Friday, March 30, 2007

Motherhood

I got the following out of a MOPS magazine. It was written by Michelle Grant Scott. I just really liked it and identified with a lot of it--some of them I probably need to work on some more!

The picture is me with Henry when he was four weeks old.

Motherhood has taught me . . .




  • to asses a child's well-being through a cracked door

  • to tiptoe so hushed that only baby breath is audible

  • to kiss an owie so lightly it removes some pain

  • to interpret for a toddler who longs to speak with dignity

  • to discern when a whimper means danger or simply "notice me"

  • to smile at dirty dishes, while marching alongside little legs

  • to embrace, not hide, "happy tears" that now come daily

  • to laugh at little shoulder taps in the middle of the night

  • to recognize God's wisdom in a toddler's voice

  • to adapt my dancing style to lead or follow chubby bare feet

  • to rely on God's strength to carry me after countless sleepless nights

  • to giggle and simultaneously turn a cartwheel

  • to harmoniously rock, pat and hum in the moonlight

  • to perform ballet while tasting sweet drops of rain

  • to appreciate the beauty of baby belly-buttons

  • to look into bright blue eyes and feel the world stop

  • to know beyond any doubt I am what God created me to be . . .


a MOTHER.


And this is growth.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Mowing the Lawn

So I'm heading out to mow the lawn. I've been putting it off, but it's getting so long that I'm afraid I may lose one of my kiddos out there! :) I thought I would check with Henry to see what I might need to have before I go outside.

Let's see: Helmet? Knee pads? Cowboy boots (or cowboy shoes, as my boys say)? I think I've got it. Actually this picture is how Henry usually looks when he's playing in the backyard. He LOVES to wear his bicycle helmet while he's running around. I don't get it. Must be a boy thing! :) And his favorite boots (bright, shiny rubber rain boots) have a hole in them, so he goes for the cowboy shoes instead. In my defense, he does own a brand new pair of sandals!!

Henry "mowed" for me earlier this week, and when he came in he was quite frustrated--I could tell by the scowl on his face. I asked "Henry, what's wrong honey?" and he said, "Mom, I think I need Daddy to fix my mower. I just keep mowing and mowing, and the grass doesn't go down at all!"

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Happy 70th Birthday!


Today is Dave (my father in law)'s 70th birthday!




Even though he will probably never see this, I wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday!



(I had to post two pictures, because after I posted the first one I noticed that David wasn't in the picture--oops! And my husband thought it would be "cute" to goof around in ALL of the pictures that were taken--at least in the first one he's kind of looking normal.)




He is a wonderful man who brought up four kids in a loving, Christian home, and now he has 15 grandchildren (who adore him!) living close enough to see all the time.











Last night we had a party for him at Sam's sister's house. We started the evening off with a treasure hunt (which Dave won, of course!) all over the property and then enjoyed some lovely fish cake (Dave is a die-hard fisherman!)--you'll have to see this, it's a fish with it's mouth open:








It was a very fun evening. We love you Dave and hope you enjoyed your birthday! I hope when I turn 70 I will be surrounded by this much love!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

March 27

I don't have anything exciting to blog about today, but I don't want to slack off. :) So I'll leave this passage that is on my heart today (along with an old picture of Sam and Henry!). Hopefully you'll enjoy it too!



Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Baby Names


We are currently contemplating names for our bundle of joy who is coming soon! For some reason, boy names have always come much more easily to us both, and we tend to struggle with a "perfect" girl name.


Well, now the pressure is on! We're pretty sure that we've got a girl in here, but no names at the top of the list.


Sam thought we might get some inspiration by asking our local expert on most matters: Henry. Please remember that his last favorite name for a girl was "McDonald's."


After giving it some thought, he came up with this gem: Tochwa!

I'm not sure if I'm spelling it correctly, but I just tried to sound it out. He pronounces it Touch-Wah. Sam and I both thought he was just being silly, but he came up with it on Wednesday and hasn't forgotten it yet!

I don't think we're going to let Henry name this baby! :)

Thursday, March 22, 2007

The answer you've been waiting for....

When you're this cool, you can't be wrong.


Henry knew all along what we are having. He has been 100% sure since we told him there was a new baby coming into our lives.
IT'S A GIRL!!!



I think I have a lot to learn! I'm pretty good with boys, but a girl? What do girls even wear? :)

Any advice, anyone? I'll take it!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Sonogram!

My 20-week ultrasound was this morning!
It was VERY cool. They did part of it in 3-D.
I've never seen anything like it. Totally amazing.
The baby wanted to say hello to Mommy's blogging friends:




However, I do have a confession to make.
Sam and I went in to the ultrasound fully intending NOT to find out the sex of the new baby. After all, both boys were a surprise, so why not the third one too, right?
Well.......when she said she knew what we are having, and asked if we wanted to know too--we couldn't say no.
WE KNOW WHAT WE'RE HAVING!!!!! :)
Any guesses????

Twins

The boys and I were out running errands yesterday. Some fun, some just had to get done. At two different places I had people ask me about my "twins." The boys were dressed alike, but they often do wear the same shirts--they just like to match! Or as Henry says, "patch." :) It made me laugh, because as their mom I can see just how different they are, but I forget that people just glancing at them can see their similarities more easily!
So here is a picture of "the twins." You can decide for yourself if those people were crazy or not!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Daddy's phone

Sometimes I think Sam might spend too much time on his phone.
What do you think? :)

I do want to mention that he is NOT always on his phone, but I was able to snap this picture the other day and thought it was pretty funny!

Friday, March 16, 2007

Wherever you are, wherever you've been, He's been there!

(This beautiful picture was taken in Montana a few weeks ago by my friend Missy!)


I don't have anything exciting to post about, but I wanted to share this wonderful song. It feels like such a great prayer. Every time it comes on the radio, I just have to "turn the music loud, lift my voice and shout..." My boys must think I'm nuts! :)




"Open Skies" by The David Crowder Band

Praise Him under open skies
Everything breathing praising God
In the company of all who love the King
I will dance, I will sing
It could be heavenly
Turn the music loud, lift my voice and shout
From where I am
From where I've been
He's been there with me
He's built a monument
His very people
So let his people
Sing, sing, sing

And it's so wonderful
Just to be here now


CHORUS:
Praise Him under open skies
Everything breathing praising God
In the company
Of all who love the King


Praise Him under open skies
Everything breathing praising God
In the company of all who love the King
Let us dance, let us sing
It could be heavenly
Turn the music loud and sing

Lift your voice to heaven
Lift up your head and sing
To the One who gave his love
This is our offering
Lift your voice to heaven
Lift up your head and sing
To the One who gave His son
Here our lives we bring

From wherever you are
Wherever you've been
He's been there
So let his people sing


And it's so wonderful to be here now
Wherever you are wherever you've been
He's been there





If you made it this far, I just want to point out that I just now discovered how to use color on my posts! Am I slow or what? :)

Thursday, March 15, 2007

He did it!



Sometimes it's tough to be the younger brother! Especially when you aren't able to do a lot of talking. Yesterday, Henry came running into the kitchen while I was working on dinner. (I have to point out that I had just dropped my bucket of flour and everything in my kitchen--including me--had a nice, white dusting over it!)

Here's how our conversation went:

Henry: Mom, you've got to come quick!
Mom: Why, honey? Is everything okay?
Henry: Yes, but you have to come see what Jonah did!
Mom: Can you just tell me? I'm trying to get this flour cleaned up.
Henry: Well, I was just sitting in my room by myself, not doing ANYTHING at all, and Joe went in the guest room and made a BIG mess! He knocked over the crib and broke it, he took all the movies off the shelf and he jumped on the bed!

By this time, Jonah had joined us in the kitchen.

Mom: Henry, if you were sitting in your room, how do you know what happened?
Henry: I just know.
Mom: (trying not to laugh) Jonah, is that really what happened?
Jonah: Uh huh!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Glorious Spring!

Isn't Spring the best time of the year? I just LOVE it! Such pretty things blooming all over the place, all the trees budding out, the grass is turning green again, the weather is getting warmer....



What's not to love? :) Well, I suppose the fire ants. Both the boys have already been into mounds of fire ants. I'm sure they'll learn to stay away from them eventually, but for now they just keep getting bitten!

This picture was taken at Henry's request, because "it's SUCH a pretty tree!" He's right, of course! :)



Just wanted to let everyone know that Bug (the dog who followed us home last week) found a new home last night. He went to live with a family that has lots of kids and loves animals. I'm not going to tell Henry, but I don't think they're going to stick with the name Bug!

Monday, March 12, 2007

Sam's back!

This wonderful man...




was gone last week from Monday until yesterday. We really missed him! I try to keep the boys pretty busy when Daddy's gone, but a week just seems like such a LONG time! There was a point when I thought I might possibly lose my mind, but then I reminded myself that I'm pregnant and don't really have much left to lose! :)

Anyway, the boys and I picked Sam up at the airport yesterday afternoon, and it was a pretty sweet reunion! I took my camera so I could get a cute picture of the boys holding up their homemade "Welcome Home!" signs but then I forgot to take the picture. Oops. You'll just have to imagine it!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Bug

Two days ago the boys and I were coming home from the store. When we got into our neighborhood, I slowed the car down to take Henry's favorite "shortcut" (a trip around one of the silly medians they put all over our subdivision). All of a sudden this little black puppy comes running up to the car. Hmmm, not great. We were only about two houses away from home, so the puppy decides to follow us home. I opened the garage to pull in the car, the dog goes running in--sees our dog's food, and he's hooked. There's no getting rid of this guy now!



The boys and I walked all around the neighborhood asking people if they knew anything about this dog. It's not a really big neighborhood, so I figured someone would know something. But all I kept hearing was that it's pretty common to "dump" unwanted animals around here.

While we were walking around, a bug flew by and buzzed Henry's face. He's not such a fan of bugs, so he screamed, "Mommy, a bug, A BUG, help!" By this time the bug was long gone, of course. So I'm trying to tell him how bugs aren't really here to hurt us and blah, blah, blah, when all of a sudden Henry's face lights up. (I swear you could see the lightbulb above his head!) He says, "Hey, Mommy, I know what! We can call the puppy BUG!!!"

And so the puppy had a name. Now at this point the dog has been hanging around with us for a half hour and feels like he belongs with us. Not knowing what else to do, I let Elmer (our dog) come out front to meet him. They got along famously and started playing together.



I had to make a decision. The groceries needed taken in and put away and I needed to get dinner started. Do I leave this adorable little puppy out here all by himself and take a chance on him getting hit by one of the 30 or so work trucks that would be heading home soon? Obviously, my mind was already made up. I let him into the fenced backyard and put a sign up at the front of my neighborhood.

The kids like him and think he's "really cute" but they don't like to play with him because he jumps up and knocks them down. He looks exactly like our Elmer did as a puppy, so I kind of like him too. He has a really sweet personality too. I made him sleep outside the last two nights (remember, it's plenty warm here!) and he just curled up and went right to sleep, no barking or whining or scratching at the door or anything.

The only one who doesn't seem to like this new dog is Cricket, our cat. She and Elmer get along just great, but since Bug came into the backyard, we've only seen Cricket REALLY high up in the trees! She won't even come down for Henry and that cat will do ANYTHING for Henry! :)



If nobody calls to claim him this weekend we'll probably try to find him a home pretty soon (before we all get TOO attached!). Anyone out there looking for a sweet little puppy?

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Electricity

My clever boys discovered this week that they can generate quite a bit of static electricity if they run around in circles on the trampoline with no socks on. Fun right? Mmmhmm. Maybe not so fun if the only way to enjoy it is to spark Mommy repeatedly, in the same spot, over and over and over and.....

So now we have a "sock rule" on the trampoline! :) We'll see how long that is enforced!

Also wanted to mention the cute bird feeder my husband put up for us this week:



Isn't it great? Even if he doesn't exactly know how to pose for pictures that he knows will show up on my blog! :) We lost some trees in the last wind storm, so Sam just cut one to the right size and used it for a post to hold up the bird feeder! He is just so handy!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

My Project

I stayed up way too late last night working on this, but there just wasn't a good place to stop! So now I'll probably stay up too late again tonight so I can get some color on there!



What do you think? Henry helped me choose the picture. It is on the boy's playroom wall. I'd like to do some music notes/scale type thing around the entire room, kind of as a border, but that might take some time.

EDIT: I want everyone to know that I did not do this freehand! I borrowed an overhead projector, traced the picture onto a sheet of plastic and then just painted what was projected! :)

Friday, March 02, 2007

Cat and Mouse



Henry was watching his new favorite show this morning (Tom and Jerry) when he started giggling uncontrollably. I asked him what was so funny, and he replied, "Toman just fell down!" I said, "Who is Toman?" and he answered, "MOM, Toman is the cat. Then there's that little mouse who is called Jerry."

Of course....to a toddler, Tom and Jerry could pretty easily sound like Toman Jerry!

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Tiny Tees

I was reminded by my dear sister-in-law yesterday that I had forgotten to post about these lovely shirts. My mom gave me a couple of them for Christmas this year.



I was a little confused when I first opened the box. Doll clothes? Super-trendy shirts for my boys? Ummm....



Actually, as my mom quickly explained, they are just stretchy shirts for adults! They start out small enough to fit in your hand, but they fit most adults quite comfortably (amazingly, they're not even tight!) and then when you take them off, they shrink back down just as small as they started out! Aren't they fun?



My mom and I had a great time kicking off our modeling career! :)