took a trip to the local pumpkin patch on Monday to pick out our pumpkins and play in the hay maze.

We also took Evan to the eye doctor, visited the Lego store, and ordered a new pair of glasses for Evan. By the time we got home it was too late to do anything with the pumpkins. Tuesday was a stay-at-home and rest day, so we used some of that time for painting the smaller pumpkins that the boys picked out. They also got some bigger pumpkins that I think we might carve. That will be for another day, though.

Sunday afternoon football

2010-09-27T10:49:00.000-05:00

While the games on tv were great yesterday, I think my favorite game was the one that was taking place in my backyard. Joel started out as the coach.

But then at some point he decided to switch to basketball.

He was really good with the whistle, though!

It looks like Evan is going to miss this catch.

But he doesn't!

He is sort of taunting his dad with his catch.

And he is having fun running the ball back.

Joel decided to forgo the basketball to play football with the rest of the guys.

Steve even blocked for him

But Evan managed to tackle him anyway (probably because Joel would backtrack to keep the play going longer).

But Joel was a good tackler, too - even when the "tacklee" didn't have the ball.

Ahhh, fall and football season are here! And I love it!!!

Like Dandelion Dust

2010-09-25T00:46:00.000-05:00

I have been a Karen Kingsbury fan for a long time. I have read every one of her novels and I have cried at least once with each one. I have also laughed out loud a fair amount, too. I was excited to hear her talk years ago about one of her novels being made into a movie. Tonight I was even more excited to see Like Dandelion Dust on its opening night! (It is only open in a few cities currently and you can click on the link above to see if it is in your town yet.) This is a very emotional movie, though - take tissues and don't wear mascara. And don't say that I didn't warn you. I think only one person in our viewing claimed to have not cried, and he did say that he enjoyed the film. He just doesn't cry.

Tonight's viewing was "extra-fun" thanks to the fact that one of the stars, Cole Hauser, was in attendance and greeting fans. We were one of the last few to meet him before the movie started, so we were a little rushed and didn't get autographs.

However, in the category of "ask and you shall receive", I asked him if we would be able to buy the things on the table after the movie. He replied that he thought it was all free. I was specifically interested in a shirt that I saw so I said, "Even the shirts?" He looked at the shirt and handed it to me and told me to take it. I asked, "Are you sure?" He said yes, so I took it! Too bad I couldn't get his autograph on it, though.

We had a Q&A time with Cole Hauser, Chad Gundersen, and Chris Morrow after the movie and that was a lot of fun, too. I didn't have any questions, but I enjoyed hearing them discuss the process of making the movie. So, it was a great night out with some girlfriends! And you really need to make plans to see this movie if at all possible!

Joel's Premiere in Concert

2010-09-19T19:04:00.004-05:00

Joel has decided to take up drumming recently. He drums on anything and everything. This morning I went to both services of church, and Steve and the boys stayed home for the first service. During that time Steve and Joel played some music together (Steve on guitar and Joel on drums), and Steve told Joel that he was "very good". That encouragement must have meant a lot to Joel because he repeated it to me a couple of times. And he decided to put on a concert tonight! I thought it was for me, but then I saw that there were others in attendance, too.

The Audience

This is Grandpa ...

with his cup of coffee - conveniently located behind his back

Joel on the triangle

... and on the drums
(and winking to avoid the flash from the camera - maybe that's why they are banned in concerts)

Legos in a box as a rainstick
(his own creation)

My favorite technique - drumming on his belly

After the concert, Joel passed out food and drinks to his audience.
What a great host!

Are you ready ...

2010-09-15T22:44:00.004-05:00

For some football?!?

GO GATORS!!!*

We are!

GOOOOOOO GATORS!!!

And Evan, especially, is!

And it's a good thing because tonight was the first game of his new season.
They have a lot more players on their team than they need, so he didn't play the whole game.

When he was in, he played quarterback on offense.

And he had his first completed pass in a real game! (He ended the game with a total of 2 completed passes.)
He also was a good blocker for this running back, who scored on this play.

Unfortunately, the scorekeepers said we lost by 1 point. The rules (like extra points) and the referee's calls were a little confusing to me, so I had thought we won - or tied. Oh, well. As we tell Evan, the point is to have fun, do your best, and be a good sport. And Evan seemed to accomplish all 3 tonight. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO GATORS ... and EVAN!

*Not the University of Florida Gators, but the LakePointe Sports Gators.

Q&A Time

2010-09-11T21:45:00.002-05:00

We have been having lots of Q&A time at our house recently. My newest favorite is one of Joel's: Is anybody in Jesus' heart? Hmmm ... explaining the Trinity to a 4-year-old is not very easy. But then again, neither is explaining why Jesus said that we were drinking his blood. (His version involved people being thirsty and Jesus giving them his blood to drink. Kind of sounds to me like a "mash-up" of turning the water to wine at the wedding, His conversation with the woman at the well, and His statements from the last supper.) Or why the song says that He washed us with His blood. This is the song:

Anywhoo - this post is really about some questions I got "asked" by a friend and fellow blogger recently. I know you are all dying to read the answer and see who gets tagged next so read on!

1. What brand of toilet paper do you use?
It was Charmin, but I am trying different things now.

2. Who is the celebrity that you are most embarrassed to admit you have a crush on?
Not that I embarrass easily, but my biggest celebrity crush is probably Johnny Depp

3. What is your all time favorite movie?
Tough one - Pride and Prejudice, I guess (the A&E version). Others in the running are: Elf, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Sense & Sensibility, and Ever After

4. What store do you spend most of your paycheck?
I guess Target.

5. What is your favorite restaurant?
Depends on my mood, but my favorite dish is at Carino's (Italian nachos)

6. What is your most favorite thing to do in the town you live in?
Go on a date with my hubby

7. Where is the best place you have been on vacation?
Most of our vacations involve visiting family, and while those are fun, in terms of the place itself, my favorite would be the mountains of West Virginia or Colorado Springs.

8. What is the most distant place you have visited?
The most distant place I have been to is probably Guadalajara, Mexico.

Now it's time for the next 8 people to be tagged! (Even if you don't read my blog you are officially tagged)
Nicole Stonehouse
Jayme Doggett
Becca Hapes
Melody DeLuca
Julie George
Missy Schrib (even though you've already been tagged)
Carla Villanueva
Michelle Seabourne

First Day of School - Take Two (aka "Joel's Turn")

2010-09-01T10:39:00.004-05:00

Joel has a completely different personality from Evan (in case you didn't know that already). So, his first day of school went quite differently from Evan's. It began with complaints about going to school, about wearing socks and tennis shoes, about the corners of the socks he picked out, about the cup his milk was in, about his two choices of peanut butter balls, and about the cheerios (there weren't enough in his bowl and there weren't enough chocolate ones - not a surprise since they were multi-grain and not chocolate).

I have to admit that some days I can take this in stride, but today was not one of those days for me. After we finally got everything ready, I tried to take some pictures before we left for school. Of course, he did not want to cooperate.

I was probably not helping matters since I was frustrated so I didn't push the picture issue. I did take these because I thought they were funny, though. Of course, that only made him more mad.

We both calmed down some on the drive to school and he posed for pictures there for me. He had no problems going into his class and getting settled in. I think it helped that 8 of the 12 kids in his class were in the same class last year.

One of his teachers tried to show him an alphabet puzzle, but he only gave it a little polite attention and then he went to the dinosaurs.

After school I took him to Braum's to get an ice cream cone. He asked before we got there if they had the "green kind with chocolate chips" and they did! It was a nice way to end the day.

He was glad to find out that he didn't have to go to school today. Tomorrow is another day, though ...

A Lego Mastermind

2010-08-25T15:47:00.005-05:00

Joel really impresses us with his Lego building skills. He doesn't follow the instructions with the kits - he just makes his own designs. He is really into castles these days. The other day he saw a jousting (or "pole fighting") set on Amazon that he wanted to order. Since it is retired, it is very expensive. Steve tried to tell him that he could make one on his own. So Monday, with his brother at school, Joel unleashed his creativity.

At first the knight on the tauntaun was jousting, but Joel wouldn't let me take a picture of them together.

The good guy and the bad guy jousting. They know which side to go on because of the shields.

Joel putting some finishing touches on the castle drawbridge defense. He had a set like this, but this one was his version on it - from memory. Below are some details from the castle.

I love how he has this guy walking.

This sword is the magic sword.

The guard is putting the bad guy in jail at the back of the castle.

Not Me! Monday - updated/clarified

2010-08-23T17:16:00.004-05:00

Hmmm ... what did I not do this past week?

Well, I did not encourage my husband to bid on a 6'x4' painting at a silent auction in the hopes that I would get a new dining room out of the deal. (Really, I didn't. But since he did win it, I am now trying to work a deal out.)

I did not take baby-wipe "baths" several times this past week because it is so stinkin' (literally) hot outside. I would always take a real bath to clean sweat and stink off of myself. (This refers to the middle of the day when I might or might not have changed clothes several times throughout a day.) I also did not skip a shower this morning because I knew I would just get sweaty taking and picking up my child from his first day of school.

I did not buzz my child's head the day before school even though he was screaming the whole time. I would have stopped if the clippers seemed to be hurting him and take him to a professional. (Who am I trying to kid with that one?)

I did not write this post just for a chance to win some Lisa Leonard jewelry, either.

Okay, that's enough true confessions for this week. Plus, my mind seems to be shutting down and I can't think of any more. ;-)

First Day of School - Round 1

2010-08-23T11:02:00.003-05:00

Today's was Evan's first day back at school. I hope that no one thinks I am a bad mom, but there were no tears shed today. In fact, I didn't even come close. Perhaps this is because Evan is the oldest. Perhaps it is because he loves school so much and was so excited about going back. I was actually excited for him, too.

I woke him up at 7:05 this morning. He jumped out of bed and started to get dressed. I reminded him to eat first. He asked me to make his breakfast, and I obliged. (He usually makes his own, but it's the first day of school and all.) He ate quickly and then got dressed. While getting dressed, he also helped me get his lunch ready. He briefly complained about the socks I had set out for him, but continued to put them on. We got the backpack and lunch ready to go, and then I threw on some clothes. He let me take pictures, even posing for me, and was ready to go! It only took about 30 minutes to do all of this. (But I just remembered that he probably didn't brush his teeth.)

I asked him if he wanted to go to school early, and of course he did. That meant that I could drive him all the way up to the door (avoiding the rush), and drop him off. When we got there he was so excited to get out that he didn't even give me a kiss. (But still, no tears!) I can't wait to hear how his first day went!

Ahhh ... a much-needed vacation!

2010-08-17T10:40:00.008-05:00

We had been looking forward to this vacation for weeks! We had started planning at the beginning of the summer but knew that we couldn't take it until August because of things going on with Steve's work. We had gone through several ideas before settling on the final one - a trip to the beach in Corpus Christi with a one-night stop in San Antonio. Beach trips are really not my favorites, but the boys love the beach. They have been to beaches in Virginia, Maryland, and Mississippi, but not in their homestate of Texas. I thought Corpus was much further away than it is, so when I discovered the truth it made the trip a good idea. Although beaches are not my favorite places to visit, we wanted a trip that was relaxing and not filled with places to see and things to do. This trip really fit that bill for us. And it was a total of 5 days which was a nice length for us. The boys were not too tired of the beach by the time we left, but they were also glad to be home. Seemed like we timed it pretty well. Here is a little recap of our vacation.

Day 1 - Drive to San Antonio

We left in the morning and headed out for San Antonio. We stopped for lunch in Austin and the boys got to fully experience Freebird's for the first time. They have been to Freebird's before, but they were much younger. They got burritos this time, and they picked all of the stuff for them. Evan even ate almost all of his! I was very proud of him, of course.

After we lunch we drove the rest of the way to our hotel in San Antonio. After checking in and settling our stuff into the room, we walked to The Alamo. This part of the trip was for me. I had been to the outside of the Alamo before, but had never been through it. I enjoyed it, but it was really hot and the boys were tired by this time so it wasn't the family highlight of the trip. We had been reading books and even watch the old John Wayne movie before the trip to help the boys understand the significance of the Alamo. Apparently that part stuck because since we have been home they have been playing the Alamo. They build barricades at the entrances to the living room, which they stay inside. They are the "good guys" (aka Texans) in the Alamo. Their dad (or me, if he is at work - like today) stay on the outside and attack. They call us the "bad Mexicans". I understand where this is coming from, but given where we live and the school Evan attends I am a little concerned about this. I think I need to have a talk with him about when it is appropriate to say things like that.

We went back to the hotel and cooled off a little and looked for a fun place to eat. Steve found a place in the visitors' guidebook called Lulu's Jailhouse Cafe. It sounded good so we plugged the address into the gps and took off. And we traveled for a while ... and into some of the scarier parts of San Antonio. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be located in an area that had a jail on one side of the highway and lots of bail-bondsmen on both sides. We couldn't find the restaurant and all we could see where it seemed it was supposed to be was bail-bondsmen. With all of the one-way streets we couldn't find a way to get in front of those buildings either. We tried several times, and finally went back to the hotel, got their telephone number and called to get their address. Turns out they had moved and were now called Lulu's Cafe & Bakery. (This restaurant had been showing up in the gps under "restaurants" but since it was missing Jailhouse in the title we didn't think it was the same.) It may have taken us a while to get there, but we laughed through the trip, and the food and experience were worth it. We ordered one entree for all 4 of us to share and one dessert to share. We still didn't finish the dessert and the 3 guys finished it off another night. How is that possible with 4 hungry travelers? Look at the sizes below! (By the way, this restaurant and these dishes were featured on a show called Man vs. Food. One guy ate all of this at one sitting.)

chicken-fried steak the size of a platter

a three pound cinnamon roll

Day 2 - Play in San Antonio and drive to Corpus Christi
We were ready to leave the hotel before our San Antonio attraction opened, so we found another place in the visitors' guidebook to try - a Japanese Tea Garden. We plugged the address into the gps and started driving. This time we ended up in a residential section (not historic San Antonio as the guide stated). We had learned a little from our first outing so we had the number this time and called it. The number was not a working number. So, we pick two things from this guidebook to visit and they are both wrong! What are the odds?!? We decided to head to the attraction we had found online and stop at a park along the way to kill the few minutes until the place opened. We found a park with equipment (as opposed to the empty lot "parks" that we kept passing) a block or two away from our destination. The guys had fun, but it was so hot and it wasn't even 10am. It didn't help that there was no shade on the playground and that the surface was black.

Anyway, we went to Kiddie Park (a kids' amusement park) and the boys had a blast! They played and rode rides for 2 hours. If we lived in San Antonio we would probably go there frequently. The rides were pretty small, but since our boys had never really ridden anything like this before they loved it. They rode all of the rides at least twice (I think), but they each had a different favorite.

Joel loved the carousel horses

Evan loved the hand-cranked car

We ate lunch in the van on our way to Corpus Christi. After checking into our hotel and changing into our swim clothes, we went to Mustang Beach! This involved take a ferry to Port Aransas. Evan very concerned about the ferry and didn't not want to get out of the van during the ride there. By the time we came back on it he was more comfortable and asked to get out of the van. I have to say that it felt weirder to stay in the van during the ferry ride than to stand on the ferry. I have taken a ferry before, but never in a vehicle.

The beach was fun, of course, and the kids had fun playing. I got in the water some, but mostly took pictures and enjoyed the breeze and the sound of the waves.

Day 3 - Mustang Island again
On the ferry heading to Part Aransas it started to rain. We had thought about getting boogie boards, but they didn't have any at the local Wal-Mart. Since it was raining pretty hard by the time we got off the ferry we stopped at some of the beach shops and got some boogie boards. This was one of the best purchases of our trip! Playing on the boogie boards in the waves even moved beach trips up a few notches on my "fun vacations list".

We ate lunch on the beach and that reminded me of some of the things I don't enjoy about the beach - sand everywhere! I had a few sand crunches in my mouth by the end of lunch.

After the beach we kind of relaxed at the hotel. Actually, Steve and the boys relaxed in the hotel pool and I explored the area to look for a bikini. I am not a bikini wearer, and certainly not in public, but I wanted one to wear under my street clothes for a boat ride we were taking the next day. Unfortunately, all of the stores in the area were out of cheap and modest bikinis. It was fun to drive around and explore anyway.

Day 4 - Dolphin Cruise and Corpus Christi Beach
We got up early (without setting alarm clocks, even) and drove to Ingleside for a much-anticipated dolphin cruise. This was the boys' first ride in a motorboat and it was a choppy one. The wind was really strong that day (and stayed strong all day). Evan started feeling bad about halfway through the trip, but he never threw up. So, that was the downer, but the trip was so neat! We saw lots of dolphins swimming around. Some got close to us, but they were eating, so none of them really came over to play. I got to see one baby dolphin jump up completely out of the water and see its bright pink belly. We learned from our very knowledgeable captain (who has been doing cruises in this area for 30 years and knows all of these dolphins) that babies in captivity do not have bellies this color, but they all do in the wild. It was like a flamingo-pink color. Unfortunately it happened so fast that I didn't get a picture, and Steve and the boys didn't see it. I am so glad that we got to do this cruise and with this company!

We went back to the hotel and rested in the room for most of the afternoon. We headed out for an early dinner in Corpus Christi at Blackbeard's (which the boys didn't enjoy as much as I had hoped, based on the name), and then went to the beach in Corpus. The water was still very choppy and the winds very strong. We couldn't even use our umbrellas! Thankfully we went later in the evening so the sun wasn't as strong. The choppy waters made for some fun boogie-boarding!

This was our last trip to the beach, so we stayed until sunset (or close to it) to make the most if it.

Day 5 - driving back home
We had thought about stopping at an aquarium or museum in Corpus Christi, but the guys seemed a little tired, so we decided to forgo that and make a stop halfway through the trip. Steve had found out the Lego Games Tour was going to be making a stop in Austin that very day, so we thought the boys would really enjoy that. Unfortunately, we were wrong. As one other adult there said, "I am underwhelmed." Joel was tired and grumpy and only wanted to see knight legos. Of course, there weren't any there. Evan did have fun learning some of the games, but there were only 3 set up and one of those had a long line and was in the sun. So after our brief tour of the Lego Games Tour, we looked for a fun place to eat in Austin (after a brief stop at my favorite candy store - Lamme's Candies). We finally settled on E-Z's, which was a place Steve and I used to visit when he was co-oping there. Steve and I enjoyed it, but the boys complained. They complained about a cheeseburger (because it had lettuce and tomato), a sausage pizza (because it wasn't pepperoni), and a chocolate-oreo cookie milkshake (I don't know why for this one). They are on a reduced option diet for the foreseeable future to hopefully help them learn to appreciate the special treats when they get them. Will this work? We will see.

The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful. We got home and unpacked and enjoyed some quiet time at home. Steve went back to work today, so the boys and I are at home (still in our jammies), relaxing, doing laundry (in a little while), and playing the Alamo game.

School starts in one week (from yesterday) for Evan, so we are trying to get back to a school sleep routine. I think it will be harder for me than the boys.

We hope that you are enjoying the last few days of your summer or the beginning of your school year!

Say WHAT?!?

2010-07-30T13:44:00.003-05:00

I was inspired to add some of my own comments to this discussion that was started by MckMama. Here are some of the things I have said lately, at least the ones that won't be too embarrassing for the boys if they read this when they are older:

No, please do not "eat your brother for real" like a tiger - even if he asks you to.
So, your stuffed animal said that and not you? Well if he decides to say that again then he will have to go to time out.
I am sorry that you don't want to eat that now since it is what you just demanded. It is what I fixed so if you want to eat anything, that is what you may eat.

A little civilizing

2010-07-15T17:18:00.003-05:00

One of the main jobs of parents is to civilize their children. We are supposed to teach them how to live responsibly and courteously with the rest of society. Now, I have been around boys all of my life, but parenting and trying to civilize two of these creatures has turned out to be quite a challenge for me.

Today, I felt like I had made a small measure of progress with my older son. During our marathon shopping session today, he burped in the middle of the store and then started laughing. Not seeing much progress yet? Well, at that point I hadn't either, but after I said his name he quickly said, "I am embarrassed now." I made sure that he was embarrassed by what he did - not because he got in trouble. I don't know for sure whether he really was embarrassed, but at least faking it to be polite is part of being civilized. Right?

The next opportunity for teaching occurred shortly after that. We left the store (which happened to be a party store) without buying anything. We were about to get in the van when I noticed that the little one's shirt was tucked in one side and looked a little odd. When I asked him what had happened to his shirt and reached to fix it, I felt a familiar object. It was a container of mini m&m's. I knew the shape, but it was not supposed to be in his pants. Further probing revealed a miniature Reese's peanut butter cup, too. I looked all in his pants to make sure that was all he had taken and then told him he would have to take it back into the store and tell them he had taken it. Now, I understand that the little one is very little, but he also knows better than to take things we have not paid for. Considering his food-sneaking ways (which have been documented many times in this blog), I was not surprised that he was the one to do this first, or that the pilfered items were candy. Anyway, he became very shy on the way back into the store. He tried just putting the candy back where it belonged, but I wouldn't let him do that. I told him he had to give it back to the workers and tell them he had taken it. I put the items on the counter and waited for them to finish with a customer. When they turned to me, I turned to him, and he had backed away and was trying to "disappear". He wanted me to tell them for him, so I did. One of the ladies looked very stern and without saying anything to me walked around the counter and came over to us. She got to my son, called him by name (which she had heard me call him) ... and thanked him for coming back and giving the candy back. She got a (somewhat hesitant) high-five out of him, too. (I quietly thanked her for this as we left.) We headed back to the van and I could tell that my son was very embarrassed about all of this, so I picked him up and carried him to the van. He put his head on my shoulder and held me tight. I was a little worried that he was going to start crying, but he didn't. I told him when we got to the van that everybody does bad stuff sometimes, but he did the right thing by taking the candy back inside - and that was important. It was a hard lesson for him, I think, but I hope he will remember it.

A parent's job is not easy, but it is important. Now it is time for another important part of my job - loving on my boys (and embarrassing them with hugs and kisses).

More Iced Coffee ... MMMMMM!!!!

2010-07-14T19:52:00.002-05:00

Here are my true confessions:
1. I LOVE iced coffee.
2. I drink a lot of it in the summer.
3. I have been using my drip coffee maker instead of my french press because I drink more than 1 pot of french press in a day usually.
4. I am trying to cut back.
5. I have found a new recipe for iced coffee using a COLD-press method that might make cutting back even harder for me.
6. Because I love you all I am sharing the recipe with you.

Click here to go to the Deep South Dish blog and see the recipe.

Now I must go and start my coffee for tomorrow. ;-)

Pay attention to the details

2010-07-13T13:05:00.004-05:00

I should have done that before I posted pictures in the last entry. Apparently I was oblivious (for several days) to the fact that Joel colored on the bottom footboard with a black marker. I noticed it today, but was informed that Dad had already seen it. I thought the drawing looked like lungs, but apparently Dad saw something else (at least according to Joel). So, what do you see? (Scroll down for Joel's answer of what it is.)

Joel says it's a motorcycle. Do you think there's a budding artist in my house?

Ants in their pants!

2010-07-10T00:15:00.003-05:00

The boys were very excited that we (or, their dad) were able to get their bunk beds fully operational today! We had the bunk beds on top of each other, but we didn't have the hook to attach the ladder to the beds until today. The boys quickly figured out ways to get up there anyway, and they made the top bunk into a fort or hideout.

Notice the chair pulled up to the end of the bed. That's how Joel got up. Evan just pulled himself by the edge of the top bunk.

Every hideout needs rules. Apparently you have to have tickets to get into this one - and only boys can have tickets. Joel was delighted to be the one to make the tickets.

We didn't really want them sleeping up there until we had the ladder secured, though. So, tonight is the first night in the bunk beds.
Apparently Evan enjoys being on the top bunk. Joel is looking through "binoculars". It has something to do with possible monsters, but I can't remember the details right now.

Joel could not be still at bedtime! He was finally still for a few seconds when I told him he looked like he had ants in his pants. He took the time to check his pants and make sure that there weren't any ants in there. I love that kid! He also tried to help his older brother out by giving him 3 extra blankets in case he had a night-time "accident". I guess he was thinking it would be helpful to have the extra blankets in place, so that Evan wouldn't have to get down to find a replacement. Evan was not as touched by this gesture as I was. He just told Joel that he wouldn't pee in the bed. We will need to re-arrange the furniture in the room and paint, but it is slowly turning into a real big boy room.

The Seahorse and The Flounder

2010-07-01T17:10:00.003-05:00

... finished their swim lessons today! These are the same classes they took at the end of last summer, and they were still the youngest and smallest in their classes. Joel's teacher was amazed at his age, and thought he was doing quite well for a 4-year-old. I think Evan's teacher was the same.

Joel needs to be able to get to a float on his own better and to swim better on his back. Considering that most of the kids in his class are at least 2 years older than him and he was one of the best stomach swimmers and the best at getting the dive toys under the water, we are happy with his progress. I am most proud of the fact that he went to his class willingly, listened to his teacher, was engaged, and even volunteered to do things.

Evan needs to develop more endurance and get more mature muscles. When he is trying, he has a beautiful freestyle stroke. He is learning "rotary breathing" (which is turning the head to the side for breathing when doing the freestyle). This year he learned to tread water and was introduced to the breast stroke. The breast stroke was a little harder for him to coordinate, but that should get better as his muscles mature, too. He passed his swim test and was very excited!

Both of my boys love the water, and I am feeling more confident taking them to the pool by myself this year. At this point I think they are both more confident swimmers than I am, so our next step might be for me to take some swim lessons - and I am not kidding!

The "Not Me" gremlin strikes again!

2010-06-27T21:49:00.002-05:00

Joel is quite honest when he gets caught about the mischief he has been up to. He will sometimes try to hid when he is doing the deeds, but once caught he usually confesses. He confesses for Evan, too, which is immediately met with a cry of, "No, I didn't!" by Evan.
This past week, I noticed something new about Joel's hair when I got up one morning. It had some holes in spots. Joel admitted he cut it and then added that Evan helped. Of course, Evan denied this vehemently.
Later in the morning, I noticed that there holes in the back of Joel's head of hair, too. I asked Evan how he thought Joel could have cut his hair in the back by himself, and he said sheepishly, "I don't know." Joel immediately chimed in, "Evan did the back." Evan continued to look sheepish and neither confirmed nor denied. In this case I believe silence truly was consent.
I cut the boys' hair that day to try to make it better. There are still noticeable bald spots, but it is some better. I cut Evan's as well, because he knew better than to do that. I told him that his hair would be cut as short as Joel's since he helped with the cutting. Since he hates for me to cut his hair, I am hoping that was enough of a lesson for him.

Birthday Bash at the Ballpark!

2010-06-07T21:46:00.003-05:00

Since Evan enjoyed going to the Rangers games so much last year, I offered to take a few friends to a ballgame this year as his birthday party. He was excited about that, so off we went! It was a smaller party (kid-wise) than usual for him, because we were concerned about keeping track of too many kids. We had more adults than kids most of the time, and that ended up being a good thing. The kids were real troopers, but it was hot and a terribly long game! It was almost 100 degrees and the game lasted just over 4 hours. In fact, it was the longest game of the season so far.

We started out with some hot dogs and cake at our house before the game. I tried a new cake for the occasion - chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. It was so good! The baseball was white cake mix with red and blue sprinkles inside (for the Rangers, or course). I thought the cake was a big hit! (ba-dum-dump!)

We got to the ballpark a little later than I had hoped, but still before the game started. The kids all got jerseys when they entered the stadium. Then we found our seats which were in the full sun on very hot bleachers. Since the game was about to start, we decided to hang out and watch a little before trying out the Sportspark. The Sportspark is an area behind centerfield where the kids can play games. They played some together, but then they were interested in different games. I think they all had fun at this part. (Here was where having lots of adults came in handy.)
We made it back to the stands in time to watch a little more baseball and then see this:

After that (it had been a very long six innings) we moved to some shady seats to watch the rest of the game. Two of our party had left earlier. Another two joined another family member who was also at the game (and who they were riding with). The rest of us sat back in nice, cool, shaded seats and enjoyed some final snacks before trekking back to the van for the ride home. A long day, but Evan had a great time and I think I can safely say we will all definitely remember this party!

End of the school year

2010-06-07T21:18:00.003-05:00

So many things going on at the end of the school year!

Evan had a field trip to the Dallas Arboretum and field day in the same week! (I got a sunburn both days, too.) Unfortunately, my camera was being repaired, so I don't have any digital pictures to share. That didn't bother Evan, of course, and he had a great time.

The next week was the last week of school. On Thursday he had his final awards day of the year. He was one of three kids in his class to have received "All E's" for the entire year. (This is the same as all A's, but doesn't get called that until second grade.) I was proud of how hard he has worked this year, and excited for him because he really does enjoy it (both school and the awards).

On Friday, the last day of school, everyone got out early. We all went to a local sprayground with some other friends from school to celebrate. We spent a good couple of hours there, and the kids had a lot of fun. It was a nice way to celebrate the beginning of summer vacation!

The peaches are ready!

2010-06-07T20:54:00.003-05:00

As we drove back in from Granbury we were greeted with an unpleasant sight: one of the limbs on our peach tree had cracked from the weight of the peaches. This was the second limb to crack this year, even though Steve had pruned the tree and thinned out the peaches. I think we have learned to thin it out even more and maybe even earlier in the season.

The peaches were (mostly) ready to be picked anyway, so Steve picked a lot that night. There were still a lot left on the tree, so some friends came over to help pick the next day. We almost cleaned off the broken limb that morning. I finished it off that afternoon. I had lots to share and lots to eat here.

We still have some on the tree, so if you live close by and want to pick some for yourself, call me! We would love for them to find good homes (or bellies)!

Memorial Day in Granbury

2010-06-07T20:24:00.003-05:00

Since Grandma was in town, Steve was off from work, and neither of the boys had school, Memorial Day seemed to be a perfect day to drive to Granbury. It was nice to just get away from home and all of the things to do - even if it was for just one day.

One of the highlights of the trip for the boys was going to a swimming pool with a diving board. Evan was a little nervous at first, but then we had trouble getting him off when it was time to leave. Joel tried a few times, but didn't like it as much. He wanted to cover his ears when he went off the board. Of course, after I got my camera out and ready to take pictures, he didn't want to dive anymore.

Another highlight was getting to play with all of their dad's old Lego sets. They even got to pick out some to bring home! Joel picked a big castle and Evan picked some cool cars. Since Joel likes to make his own designs, Steve has been busy at nights putting the sets back together. (We have lost a few pieces from the boys sets, and really don't want to lose any of the pieces from these.)

We also brought back the other bed so that the boys can have bunk beds. We haven't assembled them yet, but it is on the "to-do" list.

All-in-all it was a relaxing day for us. However, it's important to remember the real reason that we set aside this day as a holiday and be thankful for those men and women who have given their lives so that our country can remain free. And I was saying extra prayers that day for my nephew who is currently serving our country overseas. So, I would like to thank all of our great veterans and their families - especially those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. Thank you!

Happy Birthday, Dear Evan!

2010-06-07T19:35:00.004-05:00

I forgot to put the memory card back in my camera after I got the camera back from the repair center. So, the pictures I took of Evan's birthday breakfast and present opening didn't get saved anywhere. I did get some pictures from his afternoon present - a new bike! Now Joel can officially claim Evan's old one, which he has been riding for a while anyway.

Evan did have a nice birthday, including some quality time with Grandma who was visiting. In our family the birthday person gets to pick out the meals for the entire day. He started the day off with french toast and strawberries. After breakfast he got to open some of his presents from us and Grandma & Grandpa. He went to church for his last day with his first grade group. After church, he had macaroni & cheese and hot dogs for lunch. I stayed after church for a meeting, so on my way home I picked up his bike as an afternoon surprise. The day was topped off with a tasty dinner of frozen pizza. He seemed to really enjoy his birthday and I enjoyed reminiscing about how he has grown these past few years!

from this ...

to this in 7 short years

First swim of the season

2010-05-25T21:48:00.003-05:00

It's getting warmer. That means school is almost out and the pools are opening! We took the boys to the pool for an hour or so on Sunday. They were so excited about it! Unfortunately Evan has very little body fat, so he got cold pretty quickly. He still had fun, even wrapped up in a towel stretched out on a chair. Joel has asked me about this year's swim lessons. Guess I better get working on that!

Crazy, crazy week

2010-05-21T09:03:00.002-05:00

I may have mentioned before that I need to adjust my idea of "normal". This week just proves that again. What is normal when you have little kids? They are constantly growing and changing, so our lives seem to be in constant chaos. I know that it is not really chaos, but it is constantly changing, and that feels like chaos.

This past week has been an especially challenging one. We are getting close to the end of school, so I am trying to take care of things that need to be done without the boys. Unfortunately, my boys decided to get sick this week. Now, I know that they didn't really plan this, but if they had they would be in a lot of trouble. It's hard to get upset with them when they are sick, but after a couple of days of crying, whining, complaining, and arguing about everything I try to do for them - it gets much easier!

It started with Evan complaining about a headache when he was supposed to be getting ready for bed on Monday night. When I got home (from a meeting at church), I checked on him and he looked bad. He woke up around my bedtime crying with a sore throat. The thermometer confirmed what I knew after touching his forehead - high fever. He ran the fever all day Tuesday, even getting up to 103.8 degrees. I looked in his throat that afternoon and saw red spots, so we went to the doctor. The strep test was negative, and the doctor wanted to do a mono test, too. It was also negative, so we got the "viral infection" diagnosis. His fever finally broke overnight, so Wednesday we dealt with a sore throat. By Thursday he was able to go back to school. I was very thankful because: 1. he had a special "writing open house" event at school that day 2. I needed a break.

Unfortunately, I didn't really get a break because Joel started running a fever Wednesday night. He missed school yesterday with a fever and a sore throat - complete with red spots on his throat. His fever seemed to break last night (pretty much on schedule with Evan's run), but today his temp is a little elevated. It's below 100, so it's not really a fever. Joel is actually eating food, though. This morning he had peanut butter toast for breakfast. (When Evan was sick I would only get him to consume smoothies and applesauce. Joel, on the other hand, won't touch the smoothies or popsicles that I bought for him.)

In the middle of all that, Joel had his spring program on Tuesday. When I started to take pictures, I realized that my camera battery had died. When I tried to get it out to charge it, I couldn't. (This is my new camera.) After checking online and calling Sony, it was determined that I needed to send it in for repair. Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh! It's tough to get to the post office with sick kids, but I finally made it yesterday. I am relying on friends for pics from Joel's program. For Evan's writing open house (and in anticipation of his last football game and the awards night to follow, and the pool's opening), I went back to old-fashioned film. That camera has a zoom, so I am hoping I can get some good pics at his last game. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find film easily, but I did, so all is well.

I really feel like I need a nap! Poor Steve has been getting the kids to bed without much help from me this week because my nerves are pretty much shot by the time he gets home. I won't say that I hope that we are getting back to normal now, but I will say that I hope that I am getting more sane!

Feeling like a Queen!

2010-05-10T16:25:00.007-05:00

The guys gave me such a nice Mother's Day! It was more like a weekend, actually.

It started out with the boys giving me gifts that they had made for me at school (Joel on Thursday and Evan on Friday).

Joel wanted to eat the cookie that was part of his gift. He thought it was his cookie, so we had lots of discussions about that. We did share it on Saturday. The pink flowers are made out of his handprints. Such a cute idea!

Some of the things Evan wrote made me almost cry! He is growing up and that was evident in his writing this year. It also touched me because he is more of a "daddy's boy", but what he wrote was really sweet and special for me. Here is one example (but you may have to click on it to read it better):
On Saturday I helped to host a shower for a friend who is getting married. I was gone for most of the afternoon, and when I got home this is what I saw as soon as I walked in the door.
What a treat! Steve had decorated so nicely and had cleaned a lot while I was gone! He had also bought me some roses. That night he grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for me, too. They were so yummy!

On Sunday we went to church together early in the morning (at least it was early for us). After church Evan took me to the Texas Rangers game. We had a nice time, even though it was cold and kept trying to rain on us. And the Rangers won! Since they had won the first three games against this team, I figured we would lose yesterday. But we won and swept KC!

Steve grilled for us again last night, so I had another great meal with my guys. He also made some cupcakes for me to finish off the meal. What a great weekend and my guys made me feel very special! I love them all very much!!!

Conversations with God

2010-04-30T10:41:00.002-05:00

I know there's a book by that title, and a new movie as well, but this post is not about either of those. It's about my own conversations with God.

I was recently reminded of the good idea to pray for people as they come to your mind. After that I had several people coming to my mind one day as I was driving. It seemed that as soon as I would begin praying for one, another person would come to mind. That prayer would lead to another thought, and another prayer, and so it went. I clearly remember thinking and saying to God, "If I really pray for every person that comes to mind, when am I going to have time for my own thoughts? All of my head-time would be spent talking to You!" Hmmm ... could that be God's purpose or His plan?

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - NIV)

Football Frenzy

2010-04-25T09:13:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was Evan's second football game and he had a blast! I did, too! I wasn't trying to capture it on video, so I felt like I got to just enjoy it more. I did take some pics with my new camera with the zoom lens, but it was usually at the beginning of a play or at the end of the play. I did get some good pics (in my opinion, anyway).

Pre-game warm-ups

Making sure of the play

Evan at center

The coach put the kids in different positions for this game, and it was fun to see how they did in these new positions. Evan played center for the second half, and was pretty good. Some of the kids had trouble snapping between their legs and getting it to the quarterback, but Evan and the quarterback connected every time. He seemed to enjoy this position, too. He ran with gusto to the ball. It was really cute! Other parents noticed, too.

On defense, Evan moved to right corner for this game. He made 2 or 3 tackles from this position. He was this excited after every one. I loved watching him!

After the tackle

He got 2 stars this time - defense and sportsmanship (or "sportsmannership", as Evan says)

Steve and I were both impressed with his effort, too. He would keep running and chasing after guys. He even caught up to some of them. He didn't give up on the play, and that is a good quality/skill that we hope continues with him in life.

We have a break today (Sunday), but then there's the weekly practice Monday and a make-up game on Tuesday night. Next Saturday will be a regular game again, so our frenzy is just beginning. Stay tuned for more updates!

Retreat Processing

2010-04-19T10:16:00.003-05:00

I spent an amazing weekend at Pine Cove with lots of women from my church. The theme for this weekend's retreat was Transformation. It was a follow-up (of sorts) for a recent sermon series of the same title which discussed several of the spiritual disciplines. This was my 3rd retreat and each has been wonderful but, of course, a little different from each other. Someone asked me at lunch on Sunday what my favorite part had been, and I really didn't have an answer. It made me start thinking and I realized that I really needed to process this retreat some more. So, I decided to process while writing (this blog post).

The first thing of notice about this retreat, is that God seemed to be placing some constraints on me in some very visible ways. I had ordered a new camera (because I broke my good one at Easter) and was planning on learning on how to use it at the retreat. I was also looking forward to taking lots of nature photographs in the beautiful setting (which includes a lake, lots of trees, and a few fun creatures). The camera arrived in time, but I couldn't get it operational before I left. The end result was no pictures from this retreat by me.

I also lost my voice at the retreat. I started getting sick the Wednesday before I left. I tried drinking apple cider vinegar to ward off the bronchitis that I felt was coming. On the drive up on Friday I started losing my voice. It got weaker each day and by Sunday it was gone. I did talk at the retreat, but not as much as I would have normally. It seemed that God was wanting me to be still and silent. I did spend time listening to Him there, but I also spent time resting and sleeping. It seems that I needed both of those, as well.

Each year that I have been to this retreat we have had a prayer mosaic on one of the days. I had never participated in a prayer mosaic before, and it really touched me the first year. Just to briefly describe, it is a time of quietness where each participant travels at her own pace through several prayer stations. One station involved casting your burdens on the Lord, one was asking for forgiveness, one was having another lady pray aloud for/with you, and there were many more. The second year several new stations were added, which added a lot to the experience for me. This year my attitude was along the lines of "been there, done that" before the mosaic. I wanted to do it, but I wasn't expecting to be touched by it as strongly as I had in the past. This year, a station was added that was about service and it involved foot-washing. We were asked to wash someone's feet and have ours washed as well. I almost skipped this station, but decided to do it when I someone I knew walked into the area. I had my feet washed first and I was not prepared for my emotional response to this experience. It was so humbling! I didn't feel worthy of having her do this for me. I was touched by her tenderness and gentleness in washing my feet. I was also moved that she seemed to be praying for me as she was washing my feet. In some ways I was glad she washed my feet first, because I wasn't sure what was "expected" of the washer. I found it much easier to be the washer by following her example. I really enjoyed that part of the station more. I enjoyed showing that compassion to another and having the focused time to pray for another. I often feel like I have ADD when I am trying to pray. I will intend to pray for a person, but forget. Or I will start a prayer, and then get distracted by too many things to count. Having my hands on the person's feet made the prayer so much easier and more meaningful for me. I enjoyed it so much that I found another friend and "made" her let me wash her feet, too. I learned something about myself through this experience - first, about my willingness to be humbled and receive help or service and secondly, about my prayer life. Thank you, God, for speaking to me through this activity.

We didn't have one keynote speaker at this retreat, but we had several women from the church speak to us about the different disciplines and about the transformation process in their own lives. One of the speakers discussed some things she had learned recently about butterflies and about their transformation process. I really related to that talk and enjoyed the things she brought out. I had been thinking about butterflies before the retreat myself. I had thought one day that I wish my transformation would happen as "quickly" as a butterfly's seemed to happen. A few days later I stopped to evaluate that idea again. Is a butterfly's transformation really as quick as I initially thought? I remembered that some butterflies live only a few days after they emerge from their cocoon. The majority of their life is spent growing, developing, and transforming; only a small proportion is spent as a mature adult. Thank you, God, for revealing this truth to me. Please help me to appreciate the process and the change that You are making in me.

We did have a special guest speaker who was not on the program, but was so inspiring to me (and a lot of others, I believe). She and her husband were the (human) founders of our church 34 years ago. They now train others in using Christmas partners to evangelize to their neighbors. I had heard parts of their story before, but it was so beautiful to hear her telling the story and to have her point out people in the room who came to Christ over 30 years ago because she and her husband were willing to be obedient and open their homes, hearts, and mouths to share the love of Christ with people in their neighborhoods. She and her husband will be sharing more about what they are doing now and what they see God doing in the world next Sunday at our church. I am so excited and looking forward to that time! Thank you, God, for reminding me that You have given me a place to be to share Your love with those around me. Please keep reminding me and help me to be obedient to You.

I also enjoyed getting to know some "old" friends better and getting to meet new women! This is always a fun part of any gatherings for me. This retreat did not fail me, even if my voice did. In fact, I was probably forced to listen more and talk less. (Some of you who were there may be surprised by that last sentence. I did still talk a lot - the first 2 days - but it was probably less than would be normal for me.) Thank you, God, for the beauty of community with other believers!

Those are a few of the highlights of my retreat weekend. I am glad to be back home with my family, but I am also thankful for this special time that I got to spend with God and several of my sisters.

Who says you can't take it with you?

2010-04-14T22:00:00.002-05:00

"All that you find here, you will lose it"*

Those song lyrics prompted a discussion between the boys and myself the other day. I tried to explain why gaining "things" on this earth should not be our goal - because those things won't make it with us into eternity. (I also added that God does give us things to enjoy, but that getting more things should not be our goal in life.)

Today Joel and I were in the van when that song came on again. He piped up with, "Evan said that he is going to take his toys with him when he goes to heaven." I tried to explain that wouldn't be Evan's decision, and I think I finally convinced Joel. I think I might need to have another conversation with Joel, though.

* Here are the full song lyrics:
Free Me Up (by Downhere):
I'm giving up my electro TV things
'Cuz I don't ever need, no...
anything like that again
I'm livin' on the move and
I wanna drop these chains
Well you'd be surprised what you can leave behind
It keeps me looking upward

CHORUS

You free me up to live this life
far from any Earthly sense of home
There's a place where I belong
but there's nothing here I really own
I really own

Do you deem this to be extreme behavior?
A little bit too ideal
You call it young man's fever
But I've got my treasure stored beyond Heaven's gates
And you'd be surprised what lies behind them
It keeps me looking upward

You free me up live this life far from any Earthly sense of home
There's a place where I belong
but there's nothing here
But there's nothing here,
there's nothing here
No there's nothing here I really own
I really own

BRIDGE
All that you find here, you will lose it
All you find here, you will lose it
All you gain here on earth, you'll lose in the end
All you gain here on earth, you will lose it... Lose it

Flag football games have finally arrived!

2010-04-10T19:21:00.003-05:00

Evan had his first game today and was it fun! He and the rest of his team played hard, but didn't score as many points as the other team. He hopes that he doesn't have to play that team again. I have heard that several times today. ;-)

Here are a few pics:

from the pre-game warm-up

the game

after the game - team cheer (Evan is a little dwarfed by the other players, but he is in there) and Evan's blue star for effort

He got to run the ball once, and I was so excited that I messed up the camera. Here is the little clip that I did capture, though.

Easter greetings!

2010-04-05T20:35:00.003-05:00

He is Risen!!! And I love celebrating that fact with my family and my church. This year we celebrated for what seemed like a much longer time frame. We started by attending a Passover Seder at our church on Thursday night. I have heard presentations on Passover Seders before, but never gotten to see one - and certainly not participate in one. So, our family of 4 joined over 200 others from our church for this event. It was really neat and I am so glad that we were able to do it! The boys seemed to enjoy it, too. Joel at least tolerated it. ;-)

Friday we attended Good Friday services at our church, too. This was more solemn and I was focused on Evan (who was out in the service with me), but it was still an excellent way to spend Good Friday.

Saturday we mostly cleaned around the house and yard in preparation for some friends coming over the next day. We went out to Texas Roadhouse for a late lunch/early dinner, and got a little shopping done, too. Evan was most excited about his new cleats and mouthguard for flag football. (The games start next Saturday, but he needed them for his practice and scrimmage tonight.)

Sunday we got up early and went to church for a semi-sunrise service. We should have seen the sun rise on our drive, but it was so cloudy that it just got brighter outside. The service was wonderful and we even got a couple of family pictures taken. Unfortunately my camera dropped off the neck strap on the way out of church and broke. All of the pictures that I took of the kids hunting eggs turned out too dark. But we still had a great time visiting with our friends and eating a lamb dinner with yummy sides. (We learned on Thursday that seders do not involve lamb these days, but I like having lamb at Easter.)

We hope that you also had a nice Easter and that you spent some time celebrating this most important of Christian holidays and the reason for our hope!

Camping!

2010-03-15T10:27:00.003-05:00

This last weekend was our second ever family camping trip. This time we went to Bonham State Park, which is a little over an hour northeast of us. We left after Evan got out of school on Friday and came back on Sunday afternoon. We again went with some friends from our community group at church. This time there were 6 families camping and another family joined us for the day on Saturday.

This state park was smaller than the last one we went to, but had some really nice features. For one, we were right on the water. It made for a beautiful sunset our first night there. Unfortunately, it also made it more windy and colder, too. We really needed the campfire this weekend!

Being right on the lake also made it easier to fish, which Evan enjoyed. The sign tells you how many fish he caught, though. That was okay with him because there were other things to do, too. He played with lots of other kids the whole weekend (including making friends with other groups camping together). They played around the headquarters (which they called a fort), on the swings, in the "sandpit", and a few games of volleyball, too.

Some of the older kids in our group thought it would be fun to go swimming in the lake. This is allowed, but the adults did not advise it because of the temperature. We decided to let the kids learn by experience though, and they did. Evan did not want to do this (he was playing volleyball at the time), but Joel did. He tried to sneak in first, but we told him he could wade in if he rolled up his pants. He didn't go too far in, but he thought it was a lot of fun. You can't see in the pictures, but his fingers were so red. I know he had to be freezing, but he wouldn't admit it.

We also spent a lot of time around the campfire, as I said. By the last morning Joel wanted to sit with Steve or me at the campfire to stay warm. That last morning we had a mini-church service around the fire, too.

It warmed up quite a bit the last day. It was a beautiful day and we were a little sad that Saturday wasn't more like Sunday. Just before we left we took a little canoe ride around the lake. I had never been canoeing before (at least as an adult), but I have discovered that I really like it! I am glad that we have found a new activity to enjoy together as a family!

How can you tell that it's almost spring?

2010-03-10T16:57:00.003-06:00

Here are a few signs from our neck of the woods:

the daffodils bloom

along with the peach tree (and the Bradford pears)

We can have playdates in the park

and at home, where we can draw with sidewalk chalk

blowing bubbles

It's been how long?!?

2010-03-05T11:34:00.004-06:00

Well, I have been neglecting my little blog again, I see. Part of the reason is that I was sick. Part of the reason is that I started a new blog. Part of the reason is that I was waiting for something really cool to say. That hasn't happened, but I will share some recent pictures and activities with the boys.

I found out a birthday party of one of Evan's classmates that he is one of the heart-throbs in his class. I had no idea because he really only talks about the boys in his class - and the one girl that was in his kindergarten class and that we carpool with. She's okay because he already knew her and "she doesn't like girl stuff; she likes boy stuff." I have sense seen some evidence of this myself, and it cracked me up. One of the girls from his class was in a car a couple of cars back form the stop sign where we were waiting to cross. She started yelling "Hey, Evan!" very loudly. Our carpool buddy was with us, but she didn't get the same greeting. I had to tell Evan to respond to the yelled greeting that he had to have heard.

This morning Joel decided that our peach tree is now a girl tree because it has pink flowers on it. He didn't know what it was before. Also, just for the record, he told me the other day that pink was his favorite color.

Since we are enjoying a quite day at home today (just Joel, me, and the laundry and dishes) he has been having a lot of fun using his imagination. He asked to get the dinosaurs out first. He played with them for a little while. I had to get picture of this "creation" of his.Since I got a picture of it, he wanted to direct a photoshoot with some of the other dinosaurs. These are some of the resulting photos. I think I should have used a different setting (like I almost did), but Joel doesn't seem to mind.

Then he picked up all of the dinosaurs and got the Legos out. This is the castle he made today. He makes a lot of castles, but this one was pretty unique for him.
Now he is outside being a knight who put on a breastplate - or something like that. Nope - he moved on to diggin in the dirt with construction toys. It is a gorgeous day and he is enjoying himself! He has been asking for lunch (since breakfast) so I think I will call him in now. After that, we can both go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!

"Likes awards"

2010-02-27T14:50:00.003-06:00

That was a phrase that Evan used to describe himself for a school assignment just one day before his 4th 6 weeks awards assembly. I had to smile when I saw it (as I was helping in the classroom as the time) because it is very true. He seems to have inherited his father's and mother's type-A school personality. He received 3 awards at his first awards assembly (honor roll, perfect attendance, and Pearson Pride). The next one assembly he "only" received 1 award (honor roll) and seemed a little disappointed. We discussed that you can't get every award every time, and he seemed to understand.

At this most recent assembly he received 4 awards. He was very excited! (He thinks that makes this the best 6 weeks he has had so far. ) He was on the honor roll again and also got Pearson Pride for his class again. This was the first 6 weeks for the first-graders to participate in AR (accelerated reading), and he got an award for reaching his AR goal. The librarian also selected one student from each class as a Strong Reader, and he got that award from his class, too. She took his picture and will post it on the bulletin board outside of the library. I had my camera on Friday, so I was able to take some pictures of him, too. The girl in the picture with him is our carpool buddy who got the other Pearson Pride from his class. Look closely at the picture of his back and see if you notice anything interesting - about his feet specifically.

I also had my camera with me on Thursday when I was helping in his classroom. I happened to be there when he was giving his presentation on his George Washington Carver poster, so I got a picture of that, too.
He read the parts he had written and was able to talk about it, too. I admit that I decided how the poster would be done, but he did read about George Washington Carver and we did talk about him a lot. So he did learn about him for this project.

Vivify Valentine's

2010-02-15T10:16:00.003-06:00

Can you guess what the word of the day is on dictionary.com?

We did have some rip-roaring fun for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, I can't post all of the pictures of the boys on the blog. (You will understand once I describe the after-dinner festivities.)

The day started with (whole wheat) chocolate chip muffins and strawberries on the side for breakfast. I contemplated putting the strawberries in the muffins, but Steve didn't think that sounded good, so I decided to experiment another time.

After church we took some pictures, and then just spent time together. No one was all that hungry, but after a couple of hours I made a spinach-artichoke dip that we ate with pita chips. Everyone (except Evan) enjoyed the dip, and it is a lower calorie and fat alternative to the restaurant dips. While snacking on that (and apples) we broke open a game I won from another blog and started tackling Twisted Fish. It is like Go Fish, but with more twists and challenges. I highly recommend it for older kids. (Joel is too young to play it, but the rest of us loved it.) We played several rounds until it was time to get dinner ready.

For dinner, we enjoyed fiesta ranch sliders with homemade wheat rolls and sweet potato fries. The dessert was red velvet cookies that were pretty good, if I do say so myself. (I got the recipe from another blog.) Dinner was a hit for everyone, which was a little surprising. The only other time we tried to have sliders was at a Chili's and the boys refused to eat them. They loved these, though, so I was very thankful.After dinner, the boys played Captain Underpants and both asked for wedgies from Steve and I. When we did not comply, they decided to give them to each other. Steve did get some blackmail pictures, but I am showing great restraint by not posting them here.

In other exciting news, Evan read his first chapter book this weekend. Can you guess what it was? Captain Underpants, of course!

Sharing some time (and pictures)

2010-02-07T15:17:00.006-06:00

I am so thankful that Steve worked with me to allow me to be able to see our nephew Chance before he left for his deployment. I wasn't there all that long, but I got to spend one afternoon just hanging out with him and his family. The next day I got to see him lined up with the other 3200 members of his division at the farewell parade. Granted, there were so many visitors that I didn't get that close. And there are so many in the division that I can't tell you exactly where Chance was. He is somewhere in this photo, though.
That night we had a large family dinner to celebrate Chance and to send him off with our love. And when I say that it was large, I mean it! There were about 60 people there. (That is one of the benefits of being trained in a town near most of your extended family.)

I am so glad that I made the trip and that I got to spend the time with Chance. I also got to see a lot of other family and even an "old" friend that I haven't seen in years. It was a quick trip, but it was definitely worth it!

Please join me in praying for Chance as he serves our country overseas.

It's not goodbye

2010-02-02T22:08:00.003-06:00

I am proud of all of my nieces and nephews, but today I am going to write about one of them in particular. Unfortunately, words are failing me at the moment. You see, Chance is going to be leaving in a few days to serve our country overseas as a member of the National Guard. I have watched him grow up, including have to tell him to take a shower when he was a camper at the summer camp where I was a counselor. I have listened to him talk about his dreams for his future as he was finishing high school. I was proud of him when he decided to join the National Guard shortly after that. I was also a little scared, though, knowing what that could mean. Chance has trained hard and well, and the time has come for him to deploy overseas. I am traveling to Mississippi to see him this week before he leaves next week. I want for him to know how much I love him and how proud I am of him. We will be praying for him and his family and trust that he will be in God's hands while he is away from us. And that this is not a goodbye.

My big reveal!

2010-01-20T16:24:00.000-06:00

Conversations with Joel

2010-01-20T14:47:00.003-06:00

Lately, Joel will ask me to stop talking to him because he is dreaming about Legos. Today he expounded on this a little more for me.

First, he dreams about Legos
Then, he thinks about Legos
Then, he talks to his brain( his "sweetie-pie mom brain", if you want to be specific) about Legos (No, I don't know why his brain is a mom brain.)

Then, he plays with Legos
(when they haven't been taken away due to disobedience)

2010-01-18T09:57:00.004-06:00

So, first of all, I can't believe that I didn't mention the name of the salon who did my hair. I want to give lots of credit and thanks to JEAN-PHILIPPE SALON for the great job they did! I have been able to style it myself, too, which makes it even more exciting to me.

And now on to other news ... Evan went skating for the first time on Saturday! He went to a skating birthday party for one of the friends in his class. I wasn't sure how he would do, since he had never been before, but he really surprised me. I could tell he was nervous and a little scared, but instead of refusing to try (like he often does), he gave it a try and kept trying. He was doing really well by the time we left. I think he may have found a new activity to pursue with his dad. (Not me, because my tailbone still hurts and I have never been able to skate.)

Yep, he's a little nervous at the beginning

There are many shots of him like this. He was skating, but also watching the video game behind me.

He doesn't need the wall anymore!

This is the farthest away from the wall that he got. He didn't make the whole lap, but this was pretty good, I thought.

He also got his face painted as part of the party festivities.
(He is sad that the Chargers lost, by the way. He will be pulling for the Colts since the Jets beat the Chargers. He will also be pulling for the Saints, since he wanted Dallas to win. I obviously need to teach him more about football and who to root for.)

Drumroll, please ...

2010-01-14T14:43:00.003-06:00

It's the new hairdo!!!

And here are some more shots so that you can see more details. I have to admit, there are more highlights in the hair than I realized. It does help you to see all of the layers better, though.

Our segment of the show was pre-empted by a presidential address on the earthquake in Haiti. The tail end of it aired live, but the entire segment is supposed to be re-broadcast at some point. I will try to get a clip of it when/if that happens.

Another segment was pre-empted as well, before ours, and that guest was Anita Renfroe. I heard them call "Anita" to stage and saw her leave the room. I started asking people if that was Anita Renfroe, but it was crowded so I don't think people had seen her. Anyway, they showed "The Mom Song" as part of her intro. I was waiting for her when she came back, and immediately began chatting her up. I told her I'm a huge fan and she asked my name. We chatted a little more, and then it was time for us to part ways. I can't believe that I didn't use the camera that was right there to get a picture with her!!! It was fun, anyway, though.

After I left the studio, I drove to another new part of Dallas for me, to meet a friend for lunch. I was there quite early, so I used some birthday money to treat myself to a manicure. (I know that should have been done before the tv appearance, but the focus wasn't really on my hands.) Then my friend, Jenn, showed up and we had a fantabulous lunch at Freebird's! It was great getting to talk to her and enjoy the yummy burrito.

My pampering day ended then, and I headed back home in time to pick up the boys. They don't seem to have noticed anything different about me today, so I guess that is a good thing. The outside may have gotten some extra attention lately, but they just see their mom. And that's just fine with me.

I feel pretty ... oh, so pretty!

2010-01-08T09:46:00.003-06:00

Especially when I am getting my 4-year-old ready for church and he asks in a sweet little voice, "Mommy, why did you make yourself pretty today?" Ahhhh ... children have a way of humbling us, don't they.

I was thinking it was time for a haircut so that we could finally get family portraits done. I bought a box of color to do my hair myself, but didn't get the cut yet. Then I got an e-mail about a great opportunity. Without knowing all of the details, I signed up. All I needed to know was that I was getting a free hair cut/color which the designer would decide for me and then I would be committed to modeling the new 'do next Thursday morning. I went in yesterday to the (fanciest-I've-ever-been-to) salon and the owner did my consultation. He told me what he wanted to do and asked if I would be available early Thursday morning. I said hesitantly, "How early?" He answered (somewhat apologetically, it seemed), "You need to be here at 6:30, 7 at the latest. We need time to do your hair and make-up and then go to the studio." So at this point I realize that I have agreed to go on a tv show to show my before/after. (They already took the before pictures, and they are worse than I hope I normally leave the house looking. It's a good thing i don't embarrass easily.) Some people would freak out, but I find it kind of exciting. And I get a free service - TWICE! I still don't know what channel it will be on, or what time, but I will let you know when I do. I hope to find out today when I go back for the cut/color. I also need to find out if I will have to buy a new outfit for my "appearance". So, I will keep you updated, and hopefully I will have good news to report after today's appointment!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T18:24:00.004-06:00

We had plans to have some friends over to celebrate the New Year, but we are all sick. The boys and I have been sick since our trip, but Steve just got sick, so we decided that someone is probably contagious. Since one of our guests works with sick babies, we thought it best to quarantine ourselves. (Okay, really we let her make the call.) So, my plans for making chex mix and fudge with the boys, cleaning for our guests, and playing games all day went out the window.

We started out the morning with some baked French toast and a little sparkling juice. There were party hats and blowers set out on the table for breakfast, too. I really should think these things out more, though. I should only give the blowers out when I want them blown. Because if they are out, they will get blown ... loudly. And it will hurt the adults' ears - a lot.

Anyway, after breakfast, Evan and I played a couple of games of Connect Four and watched a bit of the Rose Parade. Then he played a lot on the Wii with the rest of us joining in occasionally. Then we watched the Gator Bowl. Steve and Joel were doing their own thing during the bowl game. I fell asleep toward the end of the game (but did see that the 'Noles won!) and then all of the guys were playing on the Wii again.

I am not a traditional New Years Day food kind of cook, but today I tried something new. I made a crockpot version of black-eyed pea soup. It smelled so good cooking all day, and it tasted great, too. What a great soup for a chilly, lazy day like today! We had cooked cabbage and cornbread to go with it. I always loved my mom's cabbage, but I don't know how to make it like she did. This was my first attempt and it wasn't like hers. It was edible, though. Overall, I would declare the dinner a success. (You don't have to don't ask the boys for their opinion, though. They would probably just talk about the gingerbread house that they ate after they endured the other food.)

So, it was a pretty good day anyway, even if it didn't go according to my plans. I am getting more used to things not going according to my plan. I think that means I am growing a little. I hope that trend continues into the new year. This is my prayer, taken from Paul's words to the Ephesians:

No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love. (Ephesians 4:14-16 - The Message)

The Many Days of Christmas

2009-12-31T09:25:00.007-06:00

Since we were traveling for Christmas, we decided to let the boys open some presents before we left. This meant that we had less to carry and they had one big present from us that would hopefully make the trip better for all of us. (Disclaimer: I realize that these "days of Christmas" don't line up with the traditional days of Christmas.)

On the first day of Christmas, their Aunt Jenn gave to them - games to play with the family.

(December 19)

On the second day of Christmas, their parents gave to them - Nintendo DS-es to play in the car

(December 20)

On the third day of Christmas, their parents gave to them - another game for the DS

(December 21)

On the fourth day if Christmas their parents gave to them - books to read before bed in the hotel(December 22)

On the fifth day of Christmas, they arrived at their grandparents' house, and opened the door! (And we decided that was present enough for December 23)

On the sixth day of Christmas, after Jesus' birthday cake

their parents gave to them - new jammies to wear on Christmas Eve (December 24)

On the seventh day of Christmas, Santa gave to them - a green lightsaber

and a San Diego Chargers jersey

(December 25)

On the eighth day of Christmas, their grandparents gave to them - a trip to see the ZooLights(December 26)

On the ninth day of Christmas, their parents gave to them - a trip to play in the snow!(December 27)

But through it all, I hope that we didn't lose sight of the fact that we celebrate Christmas as a remembrance of the greatest gift ever given to us - forgiveness and wholeness that is only possible because God chose to become man, live with us, and pay the penalty for our wrongs Himself. Thank you, God - for your wonderful gift!!!

More Christmas Events

2009-12-19T12:19:00.004-06:00

Last Thursday was full of Christmas events for us. I have pictures from a couple of these events, but will just have to describe the rest in painful detail. ;-)

To start off, Joel had his class Christmas party! Steve and I were both able to go, and it was fun to watch the 3/4-year-olds interacting with each other and all of the parents. (At least I thought it was.) The party started off with one of the moms reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas". I forgot my camera, so I asked one of the other moms to take this picture for me. Joel and the little girl beside him are sitting literally side by side.

After the story, the kids ate pizza and then decorated gingerbread men. Joel had fun decorating, but his main concern was whether or not he could eat it, too. He did eat it after he was done decorating.

Then we had the book exchange. All of the kids were very excited about this part, as you might imagine. My son, however, has a gift-opening problem. He likes to complain about the gift first. After a while he usually decides that he really likes it, though. That is what happened here. He got upset once he opened it about 1/4 of the way. He finished it later and decided that it was a neat book. His teacher read it to him that afternoon, and we read it again last night. It's a really nice book called "Dinosaur Detective".

We had a little break and then it was time for Evan's party. Unfortunately, I fell asleep during our little break and was a little late to the party. And I forgot the camera again. It was kind of crazy in the room and the kids were just eating and playing with their treat bags by the time I got there, so pictures weren't really necessary after all.

We went to Chick-fil-a for an early dinner and for the event that I had been waiting for -

pictures with SANTA COW!!!

I let the boys have their ice cream after the pictures. It worked pretty well, except that while they were eating ice cream ...

an ELF COW came out, too! Of course, we had to get more pictures!

After Chick-fil-a, we drove around for a little while looking at lights. There are a couple of really cool houses around us, so we went to them. The first one we went to had a lot of neon lights. Santa and Mrs. Claus come out there, too, but apparently we were too early to see them.

The next stop on our trip was a house that has lights synchronized to music. We tried to go a couple of years ago, but could only stay a minute or so. For some reason, this display scared the boys that year. This year there were projection screens set up, too, and part of the "show" was a video of Mr. and Mrs. Claus traveling from the North Pole, across the United States, to Hollywood to be on "Dancing with the Stars" - where they performed beautifully, by the way. The boys really enjoyed it, so I was glad that we went by this year. Of course, we also saw several yard and house displays as we were driving around, and the boys liked that, too.

It's hard to believe that Christmas day is less than a week away! We are enjoying our vacations from school and work, so far. We hope that you are all enjoying the season as well!

Christmastime is here!

2009-12-16T11:12:00.002-06:00

I am taking a break from crafting gifts to complete this little survey. Just because I thought it sounded fun. Please re-post on your own blog if you are so inclined. I would love to see everyone's answers!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Both, but I drink hot chocolate more.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? When I was a little he left them unwrapped until we requested that he wrap them. He wraps the ones for my boys.

3. Colored or white lights on tree/house? Colored, but I like both looks on other people's houses/trees.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you put your decorations up? It used to be the day after Thanksgiving. Since we travel a lot for Thanksgiving, I prefer to put them up before we leave so that they are already up and ready to enjoy when we get back.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? There are so many choices! I think my favorite would have to be the fudge that Mom always made and I make now. Speaking of, I need to do that this week!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? So many! I loved to just sit and watch the lights on the Christmas tree. I loved that they were always on when I got up. I hate that I have to turn them on now. Plus, I usually get up at the same time as the kids, so they will not have that memory themselves.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Not sure what this question means. ;-)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? As kids, we would sometimes. (It depended on the year and my parents' mood, I guess.) Now we open one gift on Christmas Eve (and it is jammies).

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? With colored lights, ornaments from my childhood, ornaments that the kids have made, and we each get a new ornament every year. (Steve and I don't get a new one every year, but the kids do.)

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it! But I don't have to drive in it, shovel it, etc.

12. Do you remember your favorite gift? Getting married 9 years ago (on December 23rd)

13. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? The wonder that God became a man to save us from our sins

14. What is your favorite holiday tradition? In our family now, I think it is doing the advent calendars every night with the kids. We have one that tells the story of Jesus birth which Evan is reading to us this year. The other one has little boxes for every day and they hold miniature ornaments for a little tree. The ornaments are snowflakes (which the boys call stars), bells, and nativity figures. We try to coordinate the nativity figures to the story.

15. What tops your tree? A tree-topper that is neither a star or an angel

16. Which do you prefer – giving or receiving? Giving. They are both nice, but I love trying to find the perfect gift for people.

17. Candy canes: Yuck or Yum? I eat them, but they are not my first choice for Christmas candy.

18. Favorite Christmas show? Again, there are too many to choose from! I like watching "The Muppets Christmas Carol" with the boys on Christmas Eve. I like watching "White Christmas" cuddled up with Steve. For humor, I love to watch "Elf".

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Man, that's a touch one, too. This year I am completely enraptured by Downhere's version of "Silent Night".

A mixed review

2009-12-10T15:46:00.002-06:00

Today I was able to see the orthopedist to find out what is really wrong with my tail(bone). I have to say that I was getting very discouraged about this appointment. I called the office on Monday to talk to someone to find out if coming in would be helpful or not. I didn't get a call back until yesterday (that's 2 days). I was able to get an appointment for 8 o'clock this morning, which at first seemed like a good thing. Then I started thinking, "Why was I able to get in so fast? Are they not that busy?" Now, they only had 2 openings for today, so maybe it was just a fluke.

So, I got there a little before 8 since I needed to fill out new patient forms. Then I waited ... and waited ... and waited. They didn't call any patients back to rooms until almost 8:30 and then they called 3 back at one time. An x-ray tech came in and said that they would need an x-ray. I told him the ER did one and he said he would try to access it on the computer. So, I waited some more. I then hear the doctor (my new doctor) talking about me to the tech. I also hear him talking to another patient (who had arrived after me). This is where I am really getting discouraged.

The x-ray tech came in and said that the ER didn't take the x-ray from the right angle, so they can't really see it all. So, I got to take a new set of x-rays today. After a few more minutes the doctor came in and told me that the coccyx was fractured. It happened during my fall about 3 weeks ago, and I irritated it last Thursday. From talking to the doc at the ER and the office staff here, I had assumed I would need an MRI. The doc today said that I didn't need one. He assumed there was soft tissue damage, but there's not really anything else to do for it. He said it just needs rest to heal, and he gave me a prescription for a new anti-inflammatory. Hopefully this one won't leave me feeling so "loopy" and I will be able to keep taking it.

So, I wasn't real happy about the new office to begin with, but I think the last 5-10 minutes salvaged the situation. I was glad to have a diagnosis and medicine, and the time with the doctor did seem productive. Now I just get to rest my tail for a few weeks!

Pity Party

2009-12-09T15:02:00.003-06:00

That's what I have been having for the past few days - a pity party for myself. It started last Thursday when I popped something in my tailbone and had to go to the ER. (The whole story is funnier, but not really appropriate for such a public forum.) The bottom line is that my tailbone was not broken, but is somehow damaged. I received 2 shots and 4 prescriptions and doctor's orders for rest. Well, all of those meds took care of rest for the weekend, and it did help to alleviate some of the pain. Unfortunately, I was also very groggy and sleepy all weekend. I realized on Sunday that I would not be able to take care of the boys on Monday if I continued with all of the meds. But without the meds, I don't sleep as well as night. So, this is not a good combination. I was still a little dizzy even off of the meds. Plus I was hurting, and I had expected to be more healed than I was. Basically, I have been a grumpy, complaining, irritable mess for the past couple of days. I realized yesterday that this was going on, but was even more convicted this morning. So, this is my confession and my apology. Things happen. They aren't always good. They don't have to ruin the rest of my day/time/life, though. I was reminded of Paul's "thorn in the flesh" as I thought about this. I really, really hope that this does not turn out to be a constant pain or problem, but I realized that being irritated about it until it goes away or heals up isn't going to help anything either.

So, I am vowing to move on from the pity party to a spirit of celebration. I love the celebration and wonder that accompanies this time of the year. I love trying to wrap my head around the idea that God wrapped himself into the form of a baby to be born on this earth all those years ago. He did it for us, for love, and for His glory. That is what I want to remember and that is what I want to show to the world.

By the way, Steve got me a wonderful early Christmas present last week and I want to brag on him! He downloaded "How Many Kings" (the new Christmas album) from Downhere for me, and it has become this year's favorite Christmas album. It is beautiful and fun and I highly recommend it! In fact, I am going to listen to it now. Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Decorating

2009-11-30T14:32:00.001-06:00

Sunday afternoon/night we put up and decorated our Christmas tree! I was getting tired and irritated with the lights, but Steve came to the rescue and I think he did a great job. Then the boys and I (and Steve) put the ornaments on. The boys had a great time and it was fun remembering what all of their special ornaments meant. It was almost like a Hallmark commercial! ;)

After the tree was finished, the boys got to enjoy some hot chocolate before going to bed. I am not sure why Joel looks so sad in this picture. Evan is watching the football game instead of looking at the camera, of course.

Here I was playing with some of the settings on my camera. I thought it was a neat effect.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T14:26:00.004-06:00

For Thanksgiving, we headed back to Mississippi to visit my family. One of the exciting times for Joel was when PawPaw (my dad) brought out one of his snakes. (Yes, he has more than one.
I think he said he has three now.)

At first Joel just petted the snake.

Then the snake started to move and he got a little nervous ...

Then the snake moved a little more and so did Joel...

Joel ran all the way to the door yelling and laughing.

We also got to participate in one of my family's old traditions that I had not done in years. In fact, it seems that Steve and the boys had never done this before.

There is a family near us called the Lewis'. Every year they put up an amazing Christmas display that you can walk through. The Friday night after Thanksgiving we go to go with one of my brothers and his family.

The cousins

One of the highlights is the story boards that they have set up. The storyboards on one side tell the story of Jesus birth. The ones on the other side recite "Twas the Night Before Christmas". It's also a tradition that the newest reader gets to read the storyboards aloud. This year that honor fell to Evan. He read the story of Jesus birth. He and Luke took turn on "Twas the Night Before Christmas". (Although he looks much older, Luke is only 8 and was really wanting to read aloud, too.)

On Thanksgiving day we exchanged presents with the cousins from earlier, and Evan got a football. Unfortunately, he was sick and didn't really play with it right away. He finally started feeling better that night and was holding it while watching the game on tv.

I was very glad that he got better, because we were planning on going to a football game on Friday night. After we looked at the lights, Evan and I headed up to my high school alma mater for the South State Championship game between Oak Grove and Ocean Springs. It didn't look anything like it did when I was in school, though. There's a new high school now, complete with a new stadium. At least the announcer was the same. That was pretty cool. And it was a fun (but cold) game with Oak Grove winning 26-7 (or 27-6). Evan really enjoyed his first live football game and I was excited to share it with him!

Evan's Thanksgiving feast and program

2009-11-30T14:19:00.002-06:00

Evan's teacher had written a program that included the kids reading and singing songs. One of the songs named all 50 states alphabetically and they memorized it. Evan is still singing the 50 states around the house.

The "feast" part was fun for both of the boys. Joel was a little disappointed that he didn't get to sit beside Evan, but he was okay. Joel had his own feast at school the next day, but the parents weren't invited to that one.

Christmas Parade

2009-11-30T14:15:00.002-06:00

The boys got to see Santa before the Christmas parade started. They both had no fear this year and jumped up into the sleigh. Evan asked for a San Diego Chargers uniform (no idea why he picked this team) and Joel wants a green Yoda lightsaber.

There were also some games to play. Evan threw lots of balls, including a football. He even got a little bitty football to take home.

Of course, one of the highlights of the parade is all of the candy! Joel decided to use his hat as his candy holder and it worked quite well. Evan just kept giving his to his dad to hold. Joel ended up with more candy than Evan, and Evan didn't think that was fair. I didn't think it was "fair" that they both got as much candy as they had since we had just gotten rid of the Halloween candy.

Sir Joel the Crazy (and Brave)

2009-11-30T14:11:00.001-06:00

Joel put his new knight sword to good use the other day. I got to be the queen, which meant that I got to sit in a big chair (like the one I was already sitting in) and take pictures of the knight.

I love that Joel likes to go barefoot, even if he does get his toesies so very dirty.

My, er, I mean, Evan's latest school project

2009-11-12T16:26:00.003-06:00

Evan's latest big project for school was to build a home for an animal. We settled on a lizard, but with the craziness of Joel's birthday this past weekend, we didn't work on it until yesterday - and it was due today. It was explained as a "family" project so we all got involved. Steve and the boys went to the lake to find sand, but came up empty. We used sandpaper for the bottom instead. Sand was important because this is a desert lizard (at least in our world). We investigated what lizards need in their home and discovered the essentials to be: a place to bask (and a heat/light source for basking), a place to hide, and water. Of course they also need food every few days, so we put that in our house, too. Evan did help, but I did most of the cutting and all of the glueing (since a lot of it was done with hot glue).

Can you see my contribution to the lizard itself? You may have to click on the picture to see it, but I added a little something to it. (It's not the coloring; Evan did that.) The directions said to have fun, so I tried to. Alas, Evan did not get to deliver his project to school today. He woke up around 2:30am with a fever, aches, and nausea and came to my room to share it with me. A few minutes later, Joel joined the "party" in my bedroom. (Joel seems fine, but has had a fever most of the day. We think it's just from the vaccinations he got yesterday.) They didn't sleep well, so they both stayed home from school today.

Poor Evan obviously hasn't felt well most of the day. This is how he has spent most of his time today (with a throw-up bucket nearby, just in case).

Doesn't that face just make you feel bad, too? It does me!
But ...

every now and then he perks up just a little and that makes me smile, too.

Birthday Shots

2009-11-11T22:28:00.003-06:00

Unfortunately, I am talking about the kind you get with needles, not a camera. The downside to having a birthday at Joel's age is the vaccination shots. He got FOUR today. I have to say that he was very brave and didn't start to cry until the third one. It was a full-on cry after the fourth one. I know they had to hurt! He did use it to his advantage later today, though. When he didn't want to do something, his legs would hurt, and he couldn't move them. Magically, they were okay when he wanted to run and jump. I have had shots myself recently, so I know the pain can come and go, but it does seem like he might be milking it just a little.

As for the rest of the birthday check-up, he is doing well. He is over 41 inches and over 38 pounds. He is in the 75th percentile in both categories. (He had been in a lower percentile for weight, previously. This is the first time either of my boys have been in the same percentile for height and weight.)

Tuesday he got to celebrate his birthday at school, along with two other boys in his class. They had cupcakes, juice boxes, birthday crowns, and a birthday pin. (They wore the crowns and pins all day.) I got to see him that day at the book fair at the school, and he told me that was his favorite part of the school day. Talk about making his mama's heart melt! This boy knows how to work it!

That should end all of the birthday happenings for a while. He is very excited that he is now really 4. It seems we've been talking about this birthday for a while. I know everybody says the time goes by too fast, but it really does! Here are a few pics from the last 4 years.

Few Minutes Old

One Year Old

Two Years Old

Three Years Old

Four Years Old

Happy 4th Birthday to Joel!

2009-11-09T07:11:00.001-06:00

Joel's birthday is today, but as far as he is concerned it was Saturday when we had his party. He decided a couple of months ago that he wanted to have a pirate birthday party, so we obliged.
It was a lot of fun, and Steve really got into this theme. He even helped with the cake decorating! Joel liked licking the beater and batter bowl. Can you tell?In our family, the birthday boy or girl gets to pick out the meals for the entire day. When I was making the grocery list I asked Joel what he wanted. After I bought it, he changed his mind. I told him that was too bad. He started to have a fit that morning, but then something changed and he was excited about his waffles and the "little meat" (aka canadian bacon).
I don't have pictures of lunch because I was busy getting ready for the party, but that was chicken nuggets and tater tots.

The party started with getting the guests dressed in their pirate gear, complete with tattoos, and then they went into the backyard to play in the pirate ships. (Steve made these and he did a great job! They are even still in one piece.) After everybody got arrived, we split the kids into teams and they had a cannonball fight. I think that was everyone's favorite game.They also got to decorate some treasure chest picture frames. Somehow we managed to lose two of those finished crafts by the end of the party. We found one while cleaning up, but still haven't found Kate's. (Sorry, Melody!)We had the obligatory "pin the ..." game, which was Pin the Patch on the Pirate. One of the kids kept trying to put the patch on me. The winner was the second one to go and she just went straight to the right spot and put the patch right on. She was so fast and sure I was wondering if she could see through the blindfold. No one else got that close, though.

Steve helped me make the cake by kneading the colors into the fondant, rolling the tentacles out, and rolling out the fondant for the octopus body. I had never worked with fondant before and would not have been able to knead the color in myself (at least not in the amount of time I left myself to finish the cake). Thanks, Steve!

Then it was time for opening the presents. Joel seemed to be making exceptionally quick work of the presents. I couldn't even get pictures of the last few. After he opened the last one, I figured out why. He was looking for one certain present that he had been asking for for a couple of months. It had been purchased by Grandpa and Grandma but was going to be opened after the party. Instead, Joel burst into tears and started crying that he "didn't get my golden knight! I want my golden knight! I was supposed to get a golden knight!!!"* I was mortified, but the other moms around just laughed/smiled/understood that he was being a 4-year-old. I tried to convince Joel that he had other presents to open later, but he wasn't even listening. I asked Grandma to go ahead and bring out the present. When he saw it, he immediately calmed down and said, "Is this my golden knight?" with such expectation. He was very excited when he opened it and saw that it was. He even carried the box around for the rest of the party. He started putting it together that night and played with it most of the day on Sunday, too.
*I would like to add that he started acting tired just before the party, so that was part of the reason for his outburst.

While dinner was cooking, Joel opened (the rest of) the family presents. He was very excited about them all, especially the tattoo that Evan gave him.
He also liked his knight dress-up set, so that he could be a golden knight.
He hasn't been allowed to take baths recently because most of the water ends up on the bathroom floor. His last gift from us was some bubble bath, bath paints (made by Steve) and some time in the bathtub before bed. It was a great ending to what had been a (mostly) great birthday celebration for him.
Yesterday Grandma took us out to eat. When the waitress asked if we were going to be wanting dessert Steve said no because we had some birthday cake still at home. We told the waitress it was Joel's birthday, and she was sweet and talked to him about it and told him Happy Birthday. Somehow I got around to asking if they did birthday stuff, and she said she would check. A little later she came back with a little piece of warm chocolate cake topped with a little vanilla ice cream served in a wine glass. Joel's eyes got big and he asked if it was for sharing. I said, "Oh, do you want to share it?" He usually is very good about sharing, but this time he emphatically and enthusiastically said, "NO!" He gobbled down every little bit as fast as he could. I think it was the first time he had his own dessert at a nice restaurant, and he thoroughly enjoyed it!

Fall Festivities

2009-11-02T18:11:00.004-06:00

My blog entries have been a little sporadic lately, so I will try to catch up on our October in this post. We were supposed to go to the Smoky Mountains to see the glorious fall colors and visit family, but illness kept us at home. Steve took the scheduled time off from work and got some things done around the house. Joel helped Steve. Evan went to school. I took lots of naps and hung out with the family when I wasn't sleeping. All in all, it was a nice "stay-cation".

Steve had taken the boys to the Pumpkin Patch earlier in the month to pick out their pumpkins. I was hosting a baby shower at the house, so I didn't get to go (and that also means there are no pictures from this day). They guys also went to a carnival at a local nursery (tree and plant nursery, not baby nursery) and a "spooky" party at the library. They had a very exciting day!

That Sunday we decorated the pumpkins, or at least started on them. Joel wanted to paint his as a clown. I did the eyes, but he did the rest. Today he decided that it was the Joker, but it had been a clown for the last couple of weeks. Evan wanted to make a blue panther. I could not persuade him that panthers are black, so his is blue. First, he and Steve carved it. Then he painted it. Last, I cut out ears for it. I guess it was kind of a group effort, but let's just call it Evan's.

About a week later, Joel painted a smaller pumpkin at school and then added stickers to it at home. I picked up some pumpkins at the store, but didn't decorate them. I just used them to round out the display a little.

On Halloween the boys dressed in their costumes and we started the evening's activities with a trip to Sonic. They had fifty cent corndogs, so we loaded up on them for dinner. Then it was time for our church's Kids Karnival. It was full of inflatables, games, and food ... and friends and fun!!

After we were karnivaled-out, we headed home for some trick-or-treating. The boys had been checking out a house on our street that was getting really "tricked out". They remembered this house from last year, too. Joel was determined to be brave, but found it a little intimidating in the dark and with all of the spooky noises, lights, and last-minute additions. He finally made it up to the goody table, and was glad (I think). We didn't hit a while lot of houses, but the boys found it to be a highly successful night. They both declared their bags to be too heavy and too full. Steve and I have been trying to help them with that problem.

Now we are gearing up for Joel's birthday celebration next weekend. Stay tuned for further updates on that momentous occasion. ;)

For today's news, Evan is making up jokes. Here are a few of them:

Q: What do you call a ball that gets snowed on?
A: A snowball!

Q: What is a kid that has snow on it?
A: A snowkid!

Q: What is a football player that plays tennis?
A: A kid!

And Joel is making up good excuses. He couldn't pick up because: 1. his ear hurt 2. he couldn't move any part of his body (which he said as he was walking in a circle).

He also demonstrated a newfound ability to do the twist. I didn't get any video, because he was supposed to be in the tub when he demonstrated this (read "naked").

Well, I suppose this post is long enough and Steve has the boys bathed so I better get going. Until next time!

A Fright in the Night

2009-10-16T10:06:00.004-05:00

This post was submitted in Scribbit's monthly write-away contest for October.

It was a quarter 'til midnight and I was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep. Then I heard it ... the sound that could be innocuous, or could be the beginning of a long, scary night. I waited with baited breath for more clues as to what my night would hold. The rustling continued, but on its own that was still innocuous. In a minute or two, my fears were realized as the rustling was joined by cries ... the irrational wailings of an almost-4-year-old who has awoken in the middle of the night!

My husband tried to handle the situation, but I could soon tell that the wails were not going to be stopping soon. These cries could have been the result of a night terror, or a nightmare, or anything, but the child was clearly not fully awake and would not be consoled. I decided to take over so that my husband could go back to sleep, since he did need to get up earlier than me in the morning. I tried to hold and rock the wailer, but I soon realized that he was wet. (He is potty-trained, but still needs training pants when sleeping.) He had refused to go potty before bed, and had already filled up his training pants and leaked onto the bed, pillow, blanket ... you get the idea. I stripped him first, and once he was clean and in new training pants I moved him to the floor. Then I stripped and re-made the bed. I think that this bothered him because his new sheets were white. (His now-wet sheets were blue, and he liked them because it is like "sleeping in the water".) It was hard to comprehend what was actually being said, I mean screamed and cried, so this was just a guess. (He did comment on it the following morning, though. "Blue sheets are like sleeping in the water, yellow sheets are like sleeping in the sun, and white sheets are like sleeping in nothing.")

I do know that he was upset that his wet blanket had been taken away. It was replaced, but the new blanket was unacceptable. At least, it was unacceptable until the following morning. When he saw it then he was very excited about the "new, fuzzy blanket" and began playing with it immediately.

At any rate, I couldn't get him to calm down, and he was getting dangerously close to waking up his older brother. That would have been even scarier, so I took the wailer to another room where I could close the door and try to calm him down. He likes to have his back and face rubbed, so I tried that. In his highly agitated state, however, he did not want for me to touch him. So, I just lay down beside him and let him do his loud, annoying thing. At one point he seemed to become aware of himself and started to wipe his nose on a sheet. I quickly said, "Uh-uh," and he stopped and looked at me. I think that the screaming even stopped. I asked if he wanted a tissue to wipe his nose and he said yes. I got him one, and after his nose was wiped, he quietly lay down and cuddled up next to me. This was the same child who had been loud, inconsolable, and untouchable less than a minute before! What had happened?

I pondered this question as I tried to get comfortable and go back to sleep. I hadn't done anything to help. I just waited patiently and quietly. For some reason, he seemed to become aware that he had a problem that needed some attention - a runny nose. He tried to fix it on his own, but, thankfully, allowed me to take care of it in a better way. He then let me show my love for him in a more practical way, by getting close to me and letting me cuddle and caress him.

As I thought about this, it reminded me of my own relationship with God. I have (and probably will again) become angry, sad, irrational, etc. with the mess of my life. It could be because of circumstances out of my control or it could be because of my own bad choices, but the result is still like lying in a wet bed. It's uncomfortable so first I pitch a fit about it, but then that doesn't really help. It only causes more problems - like not making sense to those around me and a snotty nose. I try to clean up the mess myself, but being smack dab in the middle of it can make it hard to clean it all up. All the time, God is waiting patiently there. He has offered to help, but I have pushed Him away and said I can do it myself. I am smart enough to figure it out. I have enough self-discipline to do it on my own. He knows the truth, and He offers help, but He waits. Eventually, I realize that I can't do it. I turn to Him, and He wipes my nose and dries my tears. He holds me. He loves me. I can finally rest in His peace.

Couple of updates

2009-10-14T16:59:00.003-05:00

Evan has become quite attached to his football. I am constantly reminding him that we don't throw the ball in the house. (Of course, it's been so rainy here that he hasn't been able to play outside much.) He thinks that he would make a good quarterback (and I do, too) and that the quarterback is the most important person on the team. (Have I ever mentioned that we don't have to worry about building his self-esteem?) He keeps talking about when he can play football with a real team - when he is 7. He knows that we missed our chance this season and we will have to wait until next year. He is already discussing which team he will be on next year, too. He has a friend playing this year, so I guess he has learned some of the names. Speaking of teams - he is learning about the difference between NFL and NCAA teams, but this is a harder lesson for him. He has gotten several books from the library about football, so he is also learning a lot about the history of the game, the positions, the plays, and some of the players. He has already decided that he wants a football jersey for Christmas, but which jersey he wants keeps changing. He has also added a real (full-size) football to his "want-list". He didn't spend all of his birthday money yet, so I think he is considering using some of it for a new football. For now though, he is staying attached to his smaller one. He even holds (cradles) it while he is doing his homework.

Evan also received a school assignment last week to make a restaurant (using boxes or other materials readily available at our house). I swear that he made the decisions and did most of the work, but I did help some. Some days we worked well together, other days not so much. But we survived and he had a finished project by the day it was due! (The colors were supposed to be green and orange, but our printer needs a new color ink cartridge.)

Yay, Evan!

2009-10-09T16:48:00.003-05:00

Today was the Awards' Assembly for the first 6 weeks of school at Evan's school. He received three awards today - perfect attendance, all "E" honor roll (which is equivalent to all "A" honor roll), and Pearson Pride. The last one is for "academics, actions, and attitude" and was given to one boy and one girl in each class. He was so excited, and we are so happy for him! We are even trying to take him out to eat now to celebrate!

The rains came down, and the floods came up ...

2009-10-04T19:47:00.006-05:00

on our first family camping trip!

Other titles I thought about included:
It rained and poured for 40 long days-ies, days-ies
It's raining, it's pouring, the mommy's not snoring
When it rains, it pours (and then the tent leaks)

So, as you might guess from those clues, our little family went on its first camping trip together this weekend. (Steve and I had each been with our parents as kids, but even we hadn't been camping together yet.) We went with some other families, and really had a great time. The weather started out beautiful! We got to the state park on Friday and set up our tents (after finally finding two suitable sites side-by-side). The last family got in after dark, so after they were all set up we grilled some hot dogs and s'mores over the campfire. My guys had done that before, but they still thought it was special with their friends there. That night was kind of chilly, but it really was great for camping.

The next morning we got up (somewhat leisurely) and a couple of the parents took all of the kids to a program at the park to learn about night creatures. Some of the older kids were a little hesitant at first, but they all had a great time once they got there. After lunch (and the next family arrived) we all went fishing. We went to a kids' pond and caught some kid-sized fish and a couple of turtles. Most of the kids caught at least one thing (though most had the help if an adult). The kids thought it was great and it was Evan's favorite part of the trip. Evan caught the first turtle (which made me very sad because I helped him do it and because we didn't get the hook out of the turtle), and he reeled in a baby catfish. Joel caught a little bream (or something).

We started getting a little concerned about the clouds that afternoon and evening. We went ahead with dinner preparations, and the food finished cooking about the time the rain started. Our campsite had chicken packets and bread cooked on sticks. The other site had shish-kabobs and corn. One of the women also made a peach cobbler which we all shared. We all shared the fire, too, because by that point it was the only one still going. We were all gathered around that fire together anyway, talking and "chillaxin". We ate together (10 adults and 10 kids) around a picnic table and under a canopy.

The rain stopped after a while, and we decided to tough it out. One tent was leaking and most of that family went home because almost everything inside the tent was soaked. Everybody else decided to stay, hoping that the rain would hold off. it didn't, and every tent ended up leaking or having water seep into the bottom. We broke camp pretty quickly this morning and headed for the nearest McDonald's.

That might sound like a disastrous first camping experience, but I have to say that it was really pretty good. As someone else first pointed out, everyone's spirits remained pretty high throughout it all. All of the kids did really well (and we are talking kids as young as 2), and we all worked and joked together to get everything loaded up and headed home. The kids had a great time playing at McDonald's and we enjoyed getting some hot food.

It was nice to get home, but now we are trying to decide what to do with our wet tent. We would put it up and let it dry out, but the forecasts are predicting rain every day of this upcoming week. We did get the clothes washed and dried. We also had a nice hot dinner (thanks to Steve). We even enjoyed some indoor s'mores since the boys went to bed before we ate some last night.

Steve has commented that this experience has given him a new sense of compassion for those who don't have shelter. I have to admit that I had not thought about that until he said it, and it has made me think. We are so blessed! As he pointed out, even though our tent was leaking it was large and we were able to avoid the wet spots and stay dry and out of the rain. A lot of people don't even have that. Then we were able to come home, shower, wash all of our belongings, cook hot food, sleep in comfy beds, etc. We (I) do take these things for granted. I hope that I will be able to have more compassion for people who don't have these luxuries - or even basic necessities - in the future.

Morning funnies

2009-10-02T09:58:00.002-05:00

Who needs to read the comics when you get to live in one?!? Take for example this conversation from this morning.

Steve is putting on his new Tevas while Joel watches. (Just a little background - I had given Steve a fair amount of teasing for purchasing the Tevas. He said, "Don't you think they're cool?" I replied, "They're cool. I'm just not sure that you are cool enough for them." - or something like that. So that was a few days ago when he bought them. Now back to today and he is putting them on for the first time.)

Joel: Why are you putting on Mom's shoes?
Steve: These aren't Mom's; they're mine.
Joel: Well, they look like Mom's shoes.
Steve (very "maturely"): Oh yeah, well at least I have shoes on.
Joel (very quickly): that look like Mom's. (at which point I bust out laughing)
Steve (again, very maturely): Well, that shirt looks like your brother's.
Joel (again, very quickly): Well, it is. (at which point I completely lose it)

Joel likes being a clown so upon hearing me laughing he added, "That was a good joke, huh, Dad?" Steve could only agree (with a smile on his face).

Happy 200th!

2009-09-20T11:21:00.005-05:00

Hard to believe (for me anyway), but this is my 200th post on this blog! Since I am going to recap some of our adventures from yesterday, I decided that was as a good a title as any.

Our fun activities yesterday started with celebrating a friend's birthday at a bowling alley. Evan has been begging to go bowling all summer and we enjoyed getting to see our friends, so it was a nice treat for everyone! This was a really cool bowling alley for the kids. They had the bumpers up on our lanes, of course, and they also had a ball launcher. Joel didn't really like the actual bowling until we discovered the launcher towards the end of the game. Evan did like it, and he bowled most of Joel's game, too, since Joel had given it up. In fact, he even got a strike for Joel! We had warned him that his score wouldn't be as high as it is on the Wii, but he ended up not caring. Our competitive child has been telling us that he won out of the people on his lane, but he doesn't remember any of the actual scores. (I am not sure that he did win, plus I think he and Joel were the only two who finished all 10 frames before it was time to move on.) After some dancing and some cake, the kids got to play in an arcade, too. What an exciting couple of hours for them! I was wiped!!

Since we were only a few minutes away from Ikea, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to shop a little. I was tired, the boys were tired, my chest was hurting a little from the bronchitis, and the store was crowded so I tried to make it a quick trip. It ended up working out alright. Steve took the boys to the restaurant for some meatballs while I hustled through the store. I purchased a few things and investigated some things that I had seen online (for my soon-to-be-new craft room).

Once we got home set up our new (huge) tent in preparation for a camping trip that we are planning. We wanted to practive setting up and let the boys sleep in it before the actual trip. I would call it a "dry run", but it was humid last night and the dew made everything inside the tent wet this morning. Other than that (and getting the boys to settle down for sleep) I think it went well. I wouldn't know from experience, though, since I slept in the house all by myself. ;) If you click on the last picture you might be better able to see the lightsabers stored above Joel's "bed". That was his anti-monster security. Evan had to have a little table for his alarm clock to rest on (mainly for the light-up function, I believe). We've got all the comforts of home worked out, so looks like we are ready to go!

Some days are like that, even in Australia*

2009-09-19T17:58:00.004-05:00

So, we had gotten a sales flyer for Toys R Us earlier in the week with some really good sales. We needed to pick up some birthday presents, so we decided to go there yesterday afternoon. The one that I liked best is now closed, but there was another one "a little further" down the highway so we decided to go there. I looked up the directions, but didn't write them down. I saw the name of the exit we needed and the store was right off the highway so it should be easy -right?!? Yeah ... on the way we saw a sign for an outlet mall off the of the same exit that we needed. I thought the sign gave the exit number as 31. At that point the exits were numbered in the 400's or something. Soon, though, there was an exit 32A followed by a 33. Ummmm, where had 31 gone? We turned around and backtracked. Still no exit 31 so we turned around again. We saw the infamous outlet mall sign and realized that the exit was 37. What a difference a little line can make! At least we knew we weren't crazy in completely missing the name of the road or exit 31. So we went a few more miles and found the store.

Inside the store we started looking for the toys we had seen in the flyer. We found them, but there weren't any sales signs on them. Hmmmm ... I took a couple of the items up to the front to see if they were on sale. Yeah ... they weren't. I asked the cashier if she had a current flyer and she showed me the only one she could find. It ended today which made me guess that the flyer we had received at the beginning - middle of the week wouldn't start until Sunday. Seriously?!? After a little more investigation we found that to be the truth. So, we left Toys R Us with some ideas for Christmas (maybe), but no birthday presents.

So, Steve and I were a little frustrated, but were trying to make the best of the trip. We stopped at the outlet mall where I found some good deals. We also checked out some sporting goods stores to look at camping supplies for our upcoming camping trip. We finished the evening off with dinner at La Madeleine, which didn't go quite as well as I had hoped, but also wasn't as bad as the last time we tried to take the boys out to eat.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the comic relief provided by Joel. While we were driving home, Steve had asked who would be the stinkiest in the morning (since the boys would be missing showers again that night) and had then said, "My money is on your mom." Joel said, "I think it will be me, so you can put a penny on my head, Dad." After I laughed (loud and long) I had to make the connection for Steve. Steve told Joel that he had earned a penny for that one.

*If you don't know what this quote is from you should really read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

The problem with the world is me

2009-09-16T23:08:00.005-05:00

Don't you hate learning painful lessons over again - or is that just me?!? I was reminded yesterday in Bible study of a verse that I often neglect, and it came home with me to teach me more that night. This passage is from Genesis 8:21 and is part of God's promise to never flood the entire earth again.

Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.

Sounds pretty hopeless, but it is true. Those of us who are parents are often wondering why our children do the rebellious things they do - sometimes over seemingly trivial things. Are their lies the results of active imaginations or a bent to do evil? Why do they take food without asking (after being told not to and then sneak it away somewhere), when I would probably give it to them if they just asked? Okay, just a couple of examples - you probably have many more yourselves.

The problem is that as civilized as I have become as an adult, I like to think of myself as a pretty nice person. I try to let the clerk know if they made a mistake in my favor. I try to take meals to friends who are sick and in need. I sometimes even try to help strangers who look like they might need it. I look at the good I do and think it outweighs whatever tiny bit of evil might still be lurking in my heart. Last night I was confronted again with the reality that this type of thinking is just living in denial.

I won't go into unnecessary detail, but let's just say that things don't always go perfectly in my house. Last night as I was processing a series of imperfect moments from earlier in the evening, I was cataloging all of the wrong that others (who shall remain nameless) had done. The thoughts of how others could have behaved more correctly to me and how could I get them to understand how to do it were also consuming a lot of my time. Then that part of Genesis 8:21 came back to mind, only it was as if God said, "every inclination of your heart is evil." Well, as you might imagine God and I struggled for a little while over that one. But I had to agree with Him. That was the first step. But while admitting that you have a problem is good, it alone does not make things right. That's when I was reminded of the need to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" from Romans 12:2. Then I remembered Paul's famous confession of his own struggles in this area from Romans 7. I know it's long, but it's good. This version is from The Message, but you can click her e to read it in the NIV (or pick another translation of your choice).

I can anticipate the response that is coming: "I know that all God's commands are spiritual, but I'm not. Isn't this also your experience?" Yes. I'm full of myself—after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.
But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

So the answer, as I understand it, is my submission (from Romans 12:2) to God's transforming, renewing, making-me-more-like-Christ power. And I was also given hope that I can be "confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

So, the problem with my family, my friendships, my work, my finances, my church (if there were any, of course), myself ... the world - the problem with it all begins with me. It's my selfish desire that springs from my evil heart. So, in wanting everything to be about me, in a way I am succeeding. At least the problem is all about me.

The solution begins and ends with God. As Paul said, "Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Rockstar?

2009-09-13T16:51:00.005-05:00

Moderator note: Melissa did not write this. Steve did.

Joel wants to be a rock star... Unfortunately, my positive influence - the various blues and jazz electric guitars & effects in my closet - did not work to appropriately shape his direction. Apparently I do not get that stuff out enough anymore, and the pleasant acoustic guitar instrumentals I do play just don't keep his interest. No, but the five chord hard rock song "Rockstar" by Third Day does!

Now I do listen to rock from time to time, but Third Day is not even in my personal top 50 for cool rock bands... Melissa likes them though. At least the lyrics for the song are positive. Actually, Joel changes them around from "I wanna be a rock star, but I ain't got what it takes", to much more interesting things like "I wanna be a rock star, but I don't have a guitar for a concert", which he plays using his light saber as a guitar. Clearly, he's already into rock song writing.

His first homework for preschool was to decorate a picture of himself. Here's the results - with just a little help from Melissa:

So, to try to dissuade him from his chosen career path, I used the power of YouTube to show him a video of Third Day playing "Rockstar" live. He jumped around for a while, before noticing that there was a Lego version. Ahh, Lego stop time video's of Third Day songs, Joel laughed hysterically for almost the whole song. Actually, he used his fake laugh to coincide with the part I thought legitamately funny.

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTJOnn6SJNE

Parents really should be more careful what their kids listen to...

Adventures of Amazing Math Boy!

2009-09-07T22:39:00.003-05:00

Okay, so he didn't invent calculus or anything like that, but Evan has been impressing us with his (what we think is) advanced mental math skills lately. No lie - the kid knows how to multiply multi-digit numbers in his head. Yesterday he overhead Steve talking about someone selling video games for what seemed like a ridiculously low price. Steve said, "Even if you bought them for only $10 each at 30 games that would still be a lot." A minute or so later Evan informed us that 30 games at $10 each would be $300. I asked him how he knew that and he explained that he already knew what 10 ten's was (100), so then he just had to do it three times. So, he broke down the word problem into its compenents and into pieces that he knew how to handle.

Today we were talking about $30 steaks and he told us that 4 $30 steaks would be $120. I think the first equation was more impressive, but here he did it with different numbers. I could tell he was doing some counting of some sort, but didn't know what he was "ciphering" until he blurted it out. (Even then he can be pretty vague and I have to ask questions to figure out what he is talking about. For some reason I don't know what he means when he says, "That would be 120 for four" a minute or so after the adult conversation has moved on.) So communication skills may need some work, but we are pretty impressed with his apparent innate way with numbers.

By the way, Steve and I do not take credit for this ability. Neither of us claims to be good at mental math, but my brothers are. Steve's brother may be, too, but I am not sure. I guess it's somewhere in the gene pool because this is certainly not something we have taught him.