Greene Acres

Passing the Winter Months

2012-02-08T22:13:00.005-05:00

One of our absolute best purchases ever has been a trampoline. The boys can go outside and play in almost any degree weather (as long as they're bundled up). Jonathan has literally jumped for 2 hrs at a time on it. Fantastic. Here are some fun videos of playing with Daddy.

Benjamin all swaddled up to go for a jog. There's a track 3 streets over and we meet some friends of ours there to bike quite frequently. Caleb is FINALLY getting the hang of some ride on toys--namely a scooter and one of those bikes with no wheels that supposedly helps one learn to ride a bike faster (it's late and I'm blanking). Benjamin is just happy to be coming along for the ride!!!

He looks so grumpy here, which is hilarious because he's really never grumpy. I think it's just the way the hat is fitting him.

That's all for now. We're managing to stay pretty active outside in this "mild" (so they're calling it) winter. For that I'm truly grateful.

Valentine's Prep

2012-02-04T09:04:00.000-05:00

YAY!!!!!!! My second most favorite time of the year is here. I've always LOVED Valentine's Day, even when I was growing up and never had a boyfriend. To me, Valentine's Day is not necessarily about romantic love (though we'll get to that :>) but about all love in general. A time to celebrate and rejoice in God's love and a time to reach out and show love to friends/family/neighbors, etc. AND, I learned early on that Valentine's Day is what you make of it. I had so many friends that would get depressed when they didn't have a boyfriend on Valentine's Day, and I always that that was a ridiculous waste of time. :>

SOOOOOOO, I'm having a blast making this day special with my kids. We talk about God's loving us, our loving God, about how showing love to other people is like showing love to God, etc, etc.

Again, Jonathan loves to decorate, so we've been busy hanging up fun decor:

Making a thankfulness chain (I hope to do one for all our seasons):

Decorating his "seasonal" tree (Jonathan wanted a little Christmas tree for his room SO badly this year, but by the time I got around ordering one for him, the season had all but passed...He perked up when I suggested we could decorate it for Valentine's Day...so, this was a great afternoon project. I think it bought me a couple of hours!)

And making cards for people. We've already shipped off our first batch to Puddin, Pappy and Shar-Shar.

Caleb has helped a bit...but most of the time he prefers to play in the sink. If I'm not fast enough to pull up his tall white stool, NOT TO WORRY!! He'll just push over the little stool and climb up himself!

FINALLY, I'll share something new I'm doing this year that I'm so excited about. Another one of my New Year's Resolutions is to really honor and put emphasis on my relationship with my husband. Isn't it sad how quickly that goes by the wayside? I could cite all these excuses why I can't make time for him: 3 little ones, homeschooling the oldest one, baby still not sleeping more than 6 hrs at one time, oldest two fighting constantly like cats and dogs, etc, etc...but that's just it. Still excuses. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I came up with the idea (I adapted it from another blog idea that I read) of making a list of 12 things I love about Michael in 2012. Next year, I'll do 13, and on and on.

At first I was just going to give one to him every morning, but then I thought I could hide them in new places each day. HOW FUN!! First day was on his steering wheel in the car, second day was in his iPad, today on the shower handle, etc, etc. It's the little things, right?
So, if you're a married lady reading this, I encourage you to really put a bit of time and thought into showing appreciation and love for your husband this Valentine's Day. Think about what he'd really like (a home cooked meal, a clean house, a bit of lingerie?? :> ) and DO IT!! Not to be harsh, but if you don't, there are lots of lonely, single women out there who will.

What are some fun traditions that you and your family like to do to make Valentine's Day special?

Decorating with Scripture

2012-02-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

I have been so convicted lately of not having enough scripture throughout my house. I could just stick up post cards all over the place, but that's lovely, isn't it? SO, I have been thinking about/praying about intentionally choosing which scripture I want to hang, and do it in a beautiful way. BECAUSE, as you might recall, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to make our house a more beautiful, restful place. :>

I've actually been struggling with my new fine lines and wrinkles (:>) so I matted and posted these scriptures in my bathroom and near my jewelry:

This scripture is hung above our front door:

That's all I have so far but a few ideas I have are:

In the kitchen.
"Taste and see that the Lord is good." Ps 34:8
"My soul will be satisfied with the riches of foods." Ps 63:5

On the wall that people see upon entering our house.
"Come to me all who are weary and heavy ladened and I will give you rest." Matt 11:28 (did you catching the theme of my New Year's Resolution of rest? :>)

I'd like to do some more on grace and love, but I haven't even thought that far ahead. This will be an ongoing project, so you can keep me accountable!

Do you include scripture as a vital part of your decorating? If so, which scriptures and how do you use it? Would love some ideas!

DIY Mat tutorial

2012-02-01T22:15:00.000-05:00

For a cheap, easy, DIY mat for pictures/inspirational quotes, see below.

First, cut out picture/inspirational msg.

Then, lay the glass part of the frame on top of the contact paper to cut out. You can't see it well, but there's glass lying on top of this contact paper.

"Measure" how thick you want the frame to be and mark it. I'm really into eyeballing things, but if you wanted to use a ruler you could make it really perfect.

Cut out the middle part where the inspirational message will go. An exacto knife would be perfect but I just used scissors. The great thing about contact paper is it's already lined for you! Brilliant!
This is what you have after cutting.Unpeel the back sticky part.
"Stick" it to the inspirational message.
Voila! Finished product. Quick. Easy. Super cheap. My kind of project!

Weird Health Food

2012-01-31T21:59:00.000-05:00

I dabble in the health food world, and here are some of my current faves:

Soaked Rice Pancakes:

Surprisingly thick and fluffy. Great aftertaste (that sounds so gross which is ironic because I'm trying to say that they're not gross.) :>

Homemade Hot Chocolate with pumpkin puree added. Got the recipe from my GAK! Even my picky Jonathan doesn't detect its presence!

Finally (drum roll please) KOMBUCHA!!!! If you don't know what it is, google it. It's a ridiculously healthy, ridiculously gross fermented beverage. It's my first batch, so we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

What about you? What health "things" are you incorporating into your diets?

Better Dinners

2012-01-22T20:58:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately for Michael, the title of this post does not refer to a higher quality of more tasty food. :>

Fortunately for our family, though, the title of this post does refer to our having a more peaceful, enjoyable dinner time together.

Let me back up. Dinner time at our house was, bar none, the worst hour of the day. No matter what time I started feeding the kids, they were ALWAYS whiny, fussy, and complain-y in a throw-self-down-on-the-floor-and-cry sort of way (even when I made their favorite food!).

The fact that dinners were unpleasant deeply saddened me and completely exhausted any remaining emotional reserves. I so wanted dinner to be a warm, fuzzy time of family bonding. That's how it was with Leave it To Beaver and The Waltons, right?

Well, enter The Family Conversation Jar.

We're only on our third night, but already, we have had the best three dinners together as a family ever.

I had looked into family dinner devotion books, but really, we do devotions in the morning during school and at bedtime...too much of a good thing is not a good thing, right?

Part of our ABC Jesus Loves Me curriculum includes a set of questions on everything from correct social behaviors, to emotions, to random likes, etc, etc. I had printed them all out but was having trouble finding time to go over them with Jonathan.

One day I looked at the questions...I looked at the dinner table...I looked back at the questions and I had a flash of brilliance. I let Jonathan cut out the questions (another flash of brilliance--took about an hour), put them in this glass holder, and began a new tradition. Every night, we each pick out a question to read and answer. We have bonded over favorite pizza toppings, what makes us happy, what makes us sad, what do we do if someone gives us a present we don't like, and what do we do when our friends don't want to play with us. Jonathan loves it!

Great questions, great learning, great bonding, great memories...great dinner.

What do you do to bond over dinner?

The Beauty of the Body of Christ

2012-01-16T16:32:00.001-05:00

No pictures this time...just thoughts. :>

So, we went to a gathering of believers last night and it was beautiful. Similar walks of life (age-wise), but every ethnicity, different churches, different socioeconomic statuses, every stage of walking with Christ, different views of home-school/private/public school, all coming together to eat, fellowship, and glorify God. Almost 20 kids gathered around the table to eat while the parents hung back and chatted. It was noisy, chaotic and awesome. (The parents did eat after the kids went downstairs :>). This group has been meeting for about 8 years, and yet they still continue to invite new people. That's rare. It's so easy to get comfortable and want to hang around people you know and like. I for one am grateful that this group isn't like that. Still opening their hearts to new people like us. I received an incredible amount of encouragement from the hostess (who goes to another church and whom I just met last night) in this challenging stage of life in which I currently find myself. This is what the body of Christ is supposed to look like. All watching out for each other's kids, all watching out for each other. So glad we dragged our booties out the door and went.

I told this to Michael the other night: We're not making friends here. We're making family. If you've accepted Jesus as Lord of your life, He's adopted you into His family. If you believe in Jesus as Lord, we're brothers and sisters in God's family. We're family. And we're making it here.

The only thing we lacked was help with the boys. We love it here. We know we're called here. It's just a very challenging season and it would be really nice to have a break from the boys every now and then. Living here has been so faith building. I pray for things and they come to fruition. Never have I experienced so many answers to prayers so quickly. Saturday night, as I was falling into bed exhausted at 8:30, I asked God to send us an "older-ish" couple who would offer to help us with the boys. Sunday morning, God sent not one, but two offers of help! One from a lady who works at a middle school just down the street. She offered to come after work and watch the boys while I run some errands or just go to Starbucks for an hour. :> The other came from a lady with two teenage daughters. She thinks that between the three of them they might be able to handle our boys while Michael and I go out for the night. :> Isn't God good to answer so quickly and with multiple offers? Isn't God good?

Isn't the body of Christ beautiful?

Winter Wonderland

2012-01-09T23:27:00.001-05:00

One thing that Jonathan really, really likes a lot is decorating. Sounds funny, I know, but he comes by it honestly. The men on both sides of our families like to decorate so really the poor boy has no choice. :> So, one thing I've tried to keep up with is seasonal decor. General fall decor in Sept/Oct, Thanksgiving in November, Christmas in December and January is our 'Winter Wonderland' month. He helped me collect all these gumballs, and we dipped them in glue and then glitter.
Silver glitter balls

Finished product! It goes all around our playroom.

This past week our winter wonderland came alive with our FIRST SNOW!!!!!!!!! At first, the snowflakes were pretty light and didn't stick, but...THEN THEY GOT FATTER AND FATTER AND FATTER AND STUCK!

While we were watching the beginning stages, I showed Jonathan how to cut up snowflakes...

While the snowflakes were getting a little bigger, we went outside to play in them...

Finally, we couldn't stand it anymore, we suited up and out we went!!!!!!!
Playing in the snow

We had an AMAZING time of building a snowbaby (not quiiiiiiite enough for a man), having a snowball fight, and general running around with glee.

Finally, this video has nothing to do with snow, but I post so rarely I wanted to include it. Benjamin and his new, belly laugh:

December at our house part 2

2012-01-03T15:08:00.000-05:00

Making Christmas cookies with the whole fam!

Caleb painted on the icing...it's so fun to have him old enough to do some help!

My sister and I always made white chocolate dipped pretzels, and it's so fun to see the tradition continue with my boys. Have you ever seen anything cuter? (Caleb had a diaper rash and Michael decided to let him "air dry" for awhile. I seriously did NOT even notice until after I had taken the picture. I decided it was cute so it stayed!) :>

Working together. Unbelievable.

We flew to Houston on the 25, and the boys opened their robes our first night there. Good job Puddin!!! Caleb seriously has not taken it off since getting it. Not only does he wear it to bed and all around the house, it's also been on the trampoline with him and to Chick-fil-a twice.

Benjamin and GG.

More Ben and GG

Ben and Big Daddy.

Caleb got woken up from a nap (BOO!) so we all took turns walking him up and down the street.

Malee and Ben

OOPS!!!!! Pappy is on poop patrol!!! Ahhh...the joys of newborns! :>

Caleb and Malee helping me beat Jonathan in a game of Uno.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of the Canadian cousins!!! I will HAVE to do better next year! We had such a great trip. I loved showing Benjamin off and I even got to see my Louisianan cousins. Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting everyone and working so hard to make Christmas so special.

I just had to post this picture. My mom made the boys tool belts complete with safety goggles. Here is a picture of them, upon returning home, of putting them to good use.

New Year's Eve the "young staff" (us, the youth minister's family and missions director's family) got together. I'm so grateful to be in a place where we have loving, supportive friends/staff. We had such a great night of talking, letting the kids play and reflecting on the year. We all went around and said what we want to change/do differently in 2012. I said that I want to be a more grateful/thankful person. I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping up with my 'thankfulness' journal entries, and I've been amazed at how much thinking about blessings really does alter my attitude:

191 Ice Cream at Coldstone with a friend and her two girls
196 Energy despite a rought night

202 Fun making fudge with Jonathan

209 Freakishly easy plane ride with the boys

211 God's gift of his son Jesus to us

212 Wonderful family to spend Christmas with

220 Playing with the boys on our new trampoline

227 Spending New Year's Eve with friends

Sunday morning was a little rough because Jonathan was so tired. The whole morning I was so stressed out and feeling frustrated with Jonathan and his abundance of energy. I'm always so concerned about what people think, especially at church. That afternoon after church, Michael took the boys and let me rest (can I get an AMEN!?). I was reflecting on the morning, and I felt God impressing on me that I need to delight in Jonathan's exuberance. I would rather an energetic, full of life preschooler, than a sullen, depressed adolescent. If I continually try to squash his exuberance, who's to say that he won't turn inward and become sullen? I'm sure that during the moody teenage years I will miss his running, laughing, delightful spirit. And again, I was reminded that the main focus is on Jonathan and what he needs and NOT on making a good impression on others (though the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive and it sure would be nice to make a good impression from time to time...it's about where the emphasis and focus is). My calling is to train up Jonathan in the way that he needs, not to worry about what other people think. I got up from my "rest time" with such a lighter heart!

That afternoon I made some resolutions and here goes:

1. To appreciate my husband

2. To bless my husband with a happy, light heart (as much as possible :>)

3. To create a restful home environment

4. To respect my husband's leadership

5. To support my husband in front of the kids (sadly, I haven't been doing a great job of this)

6. To really, truly ENJOY our boys and this stage of life and not be burdened with "teachable moments" at every turn (though we certainly need to be ready for teachable moments)

7. Appreciate our boys' God given personalities and the uniqueness that they bring

What about you? What are some of your New Year's Resolutions?

December at our house

2011-12-19T22:07:00.001-05:00

This Holiday season has been so super busy. We've had parties (Michael was the guest speaker at one and he did a great job! talked about our identity in Christ as priests), did our annual gingerbread houses, made our annual spiced tea for the staff, and had a service project at our house (Christmas cards/cookies for elderly/shut-ins), etc, etc. We FINALLY got our tree put up, and this was the first year that Jonathan has been able to help decorate. He LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it! I will definitely miss his little-boy-glee when he's bigger...sniff, sniff.

Isn't there something magical about a child in the glow of a Christmas tree? Especially one as cute as Caleb? ;>

We've listened to Christmas music pretty much 24-7 (I often forget to turn off the CD player at night, so I'm greeted with Christmas music when I'm up in the middle of the night feeding a baby or getting a toddler back to sleep), which I LOVE!

Here's Benjamin doing what he does best...Just hanging out!

He was going about 8 hrs at night, but this past week he's woken up 3-4 times a night. Not sure what's going on but we'll get back on track soon, I'm sure (fingers crossed!).

Annual gingerbread houses...

which were unfortunately destroyed by cookie monster!!!

I've tried hard to really focus on what traditions my children will enjoy and not running around doing more than they can handle. It's hard for me to not keep my plate too full (then everyone ends up stressed out and cranky) but I'm working on it! I love this FB post a friend from high school posted...I hope it blesses your heart:

1 CORINTHIANS 13~~CHRISTMAS VERSION~~

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.......

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata, but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can't. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust. But giving the gift of love will endure.
Merry Christmas!

Uncle Shane!!

2011-12-19T21:52:00.001-05:00

My awesome brother had some business near Philly last week, so when he was done he drove the 2+ hours to stay a night with us. We had a blast making cookies, showing off Benjamin, making a gingerbread house and playing at the playground the next day. !

The exposure on my camera was really messed up, so these pictures aren't the greatest...sorry!

I think he likes his Uncle Shane...he gave a smile!

Bright eyed!

Gingerbread house

Caleb was a bit slow to warm up to Uncle Shane, but Shane was rewarded in the end with a big, genuine good-bye hug.

Wish we had more pictures, but I was busy enjoying our time together. Wish we had more time, but we'll take what we can get! Thank you Shane for taking time out of your busy schedule to come see us. We love you, Uncle Shane!!!!!!

Jehova-jireh!!

2011-12-01T13:58:00.000-05:00

I am so excited to tell you about my new ride! Meet 'Brownie' (get it...she's brown?):

Brownie is an AMAZING answer to prayer and proof that God does indeed love to give good gifts to His children!

When we found out we were expecting our third little blessing, we immediately began to think about our vehicle situation. We knew that three in an Explorer would be tight, but we had no idea how tight until we, indeed, had three. We had NO money to put into a van, so our plan was to sell the Explorer and whatever we got out of it was what we were going to put into a van. When we started looking at blue book values and the cost of minivans, we got really discouraged. I didn't know what to do but to lift our need up to the Father. We got Jonathan in on the praying action with us and he started praying, on his own accord, "Dear God. Please bring us a minivan from the sky." Michael and I busted out laughing, because, in reality, it would take just about that to get one.

Well, it turns out that we did get a minivan from the sky! Michael's aunt had quit work to stay home and take care of her mother, so they had an extra minivan sitting around that they didn't need anymore. They almost donated it to a ministry at their church, but just felt that wasn't what they were supposed to do. They kept it, prayed about what to do with it, and thought of us! They called my in-laws to see if we'd even be interested, and their immediate response was, "Um...YES!" So Michael's aunt called us to tell us she wanted to GIVE us their minivan (totally free!), and I almost started crying! We called Jonathan in to tell him that God had given us a van out of the sky and he started jumping up and down. Brownie is valued at twice what we could have afforded! I never, ever thought I'd be this excited about driving a minivan. Getting everyone in and out is SO much easier, and it can fit the bigger, safer car seats that I prefer to use. Michael's aunts and grandmother drove her up to TN and we drove her back to Maryland last week after Thanksgiving. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Three M's! May God bless you ten fold for your incredible generosity!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, here are some fun pictures of our AMAZING time in TN:

Benjamin smiling at Mamaw Greene.

Mimi making Turkeys with the grandkids
Finished product
Mimi and Benjamin
Goin' on a bear hunt!

Aunt Shanna and little Elizabeth

Weenie/Marshmallow roast

Some cute 2 month pictures of Benjamin:

In his little Christmas outfit

Amazing blanket that Mrs. Sally made!!!

All swaddled up

Caleb taking advantage of an empty boppy:

Caleb is getting sweeter and sweeter everyday. I walked in on this precious scene and prayed Caleb wouldn't move until I grabbed my camera! Jonathan will play with Benjamin if someone else is interested in him (ie: Caleb) and Jonathan will pose for pictures, but with Caleb, it's all natural!

After much coaxing and cajoling from Jonathan, we finally got out some Christmas decorations. We made a "Christmas countdown chain" and we count down days until Jesus' birthday. Then, I read this in a magazine, but haven't done it before now. We made a "baby Jesus manger" (a shoebox) that we're filling with "hay" (construction paper) everytime we say or do something kind for someone else.

Jonathan gets REALLY excited about putting in hay, and is quick to recognize when someone else gets to put hay in. The last fun thing I'm doing this year is having our wise man "travel" toward the rest of the nativity throughout the Christmas season. Jonathan loves getting up in the morning and seeing where the wise men are!
After a busy night decorating, Jonathan and I sat down to read 'A Charlie Brown Christmas.'

I hope that you're enjoying this most wonderful time of the year, too!!

Some of my 'Thankful' journal entries:
105 New van!!!!
117 Free cord of wood
129 Fun at bounce house with my next door neighbor on a cold, rainy day
133 Dancing to Christmas music with my honey while cooking dinner :>
137 An hour of free time while Michael took the boys to the Amish market
138 Amish donuts :>

Hiking and 1 Month

2011-11-09T21:17:00.000-05:00

One of the reasons I was MOST excited about moving to Maryland was the closeness of hiking. I've been DYING to go ever since we moved here, so this past weekend, we loaded everyone up (it only took an hour to get off!) and headed out to the Shenandoah Valley, which door to door was 2 hours.

We were about 2 weeks past peak leaf color, so next year we'll have to plan to go a bit earlier, but we still had a smashing time.

It was in the 40s so we all bundled up (thanks Mary Trombley for the one piece baby fleece outfit) but it was TOTALLY worth it!

We purchased a season pass, so we'll DEFINITELY be going again.

On the baby front, Benjamin is doing well. He's 5 weeks old and I just started using some of our cloth diapers. We still use mostly disposables, but this one in particular is super cute. :> Picture taking has slowed down quite a bit, so I don't have a really good "1 Month" picture...I'll have to work on that.

On the Caleb front, he's doing SO much better. Sleeping seems to be better under control which means he's less fussy and eating better. Here are some fun videos:

On the Jonathan front, overall he's doing great! Schooling has REALLY slowed down quite a bit. We mostly read books and focus on a character trait, but last week was the letter 'N' and he got really into making his bird nest:

I've been focusing more on the season of Thanksgiving rather than the letter of the week, and I was so excited about this project.

Can you guess what it is?
It's a "Thankfulness Wreath"! Every night at dinner (or lunch or breakfast or whenever), we all say what we're thankful for then write it down. The idea is to add to it and add to it until it's big and round and full. It fits in perfectly with my personal quest of penning 1,000 things for which I'm thankful.

“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

I'll share with you a few Thanks out of my journal:
51. Hiking in Shenandoah Valley
54. Michael's car getting fixed! (after 2 months of being a 1 car family we now have 2)
57. Hosting some new friends for dinner
62. Making homemade applesauce with Jonathan
...during...
63. Caleb's 3 hour nap!

What are you thankful for today?

Greene's visit

2011-10-28T21:09:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of hosting the Greenes, who came up to see Benjamin. They arrived Thursday afternoon and we basically just hung out and looked at Benjamin all day. Then they watched the older boys while Michael and I went to small group.

Then, on Friday morning we went to the Amish market and had a YUMMY breakfast.

Other yummy treats at the Amish market

After naps, we went to the awesome playground that's two streets over...

Then, Mimi and Jonathan read The Pumpkin Patch Parable and carved a pumpkin!

Good job Mimi and Jonathan!
Everyone went to bed happy!

Mimi and Papa had to leave on Saturday; their visit was too short, but we'll take what we can get! We'll get to see them again at Thanksgiving. 8 hours away seems like nothing compared to the 16 we're used to driving!

Heavy Heart

2011-10-23T21:57:00.001-04:00

I write this post with a very heavy heart. We received a phone call yesterday that the pastor who married Michael and me decided to take his own life. My father-in-law had served with him on staff for 10 years, and he was a close family friend. He had a son Michael's age; they were good friends in high school and served as groomsmen in each other's weddings. The pastor had a beautiful wife, two sons, and two grandchildren. I'm actually taking this a lot harder than seems rational given that I wasn't exceptionally close to the family. Pretty much every time I start thinking about it, I start crying. Post-partum hormones, perhaps?

I'm sure that everyone has the same conflicting emotions: 1) deep sorrow for Kim (the pastor) that he would feel so hopeless as to not be able to go on with life and 2) shock/disbelief but also 3) Anger, confusion, rage that he could abandon his wife in their "golden years" and rob his grandchildren of the opportunity to know him.

My heart aches for his wife, Martha. I absolutely cannot imagine the nightmare she is going through right now. This is something that someone never really ever gets over. "How could this happen? How could this happen? How could this happen?" keeps running through my mind. I woke up this morning hoping this was all a bad dream or a really sick joke. If I'm thinking that, how much more is she thinking that?

I think, too, that the weight of suffering, loneliness, pain, etc that is a part of our life here on earth is hitting me. I'm grieving not just Kim's death and Martha's pain but also pain and suffering in general that is a part of our life on earth as a result of the Fall.

I know that in the end we win, but Satan won a battle with this one. I'm not sure what mix of complicated factors led to Kim's depression, but how awesome would it have been had he overcome his depression and been a living testament to the power of God. Instead, anyone who struggles with hopelessness and hears of this tragedy will wonder what hope there is for them if a God-fearing pastor decided there was no hope. More than anything, this tragedy makes me want to fight back against the powers of darkness and live in the power of God. To be a testament to those struggling with depression and hopelessness that they can overcome with God's grace and power.

I read in a book somewhere that joyfulness begins with thankfulness. I'm not naturally a joyful person, but I want to be. I figure that having a thankful/joyful heart is a good way to combat the darkness of this world. The blog that I love challenged readers to make a list of 1,000 blessings over the course of 1 year. That's about 3 blessings a day. I've been wanting to do it, and now seems like a pretty good time to start. Feel free to keep me accountable!

#1 A husband who loves and would do anything for me and is alive and that I can hug (almost) any time I want

#2 A husband who loves life and cannot fathom wanting it to end prematurely

#3 A husband who loves his boys and was caught playing hangman with Jonathan during rest time today! :>

#4 A really fun afternoon with Caleb, playing chase and riding his tricycle

#5 A breathtaking moment outside today when the fading sunlight hit a golden-leafed tree just so

#6 Our own house after a year and a half of not having one...I still haven't gotten used to it!

#7 Hearing Caleb sing "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeesus, cheeeeeeeeeeeesus, sun down" (Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down) at bed time

#8 Sweet cuddles with Jonathan at bed time

#9 Sweet cuddles with Benjamin ALL the time

What are you thankful for today?

Frugal Findings

2011-10-13T22:53:00.000-04:00

So, I've got to brag on God a little bit. Financially, this is probably the tightest we've ever been...but I haven't really felt the pinch (much ;>). Instead, the last month and a half has been an incredibly exciting journey where God has provided SO much for us. Mostly little things...little details that make life just that much sweeter. I'm reminded over and over again how He delights in blessing us: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him." Matt 7:11

On with the blessings!!

A swing from someone at church that I hadn't even met (but I have now!). Thanks, Heather! (oh, and this is random, but we also got a compost bin for free which I was wanting...you can see it rolled up underneath the swing):

Tons of picture frames from a thrift store down the road for $.10. Jonathan helped me paint the picture frames and switch plate covers with $.40 paint from Michaels. I'm having to do all of our decor SUPER cheap (as in $.10 cheap) but it's been REALLY fun. I kind of get a high when I find cheap stuff at thrift stores and refinish it...lame, I know.

This ADORABLE bookshelf was sitting out on the road for trash pick up. No, we're not dumpster divers, but after we nailed the back on and wiped this puppy up (mostly just to clean off germs, it wasn't dirty) this baby was as good as new...doesn't it just cry out to be put into a baby's room!? Too cute!

Yes, that's right...this is an ERGO BABY CARRIER!!!!! I was SOOOOOOOOOO wanting one and God provided one FREE, yes FREE through a friend that is moving soon (sniff, sniff). Thanks, Kelly!!

Peg Board for $.25 at a garage sale. Jonathan helped me paint it with, again, $.40 paint from Michaels (on sale).

Jonathan fell in LOVE with this mirror from a thrift store down the street. It was an awful brass color, so we painted it with the cheap paint from Michaels (LOVE that stuff!!).

This bookshelf was free on freecycle.

This bookshelf was also free on freecycle.

Free pictures from our neighbor next door:

Free car jack and bench from our mechanic next door to make Michael's job a little easier. :> Our mechanic neighbor has also provided lots of free advice on Michael's (non-working) car.

We've also received another bookshelf from freecycle, two small bookshelves from friends from church, 12 super nice AIO infant cloth diapers on freecycle (!), and several other tiny things that I'll remember as soon as I publish this.

Now, we're just believing God for a mini-van (never thought I'd pray for that one!). All three car seats in my Explorer makes for a SUPER tight, SUPER challenging entry/exit, especially in the rain.

What blessings has God provided you with lately?

Happy Birthday Caleb!

2011-10-10T21:10:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet Caleb. You are full of surprises and delights. I love you!!

Your birthday preparations started yesterday with the making and decorating of cupcakes.

Licking the beaters...your favorite!

Showing Daddy...the cupcakes didn't turn out as well as I wanted and at first I was really disappointed, but as soon as you saw what I had done, you smiled and said, "ELMO!" And all of a sudden, it didn't matter that the icing was lopsided and that the eyes weren't even...you knew it was Elmo and you liked it. Enough said.

(licking icing from the cup). Keeping you away from the "Elmo cake" was VERY difficult!

Then, Bubba worked really hard on decorating your wrapping paper. He was VERY proud of it and couldn't wait for you to get your gifts.

The morning of your birthday we went to a Pumpkin patch with our play group. You loved the hay rideand the animals

and the corn maze

and picking a pumpkin

Then you were really tired, so Bubba pulled you in the wagon.

We went home and you had a nice, long nap. After dinner, we invited our neighbors over and had cake!

Then...PRESENTS!!!

Ooooooohhhhh...light up shoes. Now you don't have to steal Ava's shoes at playgroup!

We didn't get pictures of your Elmo slippers, but you LOVED them and would NOT take them off for bed. You are SOOOOOOOO cute, running around, jumping up and down, all the while looking down at your slippers (you hit the wall a few times). The grin on your face makes EVERYTHING worth it. I love you sweet Caleb!!!!! Happy 2nd birthday!!!

Benjamin Michael Greene

2011-09-30T20:51:00.000-04:00

Baby #3 is here!!! Benjamin Michael Greene was born September 30, 2011. He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 in long.

*Warning* This post contains graphic material on a natural water birth. Read at your own risk. :>

I had an appointment with my midwife Thursday morning, and I asked her to rupture my membranes to perhaps help me go into labor. I was really hoping to have the baby this weekend so that I would have plenty of time to recover while my mom is here to help. Well, apparently, the rupturing worked because about an hour later, at 10 am, I started having contractions. They pretty much lasted all day, they just weren't at all consistent. There would be 2-3 close together and I'd get excited, then they'd dissipate. Or, they'd be consistent for 3 hrs, but 10 min apart. FINALLY, at 11:30 pm, my body decided it was ready to get on with this labor business and I had regular contractions 5 min apart for 1 min and at 12:30 we headed over to the birthing center.

I had tested positive for the group B strep, so we immediately started an IV of antibiotics. I was dilated to a '3' when we started the IV at about 1 am. It took about 45 min to get all of the antibiotics into my system. All the while I was getting the antibiotics, I was able to move around, get on all fours, do some yoga to help relieve pain, etc. It was absolutely fabulous. At the end of the 45 min, I was dilated to a '4'.

So at about 2 am, they filled up the Jacuzzi tub and I got in. Immediately, my contractions lessened and the water felt phenomenal. Over the next two hours, the midwives came in every 30 min or so to check on me and listen to the baby's heart rate, etc. At one point around 3, I decided I'd like to try laboring in the bed some more. I got out and immediately had an excruciating contraction...no amount of yoga made it any more comfortable so I got right back in the tub and immediately felt so much better. So, my answer would be, "YES!" water definitely helps ease labor pains. The tub felt great, but let's admit it...an epidural feels even better. :> While the water helped ease the contractions, they were still contractions, and I just kept thinking, "If I was at a hospital right now, I could get an epidural." I decided I wanted the midwives to check me at about 4 am to see how labor was progressing. I was hoping to be at least a '6.' I had decided that if I was only a '5' I would seriously think about going to the hospital and get an epidural. Well...the midwife checked me and I was fully dilated to a '10' with a "bulging bag" and ready to push!!! I absolutely couldn't believe it. Michael couldn't believe it either, because I pretty much hadn't made any noise the whole time. I pushed for about 15 min, during which time I must admit, I made quite a bit of noise ;>, but then Benjamin came out. I birthed him in the water, and that felt really great, too. I did tear, which was a bit disappointing, but I tore with our first two, so it wasn't a huge surprise.

At about 5:30 am the nurses/midwives were done cleaning up Benjamin and me, had sewn me up, and pretty much left us alone. Michael and I cuddled up with Benjamin right there in the queen size bed and slept for several hours. Benjamin and I were chest to chest and I LOVED being able to have his little body up against mine and also having Michael be there right with us. In the hospital, they would NEVER let you lie with your baby and there's obviously not room for the father. :> The nurses came in 2-3 times to check BP and temps but other than that they were very non-invasive. At about 10:30 or so, Michael and I decided we were ready to come home.

Here is Benjamin all bundled up. His arms and feet were sticking straight out which I thought was hilarious.

My mom holding Benjamin for the first time.

Jonathan was absolutely ecstatic to see Benjamin.

After some time, he and Michael went to the store to get blue balloons and some flowers and Michael wrote down on the card what Jonathan said, "I love his name. I love that he's zero...actually, I love everything about him!" Caleb took a little bit more time to warm up to Benjamin, just kind of looking on from a distance at first.
Later this evening, though, I guess he decided he liked Benjamin because he started taking Benjamin out of my hands saying, "hol bebee, hol bebee (hold baby)". Caleb was touching all parts of Benjamin and carefully explaining to me where Benjamin's hands, feet, legs, hat, etc were. It was very informative!

All night, the boys were crawling all over the bed, playing with Benjamin, wanting to kiss and hold him, etc. You can tell from this picture that our hands are full!! Our hearts are full, though, too, and we are so thankful for our three little blessings.
Anyway, while having such a quick birth was fabulous for me, the complicated part is that the antibiotic didn't have time to get into my system and protect Benjamin (it's supposed to be administered 4 hrs. before passing the baby through the birth canal...I only lasted 2 1/2). Apparently, group B strep is harmless in adults but can be fatal in infants. Our pediatrician (whom I love, btw) informed us that an infant can look/act perfect but go downhill and die very quickly with group B strep. SO, the pediatrician sent us, completely freaked out, to the hospital to get some blood work done. His white blood cell count (indicating an infection) is higher than they would like to see but not high enough to admit him to the NICU. Basically, we're watching him VERY closely over the next week (monitoring temp, color, breathing, eating, etc) and getting blood work done Sat and Mon to monitor his blood cell count among a few other things. It's a bit scary, but we're doing all we can and trusting God to take care of the rest.

So, that's our birth story for baby #3! The birthing center was just how I envisioned it would be and overall I'm really glad I chose to deliver there. Taking care of this Group B strep is definitely more challenging but I do love being home so soon after delivery. I have way more energy than I did with either of our first two, and overall I just feel great. So, if you're at all considering a birthing center, my recommendation would be to definitely go for it!!! Thanks for reading!!!

"Homeschooling" Part 2

2011-09-27T22:04:00.001-04:00

So, this week has gone MUCH better than the last week. I've been so convicted that I need to enjoy my boys more and have fun with them, so I decided that would be the focus this week. The abcjesuslovesme curriculum includes songs and games, but for some reason, I just haven't been doing them. I'm not really a super fun person (most Type-A's aren't ;>) so I tend to focus more on worksheets, etc.

Caleb REALLY responds well to music, and he totally got into singing the B-I-B-L-E this morning. He would throw his hands up in the air and say something that sounded like, "BIBLE!". SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute.
We're studying "attentiveness" this week and are reading about King Josiah. They found a scroll hidden in the wall and read God's law to the Israelites, who listened "attentively". :> I decided that for craft time, we'd make scrolls and HOLY COW! Did not realize what a hit it would be. I hadn't planned on this, but Jonathan wanted to hide the scroll in the "wall" (bookshelf) and find it and then read it like King Josiah did. We read the verse of the week, Prov 19:20 (listen to advice and in the end, you will be wise) over and over again. Maybe it'll stick...who knows!

We're also studying spatial concepts (up, down, in between, on top of) so we described where the scroll was hidden using spatial clues. Jonathan and I took turns hiding and describing, so he got to work on that as well.

I put Caleb in room time again today and he did SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better. He still cried a little bit, but he settled down MUCH faster and I was able to get 15 min out of him. Jonathan worked on his pumpkin craft (compliments of Mimi) so I got 15 min of freedom to clean! WAHOO!!

I've also been a lot more deliberate about thinking of what Caleb would like. I spent some time this morning helping him put his pennies back into his 'money jar' (which worked really well on his fine motor skills) and he seemed a lot less frustrated than before. Then, I let him sit on the edge of the sink (back towards the long part of the counter so it was safe :>) and play in the running water for 30 min.

I have no idea what that did to our water bill (hope Michael doesn't read this post ;>) but I was able to cook double batches of 3 meals and freeze them, so it was totally worth it.

Maybe God is giving me a really great, easy, enjoyable week before the baby comes. Hopefully, this greatness keeps up.

Michael's birthday was today (Jonathan made him a super cute card yesterday but I couldn't find my camera so no pics) and since my mom got in today, Michael and I got to go out. We went to Cheesecake factory and got an entree, two drinks, and dessert for under $30. Wahoo!! We had a blast and really enjoyed what was probably our last date night for awhile.

I'm now officially 39 weeks pregnant and a day farther along than when I delivered Caleb. This is the only prego picture I have. I realized I didn't have any the other night and had Michael take this one mostly for the baby book (poor third child). Since my mom got here today, baby can come anytime he/she wants!! It's already been wonderful having a bit of extra help--I got to lay in bed 30 extra minutes during rest time today while she played with the boys, then she cleaned up the kitchen after my marathon-cooking endeavors these past few days. Thanks, MOM!!!!

"Homeschooling" Part 1

2011-09-15T15:27:00.000-04:00

After a lot of prayer and consideration, we decided that because of all of the changes our family has been through this past year (5 addresses within 16 mos) the best thing for our family this year would be for me to "homeschool" Jonathan. I put "homeschool" in quotation marks because I'm using that term very loosely. Even though he's probably ready for kindergarten curriculum (he can write all his letters, is spelling out small words, etc) we decided to stay with the pre-school curriculum and just go over everything again this year.

We're using abcjesuslovesme curriculum and LOVE it!!! Each week, we focus on a different character trait. So far, we've done obedience, patience, and this week is giving.

Because Jonathan has always done really well academically, I'm trying to make character development the main focus this year. The picture says "I Will Obey" and we glued O's on it.

We read the Jesus Story Book Bible and the Beginner's Bible during breakfast, then clean up, say our memory verses (he earns gum for saying them so he's super motivated--he'll ask me during the day if he can ay a Bible verse and earn gum...I always say yes!) and do chores. We use the Managers of Their Chores products and LOVE it!! He clips a pack with little pictures in it and so he can move from one chore to the other without me having to prompt him on what to do. It's what the Duggars use and recommend, so I figured if it was good enough for the Duggars, it's good enough for us!!!

We do a different letter every week, and abcjesuslovesme is kind of weird because it divides the letters up according to straight line letters (T, H, L, I, E etc), slanted letters (X, V, W, Y, M, N), etc., so we don't go in order of the alphabet. We've done all the straight line letters and are working on the slanted letters now. Each week, we read Jane Moncure's My "letter" book. We kind of piggy back everything off of these books--crafts, activities, other books, etc. I actually found these books at the library, so PRAISE GOD!! We didn't have to spend the money buying them! Here are some letter activities that have gone along with our letter books:

Lion Snack (bread cut with cookie cutter, peanut butter, carrot sticks, raisins)

My little lions! They REALLY got into this project because it included glue.

Letter 'H' pancakes the next week.

We haven't decided what we're going to do next year--homeschool vs. public school-so we honestly don't want Jonathan to get too far ahead. If we do send him to public school next year then we don't want him to be really bored. And, honestly, just going with preschool curriculum has taken a lot of pressure/weight off of me because like I said, he could probably go to kindergarten today and be fine. I'm really just trying to make this year fun and fill time and develop fine motor skills (and focus on character growth).

This week is the letter 'X', and we're doing an "intensive" study on the xylophone. I bought one at a garage sale for $1 and it has been a HIT! We looked on youtube for clips of xylophones, then I brought out the xylophone that I bought. We've decided to do a concert for Daddy on Friday, so Jonathan has been diligently practicing his songs (mostly during room time when I'm trying to nap :>).

I made up this "music sheet" so he can practice on his own without my prompting. The colors on the chart coordinate to the colors on the xylophone so he knows how many times to tap the colored bar, too.
Another fun activity was taking a white piece of paper and drawing white x's on it (with a crayon). Then you paint over it and the x's appear! It showed up better in real life, the picture isn't as good, but Jonathan loved it.
So, overall, I really enjoy homeschooling. It's just A LOT of work!! I put in about 5-10 hrs a week PREPARING, plus the actual time spent doing the work with him. I've found that I can't really leave him alone to do his "actual work" (as opposed to craft time)...I've got to read directions to him, make sure he's forming his letters correctly, etc, etc. Jonathan is doing great, though, and loves worksheets (he's so my son) and never complains about doing work. He calls me "teacher" and we pretend there are other boys and girls in the class.

The biggest obstacle to homeschooling has actually been this little guy:
We've had a really rough time of it, and honestly, the last couple of days have been worse. I'm not really sure what to do with him while Jonathan and I are working. Most of my friends who homeschool say their little ones color while the older ones work on handwriting, the little ones will play with beads or stack blocks while the older ones work on math, etc, etc. Well, Caleb does none of that. The few pictures I've managed to snap were a couple of weeks ago, and they were of the 2 min that Caleb lasted doing what we were doing. He doesn't color, he doesn't paint, he doesn't draw on paper, he doesn't stack blocks, he doesn't sit and look at books (at least not when I need him to). This week I've kind of been at my wit's end. I've started putting him in "room time" which I did with Jonathan, but even that hasn't worked too well. Caleb screamed bloody murder today the whole time, so it still made it difficult to do work with Jonathan. When I did finally get Caleb out, his whole face was red and puffy and snotty and his eyes were red and puffy from crying. I partly felt bad and partly was too frustrated to care (just keepin' it real!). So, please pray for the Caleb situation that I would have wisdom in how to handle him and patience for when he cries for hours on end. After awhile, Jonathan started walking around with his hands over his ears, which was partly humorous if hadn't been so sad/frustrating. It'll all work out, though, I know, and I'm trying to tweak the schedule and get things a little bit more under control before baby #3 (still no name!) comes.

Some of the problem this morning, looking back on it, might have been that he was just hungry. It might be the Maryland air, but they have been eating us out of house and home! They ask for food every 1 or 2 hours. I've been trying to do a better job of making whole-grain, protein-rich filling meals that will keep them full longer, and for the most part, I'm trying to stick to pretty tight meal and snack times. I'm trying to train their little tummies to eat every 3 hrs rather than snack every 1-2 hrs. Also, we've gotten into a BAD habit of giving the boys not-so-nutritous food, so I'm pretty staunchly digging in my heals and only offering certain foods. During snack time, Caleb kept refusing the options I was giving him, leading to further crying, but eventually he ate it. So, hopefully tomorrow will be better. I've gotten a lot of ideas from my favorite blog Passionate Homemaking. I've been trying to use whole grains and soak them overnight, but there's a lot to keep up with right now! I try to give myself lots and lots of grace and only do what I can do but that's hard for a super Type-A personality with high expectations (which I'm trying to lower, but I really want to try to keep up with healthy food to keep the boys healthy so that they will feel better/act better, etc, etc).

ANYWAY, on a personal level, God is blessing me with some great friends. One of the staff's wife, Ann (farthest on the left), has been AMAZING in befriending me, having us over, inviting me to a play group, etc.

Fun picture of the kids watching "Fireman Dan". Now whenever we hear a firetruck in the distance Jonathan says, "It's Fireman Dan!" :>
Jonathan is doing great and we've managed to meet a TON of kids his age. He has lots of friends that "join" us throughout the day as we do school. :>

Riva Church continues to be an amazing blessing. Michael is finishing up two weeks of work tomorrow and LOVING it. He's added a lot of creative elements (videos, skits, stage layout, backdrop ideas, sensory elements, etc) in addition to planning and leading the worship service. We've had an older (grandmotherly) type of lady offer to watch the boys if I go into labor before my mom comes. We went over to her house last week to get the boys acquainted with her and she has TONS of great toys and an unfinished basement where the boys can ride scooters, tricycles, etc. Another lady who homeschools is going to come over tomorrow with her girls and watch the boys while I run some errands then try to get our filing cabinet in order (yuck!). What a blessing!
Materially, God is blessing us a ton, too. We've gotten really into freecycle.org and have scored 3 bookshelves, an awesome baby bookshelf type thing that's in GREAT shape, some newborn cloth diapers, some preschool computer games (it was $70 on my Amazon wish list that I can now spend on something different) and some random magazines (I'm a magazine junky). Yeah, God!

Sorry this post is so long. I'll try to post more sooner but time is just flying by! The next post, honestly, will probably be of the baby officially due in 2 weeks! Till then, cheers!

We're moving to...Maryland??!!

2011-08-06T22:57:00.000-04:00

Sooooo, we're moving to Maryland. In a week and two days. It's been both fast and slow, a very up and down process...

We started talking to the church back in May. Michael was in the process of sending out his 102 resumes when he told me about the church in Maryland. "Sure, send your resume," I encouraged him, all the while thinking, "That is the LAST church that will call us. It's too far...they'll try to get someone closer who will be cheaper to look at and move." So time went on and we didn't hear anything and we both kind of forgot about the church in Maryland.

Now, I have to confess to you that this weird transition phase has not been a time of amazing spiritual growth and refreshment. The first two months were, but then...time went on...and on...and on...and on...and I started getting really apathetic, bored, complacent, discouraged, etc, etc. (Before you judge picture yourself pregnant with two super active boys living for 6 months with YOUR parents!! :>). Quiet times became less frequent, Bible reading lessened, days ran together...you get the picture.

In the middle of this muck, I found myself alone one night. In a house of 5 adults and 2 children, that's a rarity. I was super excited about a pedicure/movie/pamper night (after all I'd been through, I deserved it!) when, as I was getting ready to pamper, I was overcome with a desire to read the Word. It hadn't happened before and it hasn't happened since (though I have been doing better in that area) and I literally could do nothing except go and get my Bible.

When I opened it, two verses on note cards that I had written during a Bible study in Ruston fell out "at" me. The first was Joshua 3:5 "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you" and the second was Romans 4:23-24 "The words 'it was credited to [Abraham] as righteousness' were not written for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness-for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

The first verse almost made my heart stop because I felt so strongly God saying, "I have not forgotten about you, you have not screwed up too badly for me to use you, I DO still have amazing plans for you, and I want to do amazing things through you." The second meant that my believing that God would still use me would be credited to me as righteousness. I also noted the command to "consecrate" myself because if God was to use me fully I would have to get on the ball a bit with my Bible reading/prayer time and stop mucking about with my free time. I didn't take the part about "tomorrow" literally, I just figured that it meant in the (hopefully!) near future. Little did I know that God would fulfill that verse literally for me...

The next, VERY next day, is when the church in Maryland called Michael and said they were interested in talking with him further. I am NOT one of those people who doo doo doo doo (cue Twilight music) see God's hand in every single, itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiny coincidence. I do, however, believe that night and those verses were straight from God as a promise and assurance of what was to come. I think I believed deep down from the beginning that Maryland was going to work out but I was afraid to step out and boldly proclaim it because I've seen so many people boldly step out and proclaim things they KNOW, just KNOW are straight from God that turn out not to be. They, I am sure, were just as convinced as I was about Maryland, yet they turned out wrong. That's another post for another time, though.:>

Like I said earlier, the whole process was very up and down. We would go a long time without hearing from the church, then we'd hear from them, then it looked like they weren't interested, then they invited us up to lead a service, etc, etc, then they finally offered the job, THEN we finally accepted and made it official. The whole process has been VERY faith building for me because everything I felt lead to pray for came to fruition.

We don't know how long we'll be there, but we're going with the mindset of not looking back. The church has been incredibly welcoming and we've had NUMEROUS people offer to help us clean the house before we get there (WOW), help us unload/unpack, watch the boys for us, offer us any baby things that we need, etc, etc. I just had a girl e-mail me a list of OBGYNs/Pediatricians in the area. Super helpful.

We learned a LOT from our time in Ruston. I think that no experience is a wasted experience if you can learn something from it and take it with you into the next stage. We both made mistakes in Ruston, and Michael and I have had several really, really good talks about what we're going to do differently in Maryland. We're nervous, but also really excited about this next phase of life and what it will bring. Life is an adventure, so we are committed to embracing it for whatever and however long Maryland brings it!

Some fun Maryland facts:
Total area 12,407 sq mi
Total population 5,773,552 (2010)
Sits on the Chesapeake Bay and boasts numerous beaches on the East
Includes part of the Appalachian Mountains (and skiing!) on the West
The capital, Annapolis, was actually the temporary capital of the United States from 1783-1784

The church is located in Davidsonville, about 10 or 15 minutes from Annapolis, the state's capital (located in Anne Arundel county...it's the yellow county in the middle-ish of the above map). We'll be living in Edgewater, a beach community, which is in between Davidsonville and Annapolis. God has graciously provided us with a house 3.2 miles from the church!

We'll be about a 40 min drive from Washington D.C., a 30 min drive from Baltimore and a 2 hr drive from all kinds of other great cities. We are opening our home to visitors SO COME ON!!!!!!!!! :>:>

Most Days...

2011-04-21T16:17:00.001-04:00

Involve dancing...

Licking, er...feeding Natty...

painting...

and lots of silliness...

Most afternoons we have Popsicles...

play in Puddin's garden...

wash off in the water...

then play some Mozart...

In the evenings after bath, we sit around laughing at this...

And there you have it...our day in a nutshell!!

Baby #3

2011-04-21T16:03:00.001-04:00

Wow--this post is only a month late. ANYWAY, we are pleased to announce that Greene Baby #3 is on its (shall I in faith say "her"?) way! I'm officially due on October 4th, but both of the boys came early. Here's hoping for a baby on Michael's birthday, September 27th.

Though this baby was a big, fat surprise to us, she was no surprise to God. This isn't exactly the timing we would have chosen, but for some reason, it's the timing that God has chosen.

We're already seeing some of the blessings of being pregnant now; namely, I've had a ridiculous amount of help both at my in-laws' and now at my parents' house. Ive hardly had to cook at all, which is a huge struggle for me during first trimesters, so not having to gag at raw meat has been a tremendous blessing.

Also, my energy level has been really, really low which is a problem with two super active boys. Having Michael and, again, my parents around has been great. We're pretty sure this is our last biological child (we're really open to the idea of foster/adoption) so I'm trying to enjoy (:/) this as much as possible.

It has been fun to see how Jonathan's concept of a baby in my tummy has evolved from when I was pregnant with Caleb. Jonathan is really protective of my tummy and says all the time, "Can I (do whatever)...I promise I won't hurt the baby!" He loves to kiss it and talk to it and whenever anyone asks if he wants a brother or a sister he adamantly says, "A sister." (with NO prompting from me--I promise!).

That's it for now--we'll keep ya updated!
We'll keep ya updated!

Jonathan Turns Four!!

2011-03-24T10:13:00.000-04:00

Can I just say that four is awesome! Someone once told me (when Jonathan turned three) that three was worse than two and I thought, "Lord help us, one of us is not going to survive." BUT, three was indeed better than two and now, four is much, much sweeter than three. I think four is the perfect blend of sweet, cuddly, kissy little boy and independent, controlled, responsible big boy. If I could just freeze time right here I would. Loving. it.

Jonathan had been looking forward to his birthday for about a month. We looked at our little calender that we have (Buzz Lightyear), counted days, etc and finally, the big day arrived! Jonathan bounced out of bed that morning and asked excitedly, "Did I grow? Am I bigger than a three year old?" I measured him up against my waist and dutifully replied, "Oh, Jonathan. I think so! I think you DID grow last night. You're BIGGER than a three year old!" All day he long, he was in a fantastic mood and did GREAT at the party. And, he's been trying more/doing more because "now that [he's] four, he can do anything."

Jonathan has been really into dragons lately, so I looked online for a dragon cake and found one that I thought not even I could screw up. ;>

Jonathan was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute while we were decorating and kept saying, "This is the coolest cake EVER!" and "WOW! I LOVE my cake!" and "Thank you SOOOOOOO much mommy and Puddin' for my cake!" ;> Again, he's enthusiastic about EVERYTHING!

We are soooooooooooo thankful to be near such supportive family during our funky transition. Both sets of my grandparents were able to come, my aunt and uncle, and my brother made it over to my parents' house. I was really nervous about the party because Jonathan wouldn't have any "friends" there and he had so many last year at his party. I needn't have worried; he had more than a blast and that's all I care about. Here are some fun pictures of the day:

Pinata: Uncle Shane had to come and help knock it off, but Jonathan claimed the victory in the end.

Our little Viking.

Favorite picture, hands down of the whole day:

Uncle Shane's Dragon pajamas. Jonathan has not taken them off, wears them to bed, to work in the garden, to ride bikes, etc and insists on being called 'Toothless'. Can I just say again how much I love this magical world we've entered?

Cape waving in the breeze,
Grinning wildly with twinkling eyes
you turn your cherub face back to me,
throw your head back and laugh as
your little legs peddle faster and faster.

Pure, ecstatic, untroubled joy,
oblivious to our burdens.
Time, stop! Little boy, slow down!
Why must you peddle faster and faster
into life, so eager to grow up?
You promised that when you were a
"big, big boy" and "all grown up"
you'd still give me kisses and cuddles.
I'll hold you to it.

I love you Jonathan!

2011-02-28T08:26:00.000-05:00

Well, after 5 weeks (time has FLOWN by) it's time to say goodbye to the Greenes and head to Houston. We're going to stop in at New Orleans seminary on the way over and check it out. They have an MDiv in Ministry Leadership that Michael is interested in. We're so thankful to the Greenes for housing us and hardly even letting us pay for food! They've been WONDERFUL and haven't complained about the mess or noise! This past week has been really fun, with the boys doing their best yet together (as I write this, though, this morning has been awful so I guess it is a back and forth thing). Here are some fun videos of the two.

Caleb learns to roll cars:

Trying so hard to play with Bubba, but can't quite get the little cars yet (notice he regresses to throwing them at the end ;>):

Throwing acorns off the back porch (those with girls may not quite grasp the delight this provides for boys ;>):

Two pictures for ya:

Jonathan made this fruit tray all by himself (he was VERY proud of himself and kept asking me if it was "cool")!)

Caleb just chillin

Fun updates:
Caleb is 16 months old and busy, busy, busy!!!!!!! He is RUNNING now (oh dear) and into everything. He loves to give kisses especially "fish face" ones, laughs a TON, throws everything (food, bubba's toys-you name it!), and can say 'ca-ah' (car), 'ha' (hot), 'bye-bye' (although he only said it once--I HEARD it!)

Jonathan is just as energetic as EVER! We try to send him outside to play as much as possible and that usually "helps" ;>. His sweet side is coming out more and more and it's SO fun to see. He is voluntarily sharing with Caleb (LOVE seeing that!), is able to understand letting Caleb play with a toy that he wants, and seems to be more patient with Caleb when Caleb is really slow rolling a ball or something. His new favorite is saying "You know what I'm going to share, mom? A hug and a kiss!" LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that one!! ;> If I'll ask him to do something he'll WINK at me and give me the thumbs up sign--no idea where he learned it but super funny!

We're really enjoying this phase with both of the boys--it's been a good month and we're looking forward to another good month in Houston.

Creation Museum

2011-02-22T13:47:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday we packed up and headed out for a three day, two-night stay in Cincinnati, Ohio. We passed through Kentucky and Indiana during our travels(never been there, so added 3 more states to my list). Friday we went to the Creation Museum-a GREAT museum with science to back up the claims of Genesis. There's a lot of reading, though, so I'd recommend going when your kids are a little older. ;> We had a good time, and we're glad we went, but we'd like to go back when our boys can actually understand what everything is about.

Going through the self guided tour:

It's set up really well for kids who are in the 7-8-9 age range

Garden of Eden

Jonathan's absolute favorite part was the petting zoo:

The camel was really fun!

Caleb got in on the action

Precious smile

Wonder and awe

Doing what he does best: RUNNING!

Totally sacked after a loooooooooong day

We had a great time and now are preparing for our next trip: road tripping it 12 hours to New Orleans Seminary for a preview. WAHOO!!!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T11:02:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of hard things about Jonathan's personality, but one really fun thing about his personality is how exited he gets over...everything! Our Valentine's Day preparations started the day after we got to TN, back in January. We went to Hobby Lobby (I had missed it so much) and bought everything we needed to make Valentine decorations and cards. We talked about love and what it means, how Jesus loves us and because of that we want to show love to other people. Almost everday since then we have been working on Valentines--we mailed some to Puddin and Pappy and Shar-Shar, some missionary friends we support (that was Jonathan's idea), we made some for his teachers at church, we made some decorations to hang on windows and, of course, we made some for Mimi and Papa.

Here is Jonathan hard at work:

Here are some of the decorations that were hung all over Mimi's windows (she's been a great sport and actually asked me to leave them up even though Vday is now over):

Here are the final products of Mimi and Papa's cards (I wanted to get a picture of Jonathan with Mimi and Papa holding their cards but I didn't Vday and then it's hard to get everyone together at the same time and remember to take the picture! I may replace these later...):

We have a little Buzz Lightyear calender that we look at everyday to practice dates, days of the week, and weather (he draws a picture of the weather on the calender space). We had been using it to count down until Valentine's Day. I wasn't sure if Jonathan would remember or not, but sure enough, Monday morning he popped out of bed and exclaimed, "It's Valentine's Day!" So he and I went upstairs to make pancakes. I had decided that we'd do red pancakes, but we were out of red food coloring! Undaunted, he happily decided upon blue. I think I was more sad than he was. It turned out that everyone else in the house was sick, so they stayed in bed until almost lunch time (I think I gave them what I had the week before--sorry!).

The day ended REALLY great, though, with Mimi making a YUMMY V-day dinner and Papa getting some beautiful flowers and YUMMY cheesecake.

Now it's time to start working on St. Patrick's Day cards!

Time of Transition in a "Spacious Place"

2011-01-31T13:53:00.000-05:00

If you haven't heard our news yet, we are no longer in Ruston, Louisiana. It's a long, complicated story that is not the main point of this post. Suffice it to say that what happened in Ruston resulted in a complicated (my new favorite word) mix of my feeling confused, angry, hurt, betrayed, and oddly enough, relieved. I don't think that Ruston was a good fit for our family, but I hate how things played out and I hate that from the initial phone call to us heading out of town was 1 1/2 weeks. After things went down, both Michael and I immediately knew that God wanted us to park it in TN with Michael's parents to rest, heal, relax, recuperate, etc. God is doing amazing things in mine and Michael's life, and I truly believe that this is a turning point for him, me, our marriage and our family. Overall, my main feelings are of excitement and anticipation for what God is going to do next. I'd be lying if I said that waves of anger, hurt and bitterness don't wash over me at random times, though; this morning was one of those times. I was reading the corresponding Psalm to the day of the month, and I stumbled upon Ps 31:8 "You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place." God WHAM! spoke to me that Him getting us out of Ruston was a gracious act, not an act of punishment for the small part that we played (Michael and I both handled certain things incorrectly while we were there). The Hebrew word for 'spacious place' is מֶרְחָב merchab pronounced mer·khäv' which connotes a delivering from distress. God has indeed set us in a spacious place and we are resting in Him. Here are some pictures of our "Spacious Place." There's something about snow jackets that can make anyone look cool. Seriously, when I look at pictures of my friends skiing/snowshoeing/hiking in snow they ALWAYS look cool! First time sledding: Big fluffy marshmallow baby! See what I mean! Doesn't he just look cool?

New Layout

2011-01-26T16:28:00.000-05:00

For awhile now, I've been wanting to get a blog that is more family-oriented, not just all about Jonathan. So, I'm kind of experimenting with names/designs, etc. Bear with me as I'm figuring this all out!

Starving Children in Africa, Operation Christmas Child, and The Case of the missing child

2010-11-09T12:32:00.001-05:00

This morning when it was time to go to school, I couldn't find Jonathan. I went around the house and yard hollering, got in the car and honked the horn (thinking he was playing hide n' go seek). Nothing. Realization dawned and I thought, "I wonder..." and drove out of the neighborhood. SURE ENOUGH I spotted the little devil!! There he was with his little back pack, peddling his heart out on his little tricycle halfway out of our neighborhood. After a traumatic re-entry into the car, I think I finally made an impression on him that he doesn't leave the yard without Mommy's permission (it was difficult to stand my ground with the big teary eyed, "But Mom--I was going to skooooool.") That kid--no wonder I have so many grays!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, 3 is really a fun age because he's becoming so much more aware of other people and their needs. I decided we were going to do Operation Christmas Child this year, and Jonathan was going to help me pick out stuff for a 2-4 yr old boy. Attempting to make children on the other side of the world come alive for him, I decided to talk about other children who don't have any food and we need to help them, blah, blah so we pulled up pictures on the Internet. Wow. There are some really gruesome pictures of starving children. I'm not so sure this was as stellar of an idea as I thought it was because Jonathan started crying and said, "I don't want to go see the starving children. Turn it off, mom. Turn it off! They're yucky!" A week later, he still mentions the starving children in some capacity every day.

I wonder how many of us are like my 3 yr old. Starving children are yucky and we just want to turn it off. We don't want to think about it anymore. We do nothing and blame God for not helping them.

I want to live differently. My husband and I are in a position where we need to find new housing. A lower monthly payment is foremost in our consideration because we want to have money to be able to live radically different (plug for David Platt's book radical!!!).

We had a blast filling up the shoebox for the little boy in Africa (we don't really know where it's going--I just kept saying that to make it more real to him). On the way to the Dollar Store Jonathan and I had a talk that we weren't buying anything for Jonathan today, only for the little boy in Africa. Jonathan did great. Not once did he ask for anything for himself--he kept saying things like, "I think he needs some gum. How about all these cars? He's going to love this. We're doing a WONDERFUL job (gotta love a 3 yr olds' confidence)." He was very concerned about the mailman getting the box and did NOT stop talking about it all weekend until we dropped it off at church on Sunday.

As the Thanksgiving season is upon us, can you do or give someone something to show God how thankful you are for the richness that he's blessed you with?

Pumpkin patch and Halloween Gingerbread house

2010-10-22T22:01:00.000-04:00

I had coffee last Thursday (my free day when the boys are at school...YEAH!!) with our sweet, sweet pastor's wife (LOVE her!) and she gave me this halloween gingerbread house. It was from last year, so the icing that came with the kit was as hard as a rock. I tried to heat it up to no avail. Jonathan was begging me to do the kit, I had put him off long enough (he played by himself VERY well while I made dinner) and so it was one of those things that I just dug in and did--we looked up how to make homeade icing on the internet and luckily I found one for which I had all the ingredients. So, we made homeade icing, put the gingerbread together (much to Jonathan's joy it stuck...I had prepped him over and over that it might not work) and went to work decorating it. You can see how excited Jonathan was...

The finished product. When we finished and I saw the joy on Jonathan's face, I was so, so, so glad I dedicated 30 minutes to this project. Even though I was so not in the mood to do it, Jonathan had the time of his life and has only brought it up about 20 times a day the last two days. :>

If you know me at all, you know I am all about creating memorable family traditions...what more basic one is there than a pumpkin patch?? Michael humored me this morning and we all rushed out the door at 9:30am to be at the pumpkin patch as close to 10am, when it opened, as we possibly could. On our way I looked at my notes and realized...WHOOPS!...it opened at 1pm on Fridays, 10am on SATURDAYS. Shoot. So, we detoured and spent a few hours in Monroe. My sweet husband didn't even say a word about it. 12:30 rolled around and off we went to a wonderful, kid-again-experience at the pumpkin patch:

Driving a bus in front of the corn maze (me:"Jonathan, do you want to go drive the bus?" Jonathan: "SUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!")

Caleb had the best seat in the house

The goats utterly fascinated Caleb

Digging in the "corn pit"

A new friend

My favorite thing: a train ride!!!

King of the world!

I can't believe we didn't get pictures of us choosing our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch...we're going to carve them and enter them in a contest next weekend at the library...more pictures to follow!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

2010-10-20T13:00:00.001-04:00

We love you, sweet boy!!

Birthday boy with dump truck cake

With Mommy

Puddin, Pappy and Shar-Shar came, too!

Yummy!!

New outfit from Mommy and Daddy

New phone toy from Mimi and Papa John

Activity walker from Mommy and Daddy (Bubba helped put it together)

Opening present from Puddin and Pappy

Rocking horse from Puddin and Pappy

We are so thankful to have you in our lives. Your sweet spirit blesses everyone who comes around you. We look forward to seeing you grow and become the person God created you to be. We love you!

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T08:37:00.000-04:00

My Mother's Day could not have been any better this year. Jonathan was at his best all morning, we went to my parents' for lunch/afternoon, came home and did things around the house...all in all a truly excellent day...exceeeeeeept for one tiny incident...

We have turned the lock around on Jonathan's door to face outward so that we can lock him in on the occasional time that he desperately needs a nap but won't stay in his room. Well, Sunday morning, Jonathan, Caleb and I are all in Jonathan's room getting Caleb dressed, changed, etc, when...click...Jonathan locks the door and shuts it, effectively locking us all in. Michael has left for church and won't be back for another 3 hours, I have no phone and we're on the second story. I also have no food for Caleb; I'm nursing, but I had just pumped and he needs more than breast milk to sustain him now anyway. After spanking Jonathan and speaking to him very firmly about not locking the door, I look out the window and am thinking, "Okay, if I hit the ground rolling, maybe I won't break anything...no, no, can't take the risk. Hmmm...I wonder if that crepe myrtle would break my fall enough...no, not strong enough...hmmm...maybe I can hold onto the ledge like in the movies and work my way towards the roof which hangs lower on the other section of the house...hmmm, no that's too risky, too. After all, I need to be alive for my boys." We are, thoroughly and helplessly, stuck. I think that's the point I started yelling at Jonathan. Not my shining moment, I admit, but we worked through it later.

So, I did what any desperate mom would do...I hung out the window and started yelling for help. For the next 20 minutes (it felt like an ETERNITY!!) I alternated between crying, yelling at Jonathan (again, not my shining moment), praying with Jonathan and asking God for help, and yelling out the window. FINALLY, miraculously, a woman three streets over came out into her backyard and I started frantically waving my arms shouting, "Help! Help! We're locked in!" She hollers, "What's your address?" I holler, "7704 Hidden Oaks!"

Jonathan heard this exchange and started crying and hugged me and asked, "That lady will help us?" I said, "Yes! Jonathan, God is sending us someone to help us!" So, we cried and hugged each other until the lady got there. Our front door was locked, so again, I hung out the window and told her where the spare key was (didn't know this lady from Adam and she could have robbed us blind) and she came into the house and I yelled, "We're up here! We're locked in!" So she came upstairs and unlocked the door. I hugged her and was blubbering all over myself trying to explain how that happened and why the lock was turned out and I kept saying, "Thank you, thank you, God bless you, thank you, thank you."

After it was all over and done, Jonathan and I went over the fruit of the spirit and how Mommy didn't have self-control and that Mommy was so sorry for yelling at him, and we held hands while Mommy prayed for forgiveness. Jonathan said that he was sorry for yelling at Mommy, too, and that he wouldn't lock the door anymore. Hopefully, it made an impression on him and he learned a lot of things! I wish that I had more self-control. I wish that I wasn't so quick to anger. I'm working on not getting so worked up over things. But at least I'm working on it. I don't ever want to give up and say, "Well, that's just how I am." And hopefully I'm teaching Jonathan how to humble himself before the Lord when he messes up and ask forgiveness of God and others. And if he learned a little about that, then it will have been a great Mother's Day indeed. :>

This is the only picture I have of the day so far, but maybe I can add some more later.

Easter

2010-04-08T16:47:00.001-04:00

I must confess that Easter has not typically been one of my favorite holidays/celebrations. Part of it might have to do with the fact that I really don't like Spring/Easter decorations. I'm a winter--I wear dark colors. Pastels just don't do it for me. But for some reason, I really got into Easter this year. I felt the impact of what Christ did for us on the cross more than other years. Maybe part of it was that Jonathan got to help Daddy make Easter baskets for his tech team:

Maybe part of it is that we got to talk about what Easter really means with Jonathan. Maybe part of it is just growing in my faith and having a deeper appreciation. But whatever the reason, Easter was very meaningful this year. I'm glad the day turned out well, because it started out not-so-great. We didn't get Jonathan to bed until about 10pm the night before, and he was up at 5:45...yep--you read that right--5:45am!!!!!!!!!

I was lying down with him trying to get him back to sleep, and I started to feel the all-too-familiar-as-of-late anger, rage, irritation, frustration, etc rise up in me. All of a sudden it hit me--I had been allowing Jonathan to steal my joy in the Lord the past few weeks. I was giving him way too much power! For the first time in my life, an incredibly elementary truth of the faith hit me--no matter what is going on in my external circumstances (a ridiculously tired toddler refuses to go to sleep and is whiny and fussy all day long)...I can still enjoy my relationship with God and have an inner calmness and peace. So, I just sat there at 5:45 in the morning, fighting the temptation to cave in and give way to the rage by praising God and thanking him for the good that was going on in my life. Ever since that morning, my attitude towards what's going on with Jonathan has been so much better. I'm able to maintain a little bit better perspective and realize that "this too shall pass." And, shockingly, Jonathan did fairly well the rest of the day and didn't terrorize the other children in Sunday School an abnormal amount! ;>

Anyway, here are some pictures from the day to enjoy!
Here is our 4th annual Easter picture:

Two of the MOST adorable brothers you will ever see in your entire life:

Easter 2009:

Easter 2008:

Easter 2007:

2010-03-28T17:33:00.000-04:00

I get endless fascination out of comparing and contrasting Jonathan's and Caleb's pictures...especially when they're in the same clothes. This hoody was Jonathan's and I dug it out this morning when I realized that it was a little too cold for he t-shirt and shorts that I put them in. I was pretty excited because I didn't think Caleb would get to wear it because it's off season for him. It's a little too big, it's a 6-12 mos and Caleb is only 5 mos, but it worked for the most part. Excuse the spit up...we've given up changing him because we'd have to do it every 3 minutes...

What I think is hilarious is that Caleb looks SOOOOOO much chunkier than Jonathan did, but Jonathan weighed more than Caleb in this picture. I think Caleb is just really short and fat and Jonathan was a little bit more equally proportioned. Caleb's little personality is coming out more and more, and he is WAY more laid back than Jonathan was. He laughs a whole lot more, too, (Jonathan was super serious) BUT Caleb does have an older brother who constantly makes him laugh...

One more video--a friend called and offered us some power wheels the other day. Confession: I was totally against the idea of having one, citing the fact that American children are obese because they don't get enough physical exercise, blah, blah, blah, BUT funny how all that went out the window when I was offered two for free. Jonathan LOVES, LOVES, LOVES them, and if ever there was a boy who got plenty of physical exercise, Jonathan does. So, I'm not too super worried about him becoming obese because of these...Thanks Wendy!!!!!!! Oh, and he has to "earn" riding time by doing chores, being respectful, etc, so we've definitely worked out a nice reward system!

Tooooo cute!!

2009-12-09T23:53:00.000-05:00

Just me or could you gobble him up he's so cute!!

In the bumbo...good for a few minutes until the head wobbles...:>

Just to compare, here's Jonathan at 2 mos in the bumbo...what do you think? Do they look more alike, or more different?

Blizzard of 2009

2009-12-04T16:47:00.001-05:00

When I heard a forecast of snow, I was skeptical. Nevertheless, at 9:30 this morning, snow did come!! I hurried Jonathan and Caleb out the door (a 30 min process) and for an hour we threw balls, kicked balls, played chase, etc. Our neighbor was kind enough to take our picture. Around 12:30 the snow really picked up and we had some pretty fat flurries, if I do say so myself. It stuck a bit, but not enough for a snowball fight. That's probably better though, as Jonathan doesn't have any water-proof gloves (such is the life for a Houstonian). Getting ready to head out! Trying to get a pic of Caleb and Me in the car's window...he's snug as a bug in my Moby Wrap! My view of Caleb...poor thing doesn't own a hat so I put one of mine on him and just rolled it up. Our neighbor "Nana" snapped this for us! Our cars BURIED in snow!! :> Jonathan catching snowflakes on his tongue for the first time!
Final Snow video

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

2009-12-01T13:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all!! We had a WONDERFUL time, staying Wed and Thurs night at my parents' house. My brother and sis-in-law came, so that made it extra special. They're expecting in May, so a cousin for my boys is coming! YEAH!!!

We also went to a pumpkin patch a few weeks ago, trying to make that a tradition, and Jonathan and I made pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies for all of this teachers--school and church.

Fall is over and Winter has officially arrived with 49 degree weather today (all my northerner friends can laugh at us). On to making new Christmas traditions!!

Caleb Elijah

2009-11-16T17:22:00.000-05:00

Wow! Time is going SOOOOOOOOOOOO much faster with the second one!!!!! Poor little Caleb is already 7 weeks old and is just now getting on the blog! Things are crazy but good!

Caleb was born October 10, 2009 at 7am, weighing 7 lbs. 10 oz and measuring 19 3/4 in. long.

Jonathan is overall doing well. He loves to put Caleb's paci in, get him onesies, cover him with blankets, gives him hugs and kisses goodnight, etc, but Jonathan does have a hard time when I'm trying to put Caleb down for a nap. I have some ideas that I'm going to be trying, so I'll let ya know how that goes!!

The Greene's were able to come for a good 5 day visit. We loved seeing them, and they were able to love on both our boys. Michael's brother and sis-in-law were able to come down for a night, too. Here are a few of the MANY pictures we took...

While the Greene's were here, we went to our church's Fall Festival. Jonathan was Tigger and Caleb was a gingerbreadman, along with 2 other babies from our small group.

Well, that's all I have time for now. Hopefully it won't be another 2 months before I post again!!

First Day of School

2009-09-02T14:50:00.001-04:00

After months of great anticipation, Michael and I sent Jonathan off to preschool at a local church yesterday. I had a strange lapse in resolve and considered not sending him (what if someone is mean to him?!), but decided that, yes, this is the best option for our family at this time. Now, mind you, I was not concerned about Jonathan suffering from any kind of separation anxiety; strangely enough, I was concerned about my separation anxiety! Jonathan in no way disappointed...at meet the teacher on Monday, he was the only kid screaming, "No go home, Mommy, no go home!!" (I'm sure the teacher wondered what was so terrible at home that he didn't want to go home to!). What goes around comes around, though, because that was me as a kid...I never wanted to go home, I was always wanting to go/see/do more.

Then Tuesday morning rolls around, we don his new backpack (see photo), and off to school we go! I take off his backpack to hang it up on his hook, and he walks right in without even a backward glance at me! The teacher says, "Jonathan, tell Mommy bye-bye," and he kind of half lifts up his hand and hollars over his shoulder, "Byyyyeeee." After just a twinge of sadness, I come to the conclusion that I would much rather have this kind of drop off than dramatic wailing and nashing of teeth. I'm glad that Jonathan is very social and adventure-seeking...all in all, it made me more comfortable with leaving him there.

I really like his teacher and think that she will be great for him. She seems to understand boys and their, eh hem...unique need for lots of activity/movement. Their daily schedule is super structured (a good thing!)and does a great job of alternating between quiet and active activities, and they even go to Bible and music class everyday. I've been very impressed with the detail orientation of this school and despite my brief misgivings, I'm ecstatic that we have the opportunity to send Jonathan to this preschool. I think it'll be really, really, really nice when little peanut gets here, and I think Jonathan will thrive in this environment.

The note that his teacher sent home with him said, "Jonathan had a GREAT first day of school. He played with gusto and loved everything!" Yep...that sounds about right, playing with gusto! :>

Here are a few other fun photos for you...

Bubbles in mommy's tub

Having a picnic with his trucks (totally his idea!)

Enjoying chocolate cake with our friends Chris and Becky

Helping Daddy switch out hinges...(no, we're not espousing a nudist colony, we've begun potty-training and the first few weeks we just let him run around naked! And besides, every little boy needs a naked picture with boots on!)

Seaworld

2009-07-18T23:07:00.000-04:00

Jonathan and I went to San Antonio to see Mary, Hannah, and Chloe (and a wee bit of Matt) this week. This is probably the last time I'll see her before peanut gets here, so I cherished every moment I got to spend with her! The good talk time in between crazy kid stuff was short and sweet but so worth it. I had a blast getting to know her girls, Chloe and Hannah, even better. Chloe and Jonathan got along the best they've ever gotten along. Chloe used to not like to be touched, and Jonathan, well...he doesn't really understand the concept of 'personal space.' But Chloe is not minding being touched as much, and Jonathan is doing a little (a liiiiiitttttle)bit better with not hugging/tackling/knocking over people. We got in late Monday night, and Tuesday we got up and went to Seaworld. Looking at the dolphins... Jonathan LOVED seeing them play... Fish aquarium You can kind of see Jonathan's face, he was smiling SOOOOOOO big...it was adorable. He LOVED the fish Watching the sharks We couldn't even get him to turn around for a picture, and he normally loves the camera. We went home for naps and headed back to Seaworld in the evening for two shows. Before he loaded up Jonathan's car seat, Chloe decided she should sit on Jonathan...I was so surprised because she used to not like to be touched. Jonathan was enamored with her! We ate dinner while waiting for the first show to keep everyone happy. The kids did SOOOOOOOOOOOOO well during the shows and were totally mesmerized Baluga whale
Holding hands to keep up in the park. The kids did so well, they were great! In front of Shamu, aren't they super cute? Jonathan was really excited to see Shamu, he kept asking to see the "Killah Whay-ale" The whole crew, Mary was such a trooper keeping up with a toddler and a squirmy baby! The show was incredible and the kids did SOOOOOOOOOOOO well!! Jonathan was enamored with the show and even danced along with the music We got to this show 25 mintues early and it was almost already full!! We had come prepared with bubbles, colors, markers, stickers, etc to keep them entertained while we waited and we was so glad that we did!

We all went home super tired, but super contented. Seaworld was definitely a success! The next day I watched the kids while Mary went to a doctor's appointment. We had a BLAST painting, doing stickers, and playing outside in the pool. After naps we all headed out to the neighborhood pool and wore Jonathan out before we headed back to Houston. Thanks, Mary for a great time! I'm always refreshed and challenged when I walk away from my time with you. You are an amazing wife, mother and friend. You do a phenomenal job with your girls, and I loved getting to know them better. You bless me!!

New Playroom

2009-07-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

I've wanted to transform a space into a play area for Jonathan so that we could keep all of his stuff together and so that he could find what he wanted to. It took a few months, but we finally moved our kitchen table into the dining room and transformed our breakfast area into a playroom for him. I love it!! It has worked so well! The first day he was so excited, walking around saying, "My playroom...my playroom." He's been playing a LOT more by himself, painting alot and using his art easel and table (which he never used before when it was upstairs). Here are some fun pictures!

Here's Jonathan helping Daddy mow the lawn after we got back from California...it was a jungle!

Some funny things he's saying:
-Wait just a minute, Mommy (complete with index finger raised)
-No, not today, Mommy, not today (we're working on this one...I can say 'not today' to him, but he can't say 'not today' to me...poor guy, that's got to be confusing!)
-RIGHT NOW, MOMMY, RIGHT NOW! (hysterical, but again, we're working on saying please instead of 'right now')
-He imitates EVERYTHING we say, then laughs at himself
--He LOVES singing and sings along with every song that he can. He has quite a repertoire now, including Jingle Bells, I love you Lord, Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Twinkle, and several others

Him playing by himself more has really freed me up this week to work on several things. I've gotten a lot done! His fussiness/temper tantrums have been a LOT less infrequent this week, and complete with a pool outing every day, I give this week an A+!

Mississippi, Tennessee, and California!!

2009-06-30T22:14:00.000-04:00

Wow! So, June has been a whirlwind, which is how I like life to go! ;> Things had been much, much to slow around here. ;>

After Fort Worth, we were all home for 4 days then headed out to Mississippi for a family reunion. We stopped in Shreveport to catch a ride with Michael's brother and sis-in-luv, Philip and Marissa. We had a great time riding together, and this is really embarrassing, but the only pictures I got of the whole reunion were of the trip there! Ahhh...I've really got to get better at this.

Anyway, the reunion went great and seeing Michael's dad for father's day was really special. Mimi and Papa ended up taking Jonathan with them to TN for a whole week so that Michael and I could go to Saddleback's conference in Orange County, CA (for those of you unfamiliar with Saddleback). I started missing Jonathan immediately and thought about him the whole 10 hrs back to Houston, which was a good sign bc I was scared I wasn't going to miss him at all!! ;> Since he's been feeling better, he's back to his sweet, adorable self and I hated leaving him when he was so cute. I was super pumped about CA, though, and rightly so!!

Michael and I left Tues, and flew into 62 degree weather!!! YEAH!!!!! WAHOOOO!!!! CA is beautiful, and I never got used to seeing palm trees with mountains in the background. The conference was VERY refreshing and we got to hear Francis Chan, Rick Warren, Dan Cathy (Chick-fil-a founder Truitt's son and current owner/runner [is that the CEO??] of Chick-fil-a) and Paul Baloche speak. The scenery was gorgeous, and did I mention the weather was amazing??!!

We met another worship pastor who is at a church not 10 min from ours and we totally hit it off. Michael likes making contacts in the area, and God has totally blessed me with another minister's wife that can relate to my struggles!! Yeah for Lori and Brett Mosser!!
Lori and Me at Saddleback's main campus near the super-cool beach/waterfall area. Lori is super tiny and cute and did NOTHING for my pregnant self-esteem that week! ;>

Fri night Lori and Brett took us to the beach in their convertable they had rented (it was FREEZING)! I was the only one who got in the water!! You can see my pant legs are a little wet.

On Saturday (our only free day) we headed into Hollywood, did the walk of fame, stood in line for 20 min to pay respects to the King of Pop, were interviewed by CBS (not kidding), took a tour of Beverly Hills, and met up with some friends from Plano. Again, not kidding. It's a small world. Liesal went to Hunters' Glenn with Michael in high school, and she and her husband, Jon, are in LA breaking into the directing business. SO, they picked us up on the side of Hollywood Blvd and took us sight seeing and then to Santa Monica. Wahoo!! Super, Super fun. We didn't get any pictures of or with them, though, because we kept taking pictures of each other. Whoops! Thanks, Liesal and Jon for being great hosts!! We had a blast and look forward to doing it again in hopefully two years!

Sunday morning up at 3am to catch our flight to Houston, then Monday left to get Jonathan in Mississippi. I was so, so, so, so, so excited to see him!! He called me one time, but Mimi and I decided it probably wasn't a good idea for him to talk to me again because he started crying anytime she tried to take the phone away from him. Talk about breaking my heart!! They did leave me a message on my phone, though, and I listened to it over and over again. He was pretty excited to see me, too, and kept hugging me, and telling me about what he did in Tennessee (boat in creek and float away!!!:>). My mom thankfully went with me, and we stopped in Lafayette for the night, then Tues home for good. Whew! What a great, whirlwind of a month June was. Now we get to relax and enjoy being home together for awhile.

Fort Worth

2009-06-30T21:54:00.000-04:00

Mid-June, Michael went to a conference in Chicago so Jonathan and I headed to Fort Worth to stay with some friends. We got in on Tuesday and stayed with Lindsay and Nick and their little 10 month old, Eli. I just realized we didn't get any pictures with them!! Oooops! Sorry! We had tons of fun, though, and even went to their pool! Eli was so cute crawling and splashing in the water!

The next day we went to Annie and Danielle's house. Jonathan and Danielle had SOOOOOO much fun together--I love watching them play together. Annie used to keep Jonathan while I was in school, so it was really fun to stay with them again. Danielle is getting so grown up and talking so much!

Finally, Thursday night we stayed with Sean and Lendy and their boys. Jonathan has always been completely enamored with them, which is GREAT because it allows Lendy and me lots of talk time. It's so fun seeing Jonathan grow up and be able to do things with the "big boys." After the boys went to sleep, Lendy and I were able to sneak out and go hang out with our third amigo, Erin, whom I haven't seen since Christmas.

We left Friday around naptime, so the trip was short, but ohhhhhhh so sweet. Thanks to all of my wonderful hostesses for their awesome hospitality. I left with lots of great ideas to try on Jonathan and feeling very refreshed.

Long time...no hear from...

2009-06-13T21:19:00.001-04:00

I just logged on to Jonathan's blog in order to view the links to other people's blogs and realized I haven't posted in 2 months. WOW!!! Sorry about that. Let's just say it's been a ROUGH 2 months. Jonathan started getting sick at the end of April and is just now coming out of it. I started getting run down about 3 weeks ago and it has taken awhile to get back in shape (I'm still not 100%). In the midst of all this, Jonathan decided it would be a good idea to get up around 5:00-5:30am for about 2 weeks (going down for naps and bedtime at the usual time) making for a FUSSY toddler and an exhausted-beyond-belief mommy. On top of all this, I'm still a bit nauseous (with an aversion to raw meat) which makes cooking and cleaning REALLY hard and a true labor of love. So, needless to say, picture taking and blogging and even the desire to do so has been non-existent. Things are looking up, though, with Jonathan getting back to his sweet, eager-to-please nature.

Here's what's happened in the last few weeks (there were some cute/fun things amidst the craziness):

Trying on Daddy's shoes...

Mommy's not the only one who's exhausted!

He loves playing guitar hero!

Blueberry picking with Puddin'

Feeding a little damsel in distress...he took his job very seriously and only picked her the fattest, bluest blueberries he could find! ;>

That's it for this post...coming soon will be pictures from our Fort Worth trip!!

Easter and the Zoo

2009-04-13T15:56:00.001-04:00

Our Easter season was super busy with a performance Palm Sunday including the usual praise team and praise band along with drama and full orchestra. Then Easter weekend we had 5 services! Whew! Our church had an Easter egg hunt after every service, and Jonathan did his Saturday night. I'm really glad we did because a huge rain storm came Sunday morning. The weather cleared up enough for us to take our annual family Easter photo!

These are some bunny ears that Jonathan made in Mops. He loved them and was hopping around saying, "Bunny! Bunny!"

Michael took Monday off since he put in so much time the last two weeks. The weather was perfect (I think the rain yesterday drove off some of the heat) so off to the zoo we went! Here are some pictures of our wonderful day...

Seeing 'Jonathan' the lion! He's attempting to roar like a lion, but I didn't quite capture it...

Pointing at the giraffe

Watching the elephant

This is how Jonathan spent most of the day...he's really getting a lot more into Daddy these days. My favorite about the zoo--it wasn't, "Mommy! Elephants!" it was, "Daddy! Elephants!...More animals, Daddy...Daddy! Monkey!" I just happily trailed along taking photos! ;>

Brushing a goat

Riding the carousel

So much activity--totally passed out on the way home!!

We decided to upgrade to a season pass, since if we go one more time as a family it will pay for itself. So, I look forward to many more fun trips!

Uncle Shane's wedding

2009-04-07T13:59:00.000-04:00

My older brother Shane (finally! ;>) got married this past Saturday. The wedding was BEAUTIFUL and held on the ranch where my sister-in-law grew up. Jonathan was the ring bearer and my cousin Sophie was the flower girl. We talked up the wedding the whole week before, telling Jonathan he was going to get to wear a tuxedo like Uncle Shane, hold Sophie's hand and walk down the isle. When he got his tux on, Jonathan was SOOOOOO proud, he was walking around showing everyone and saying, "Tuxedo! Tuxedo!" My aunt Debbie and I were crossing our fingers that the kids actually made it down the isle, AND THEY DID!! It was as perfect as you could get...these are the first pictures I have, more will come later, I'm sure, but I just had to share these with you. How scrumptious are they??!!

2nd Birthday

2009-04-06T21:28:00.000-04:00

FINALLY, here are some pictures from Jonathan's 2nd birthday. We went to the park right by our house and played on the playground, blew bubbles, played with chalk, etc, etc. We had hot dogs and cake and then opened presents. It was super simple, but lots of fun. Here are a few of the pictures:

He LOVES swinging!!

Blowing out his #2 candle

Presents

Presents

And more presents!! ;>

Thanks for everyone who came and helped to make the day so special!

Tennessee and Concert

2009-03-14T11:37:00.000-04:00

Last week, Jonathan and I drove up to Mississippi (8 hr drive), caught a ride with Michael's grandmother, two aunts, and one cousin and drove up to Tennessee(another 8 hrs!). We had a FANTASTIC time in Tennessee--Jonathan and I SORELY needed a change of scenery, and the extra help was SPECTACULAR! Thanks Mimi, Papa, Martha, Margaret, Mamaw, and Sarah for all of your help--having a break from Jonathan was SOOO nice! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but I do have some pictures that Mimi e-mailed to me. Most of these are in North Carolina--everyone went to a condo that some people in Mimi and Papa's church own except me! I stayed back in Tennessee and got some MUCH needed rest! Thanks again Greene crew for all your help watching him! This past week in Houston has been SOOOOOOO much better than the last couple of weeks before TN. I'm feeling quite a bit better, thanks to figuring out what foods to eat and what to avoid--thanks for everyone's prayers! The house is still a wreck because I sleep when Jonathan sleeps (instead of using that time to clean) but I'm trying to give myself grace and just hanging in there for another couple of weeks until the second trimester!

Well, I can't close out this post without sharing this video with you. Jonathan has become very attached to the song "Rock A-Bye Baby" and has recently re-discovered a microphone. He just picked it up the other day and started singing. I had to prod him a bit for the camera, but it was totally his idea. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Jonathan Greene in his debut performance!

He did pretty good on the first couple of lines, if you listen closely you can make out the words (rock a-bye baby in the tree tops, when the wind blows, the cradle will rock) then he kinds of loses it. Oh, well, he seemed to really get into it. He keeps me laughing! :>

Days of the Dog

2009-02-23T22:04:00.000-05:00

I tried and tried to think of a clever title to this post but this is the best I could come up with. Sorry. It's been almost two weeks since my last post, and the reason is that I have been SICK AS A DOG!! I don't have what they call "morning sickness", but rather an all day-unrelenting-can't even sweep the kitchen floor sickness. I was pretty sick with Jonathan, too, maybe even more so than I am this time around, but the hard part is keeping up with Jonathan when all I want to do is lie around and watch HGTV (or get lost in blog world). Running around, carrying him when he refuses to walk up the stairs, and getting up to remove objects that he's thrown makes feeling bad 10 times worse. I could go on and on, but that's not the point of this post. I do want to highlight some of the good things that have been happening these last few weeks.

First of all, we made a chore-chart. I took pictures of Jonathan doing a few mundane tasks that we were having trouble with, ie: diaper changes, clothes changes, and bath time. I also included his two "real" chores: washing off his plate in the sink and putting his clothes in the dirty clothes hamper. This chore chart has been insanely effective in these areas. Positive enforcement 101 has truly been a blessing as I just couldn't spank his little bottom one more time for not lying still during a diaper change. He helped me "decorate" it, but you can see the general idea...its full of (car) stickers now, but this is before we really started using it. When he's older, maybe at the end of the week if he has x amount of stickers he can get a new book, or do something fun w/mommy and daddy but for now the picking out of a sticker and putting it on the chart is enforcement enough

This next picture is of him painting on our kitchen floor. He has an art easel that he's getting for his birthday next month, but until then the kitchen floor will do. I bought his "smock" at goodwill for $0.88.

My friend Mary gave Jonathan a "Zookeeper" Mr. Potato head that has four potato heads, including all kinds of animals. Jonathan LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it! He especially likes changing out the shoes (should we be concerned)? This picture is actually pretty old, I just haven't included it in posts yet. His first potato head!

Finally, there is a boy who live three doors down whom Jonathan ADORES! His name is "Da-min" (eh hem...David) and he just turned 6 yrs. old. David is basically an only child and is incredibly good with Jonathan. His mom told me that Jonathan is his first friend...sad, huh? Anyway, I LOVE it when David comes over because Jonathan wants nothing to do with me and is totally content to just play with David. This video clip is of one time David came over to play. He had a balloon that he would blow up then let fly all over the room. Jonathan thought this was absolutely hysterical, I mean, really hysterical. Then Jonathan thought it would be even more funny to knock the balloon out of David's hands before he could let it go (much to my chagrin). I have a later video of Jonathan actually waiting on David to let the balloon go, but I posted this video because I love Jonathan's laughter in it...how can you not enjoy it??

So, if you are reading this, say a little prayer that God would allow this sickness to pass quickly for Jonathan's sake. To say that I have not been as patient, understanding and empathetic with Jonathan is an understatement. I'm really, really, really trying hard to enjoy Jonathan through this difficult time. Don't be surprised, though, if posts are few and far between.

Valentine's Addition

2009-02-14T11:02:00.000-05:00

Thompson Tumblers

2009-01-31T11:40:00.000-05:00

OK, sorry grandparents who were waiting for this post...I've not been feeling great, and it's hard to get needed rest with an active 2 yr old!!

Anyway, for those who haven't heard, the Lord has provided us with a GREAT opportunity for Jonathan to take gymnastics. A man comes to our church every Thurs and sets up all of his equipment. Last Nov, Jonathan and I were up at church on a Thurs morning and he made a beeline for the gym. I had to pull him away kicking and screaming, and I thought how incredibly cool it would be for Jonathan to take gymnastics. It's pretty inexpensive, but even at $50 a month, it's a bit of a stretch for us right now. On the first day that the gymnastics started this semester, I sent Michael to the man to try and see if we could maybe pay and attend every other week or so to make it more affordable. Well, upon introducing himself the man said, "Oh, I don't charge ministers." Don't charge...as in FREE!!! Jonathan gets to go to gymnastics FREE!!!!! YEAH!!!!! I think I was more excited than Jonathan was.

Here's a picture of Jonathan in his little Thompson Tumbler's shirt (he does look pretty excited, huh?) That's Mack the Moose (a backpack) on his back...he just recently has REALLY gotten into his stuffed animals, playing with them, giving them apple juice, etc. (oh, funny side story, since he gives all of his stuffed animals juice, I guess he assumes real animals like juice, too, because at the duck pond last night he tried to give the ducks some juice...ewww yuck!)

Here are some more pictures of Jonathan and me doing his gymnastics. Jonathan actually did really well most of the time. I really like this because the coach has all the kids sit on a red line while she explains how to go through the sequence. Since Jonathan isn't in any kind of preschool/Mother's Day Out he doesn't really have to sit and listen to directions very much so it's good for him. About halfway through the class, he got tired of following directions and started running around jumping on things and chasing after balls, but in general, I'd say it was a very successful trip!! :>:>

Whack job, Pumpkin Pancakes...AWESOME!!

2009-01-26T15:05:00.000-05:00

My poor, sweet ragamuffin was in desperate need of a hair trimming. Being a tightwad and not wanting to spend $5 on a haircut from a nice little place down the street, I took matters into my own hands (music rolls...dum, dum, duuuuuuummmmmmmmm). As the first little lock of hair floated to the floor, I knew I was in trouble. Rather than stopping and waiting for Michael to fix it all I plunged ahead in a desperate attempt to correct (again, music rolls...dum, dum, dum...). When I finally stood back to survey the damage, I felt sick to my stomach. The sides were completely uneven, cut way to close, and the top was not cut enough. Luckily Jonathan didn't know that he looked absolutely ridiculous, and he sat happily swinging his little legs eating his 'vi-da-da.' The next morning, Michael quickly got out his electric razor and had to cut all of Jonathan's beautiful golden hair in an attempt to somewhat even things out. Remnants of the butchering still linger on the sides, but thanks to my sweetie, not nearly as bad as before. Needless to say, next month, I'll be spending the $5!!! Here is a picture of his newly shaved head...

On to more uplifting matters. I have spent all weekend engrossed in blogs that I have mostly gotten off of my friend Jenny's blog. My favorite so far is www.keeperofthehome.com. Christians post on a variety of topics including natural cleaners, home-schooling, natural food, good games to play with your child's particular developmental stage, etc, etc. LOVING it and EATING it up!!! I'm so inspired! I've ordered some cleaning product ingredients on-line (fels bar soap) and I'm waiting for it to come in before I make up a batch. I'll keep you updated! One thing I've been re-inspired about is to get back into cooking healthily (my first couple of attempts failed miserably with Jonathan refusing to eat anything I made). So, this morning we made pumpkin pancakes. They actually weren't that bad!! Jonathan ate about half of them on his plate (drenching them with honey no doubt helped), but I couldn't quite get the consistency right. It was fun to et back into cooking with him in the kitchen, though! Here's the recipe if anyone out there wants to try it:

1 egg
1/2 super flout (whole wheat flour with 1 TBL soy powder and 1 TBL brewer's yeast added in)
1 can pumpkin
2 TBL blackstrap molasses
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I always double the amount of spice called for)

Mix it all together and put it in the frying pan!!

A less healthy endeavor includes Double Dave's Pizza buffet (luckily we can't afford it very often). There's a video arcade there that Jonathan LOVES!!! He's too young to understand you can put money in and actually play. Poor thing thinks he's actually driving the demo car!! Those of you who know me well know that I am semi-anti-video games (funny, seeings as how I'm married to a semi-addict! ;>), but for about 20 min of uninterrupted adult convo, Double Dave's mid-week pizza buffet definitely gets worked into the budget a few times a month!

Finally, some funny stories/updates...
#1 Michael taught Jonathan to say 'Awesome' but hadn't used the word with Jonathan in a few days. Jonathan was brushing his teeth with Michael's electric toothbrush (not the most hygenic practice, but it kept him out of my makeup bag as I was applying mascara) when he pulled the toothbrush out of his mouth, looked at it with fascination, and exclaimed, "AWESOME!" The funny thing to me was not that he used the word, but that he used it in a context-appropriate manner!! ;>

#2 Jonathan is learning the names for his different fingers (which entails rounds and round and rounds of, "Where is ring man, where is ring man, here I am...). I asked him where his pinky was, to which he furrowed his little brow, pointed to his pinky and said, "Pinky...yes (break out in jubilant smile)...PINKY!!" The pride on his face was glaringly evident!

#3 If I've talked to you in the last 3 weeks, you've heard me mention 'The Duggars.' For those of you who aren't up with the 21st century, 'The Duggars' is a family with 18 amazingly well-behaved children that has recently become a house-hold name. To say that they are Godly, frugal, self-less, etc is an understatement. I have managed to catch several of their shows, and a friend (thanks Denise!) was kind enough to lend me her book.

I gobbled it up in 2 days. I was so inspired to be more selfless, live more frugally, be more grateful, make home cleaners, get better with discipline, help Jonathan learn self-control, etc. This book fit neatly with all of my recent devourings of blogs on the aforementioned subjects. One of the the many things that I adopted from the book is that her kids were quoting scripture from memory when they were 2 and 3...I read that in the book...I looked at Jonathan...I looked at the Bible, and I said, "Allright, buddy, if the Duggars can do it, so can you!" SOOOOOOOOO, we've been learning John 3:16. Jonathan actually LOVES reciting it and actually asks to do it ("John? John?...all the while wiggling his little finger in an attempt to make the sign for 'j'). I have been shocked at how quickly he has picked it up. No lie, he just about has it down (after 4 days). He's almost always a word or sign ahead of me (when I do it with him I kind of lag to see if he'll do it and he does!!) Children this age are SOOOOOOOOO impressionable which has totally challenged me to not waste this precious time!!! NO matter what your beliefs are/what stage of life you are in, I challenge you to read this book because you will walk away with at least 1 amazing, life changing application (me=at least 10 life changling applications). I'm not saying that now I don't believe in birth control and I want 18 kids, but maybe 6????.....;> I'll try to get a video recording soon of Jonathan saying John 3:16, but he kind of clams up in front of the camera...

#4 There was one more thing, but I got so wrapped up in the Duggars (I can see Michael rolling his eyes now) that I can't remember. Oh, well...I'll just have to do another post when I think about it!

Thanks for letting me share this week's adventures with you!

Big Boy Bed

2009-01-14T15:53:00.000-05:00

Jonathan started climbing out of his crib back before Christmas, much to my dismay. I can't say that I was shocked, though, seeing as how he loves to climb. It was still pretty depressing, though. We went back and fort between taking the side of his crib off, putting it on, etc, etc, and finally just transitioned him to a twin bed. We finally found one (on www.freecycle.com of all places) and this is a video of Jonathan "helping" DAddy (you have to listen closely to hear him say it.

A picture of Jonathan helping Daddy in case the video doesn't work out (I've been having issues w/videos...)

Picture of his big boy bed and his new big boy sheets (which he totally doesn't sleep under!).

The rest of his room has a way to go...I've been preoccupied with the rest of the house. I'm not quite sure what to do with his room, but it'll come

Fun Times

2009-01-10T17:08:00.000-05:00

I think every mom can understand what I mean when I say that we go through seasons of enjoying our children more than others. I am just coming out of a time when I was not enjoying Jonathan as much as I had before. Some of it probably had to do with stress of the house, the move, settling in, etc, some of it had to do with behavioral problems (which I've shared with some of you) but THANKFULLY I am in a period where I am enjoying Jonathan so thoroughly that I actually didn't mind so much that he was waking up (and staying up) at 5:30 am (he's gone back to waking up at 7, thankfully, but I didn't mind so much having a 5:30 am buddy [I'm usually awake by then anyway]).

Jonathan and I have settled into a pretty good routine in the morning, which has probably helped somewhat with behavioral issues. We get up and read books for about 30 min, then I've relented (since he started waking up earlier) and we watch a Praise Baby/Einsten/Sesame Street video for about 30 min. Then we eat breakfast, he (yes, Jonathan) rinses off the dishes (and does a surprisingly good job), then we go upstairs and get changed out of his pajamas and he has 20 min of "room time" (I set the timer and close his door and he plays by himself.) This has worked really well for us as it allows me to finish up some cleaning, get dressed, pay bills, etc (again, it buys me more time especially since he's been waking up earlier). He's also started playing on his own a bit more even when it's not room time. When I get him we play in his room for about 30 min, then we either run errands, play at the park, go somewhere, etc, then come home for lunch. This has really helped me plan activites, help me get through the day since I'm not going to class/internship, etc. I'm a very structured person, so I use this but I'm all about people doing whatever works for them!!;>

We went to our new doctor on Thursday and we LOVE her. She's really great. Jonathan is holding steady in the 85% for weight and the 90% percentile for height. He definitely got some random stray gene because he sure didn't get those stats from Michael or me!!

Here are some fun photos for you to enjoy...

Inspired by my friend Jenny, once again, I made the recipe of play dough listed on her blog (see her blog on the right). Jonathan LOVED playing with it while I cooked, which was GREAT!!

I was also very inspired by her new found healthy cooking skills/cookbooks so I picked up an old favorite that I used when Jonathan was little but have since abandoned...Super Baby Food. Also included in the book are money savers, crafts, cleaning supplies, etc. It's great!
A place he sometimes likes to sit and do a project while I cook:

Painting...he was very upset to find there was paint on his face...

Michael and I were meeting to eat BBQ one day last week, and as I pulled into the parking lot I saw a plane field right behind it! Jonathan and I had some time to kill so we looked at planes through the gate (I love this picture) and actually walked onto the field and (dare I say) touched a plane??!! Nobody seemed to mind, so I guess it was okay! Talk about cheap entertainment!

One of the things I'm most enjoying now is his developing sense of humor. This kid is so funny!! He thinks it's hilarious to put things on his head and call it a hat (but whenever we try to put a real hat on, will he wear it?? No!!)...
(yes, it's a popcorn bag)

(this is a net bag that holds some of his Montessori (www.montessori-n-such.com, again from my friend Jenny) toys. We were playing with his toys one afternoon, and Jonathan all of a sudden said, "HAT!" and put the mesh bag on his head...needless to say, Michael and I keeled over!!)

Hope you enjoyed!

New Year's Eve/Day

2009-01-05T16:10:00.000-05:00

On New Year's Eve, a couple two doors down from us invited us and two other couples over. One of those couples was Jenny and Nick who live three doors down and have twins (I've blogged about them before). Anyway, I got Jonathan fed/bathed/in bed clothes before we even went over to their house (at 7:30) so that we could come home and just put him down. As we were getting ready, Jonathan heard fireworks. The first sound he shot up off the floor and into my lap, holding his ears and shouting, "Loud!" (his new favorite word). I tried my best to console him, then took him to look out of our front window so that he could see them.

Well, after that, he was absolutely mesmerized by the fireworks, and the only way I could get him out the door and over to the party was to tell him we could go see the fireworks, "outside." I put on his new robe that he got from Granny, telling him it was a "jacket" (other attempts to put it on him failed miserably). We met Jenny and her brood in the street on the way over, and her little boy Charlie was, like Jonathan, mesmerized by the fireworks while her little girl, Gracie, was terrified (there is SO a difference btw boys and girls). We couldn't hardly get Jonathan and Charlie in doors to the party, but ended up getting them to hold hands on the way in...sooooo precious!!!

That night NO ONE slept very well. Jonathan developed a REALLY bad cough (probably from being outside looking at fireworks) and woke up every hour or so and was finally really up at 5:30 (AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!). I, in my extreme optimism (ha, ha) thought it was going to be a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE day trying to keep Jonathan entertained. After a wee nap in the jogging stroller (I had some frustration to run off), Jonathan was a bit better, but the real joy came in when Michael took us all outside in the back yard. He raked up some leaves and for the next 3 hours or so, we all played outside. Actually, I lie...I was able to sneak away for about 30 min to meal/grocery plan until Jonathan realized I was missing, BUT, that was 30 min that he was happy to be with daddy without mommy...YEAH!!! I think we're on the up and up!!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T21:03:00.000-05:00

Wow!! What a whirl-wind of a holiday season! After 6 Christmas parties (two of which were at our new house), playing in a Christmas orchestra, Christmas Eve services, family from Canada, Louisiana, and Tennessee, we are glad for a bit of a break! This year was the first Christmas that Michael and I actually stayed home by ourselves. We really, really enjoyed waking up and opening presents with Jonathan at home... After Jonathan's nap, we headed over to my parents' to eat dinner with my mom's side of the family. Then, we took Jonathan around to look at Christmas lights... we drove slowly through a neighborhood, so we let Jonathan go w/o seatbelts (shhhh...don't report us!) He loved looking at the lights! But after awhile he did get a little antsy, so we put him in the driver seat! After that, we went home to see my newly-arrived brother and HIS FIANCE!! YEAH!!! We welcome Erin into the family!! We absolutely LOVE her and are so excited that she'll be officially joining our family in April! That SAME day, our Canadian family joined us!! It was a TOTALLY crazy night with four little kids running around, and everyone went to bed late, but I can't remember when I've had that much fun!! We'd been working on names with Jonathan for a couple of weeks, and he could say Debbie, Nut (nate), Ste-phun, Sthophie, and, we have no idea why but he couldn't say 'Barry' he said 'Be-ba'. TOOOOOO cute!! He doesn't say 'Be-ba' in the first one and it's kind of long, to feel free to stop it after he says Sophie

And, finally,...'Beba'
Jonathan IDOLIZED Nate and Stephen, and followed them around wherever and whenever they went. I had a FABULOUS time visiting with adults and enjoying my free time!!

You can see how excited Jonathan is to be sitting in between the two 'big boys'!

Sharing a cup of water with Nate

Story time with Uncle Tim

Bath time with cousin Sophie We said a temporary goodbye to my side of the family, ran home and started cleaning for Michael's family who arrived on Saturday. They led the church service on Sunday morning, which EVERYONE in my family attended! We had 18 people over at our house for lunch on Sunday which was CRAZY but SO fun!! Again, all of the kids played together so well (ummm...except when Jonathan reared back and hit Sophie for taking his 'cahs') but other than that...eh hem...the kids had a lot of fun playing outside, playing with trains, cars, etc. We finally did say goodbye to my side of the family, whom we'll see again in April (at Shane and Erin's wedding) and we enjoyed the next two days of the Greene's visit. Papa John basically decorated our whole downstairs which was WONDERFUL!! He helped me hang up most of our pictures (a task which truly intimidated me), decorated the tops of our cabinets, helped me pick out artwork for the mantel, etc,etc. I am truly blessed to have such a talented father-in-law! Meanwhile, Mimi helped so much with Jonathan. The only picture I have of them being here is Mimi with Jonathan! Philip, Marissa, Michael and I all played 'Apples to Apples', and Marissa and I went out for haircuts. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family on both sides. The only words left to say are, "I love you (all)" as Jonathan so aptly puts it...

Graduation

2008-12-19T16:29:00.000-05:00

This past Friday, Dec 12th, I had the honor of graduating from Southwestern Seminary with my cousin Wiley (I with my master's and he with his undergrad). I finished my classes in May and my internship in August, but couldn't graduate until December. I had considered not walking but decided to go ahead with the ceremony, and I'm so glad that I did!! The whole thing was a lot more meaningful and emotional than I thought it would be. It was a long, hard 3 1/2 years, but I'm so glad I finished!! Here is a photoshow that my mom put together.

A Miracle!!

2008-12-10T16:25:00.000-05:00

It's snowing in Houston!!!!!!! I woke up and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cold...so I got up and looked at the thermometer...34 degrees. Bummer, I thought, too warm for snow. Oh, well. I kept Jonathan in as long as possible but then we BOTH had to get out. So, we bundled up... You'll notice in the video clip that he finally succeeded in getting his little gloves off. I remembered a post of my friend Jenny, who lives in Utah, where it was so hard to go outside because her little twins kept pulling off their gloves. I can finally sympathize with her. Outside lasted all of 5 min (plus everything was wet because it was, don't you know, 2 degrees too warm for snow). All of a sudden Houston didn't seem so terrible...at least in the 200 degree summers you can swim, but when it's cold outside, you can...well...umm...go to Chick-fil-A (see below...) Here's a clip of the 5 min outside adventure...

So we went inside to play with colors, markers, glue sticks (wonderful inventions) which actually lasted about 30 min. When I started getting crazy again, we bundled up again to head to Chick-Fil-A (God's gift to parents when kids can't play outside). I had a lovely chat with a fellow mother before heading home for nap time.

I had just laid Jonathan down, when, what to my wondering eyes should appear...SNOW!!! BEAUTIFUL, WHITE snow! I almost cried with delight! If I had anywhere to go I could actually where one of my 30 sweaters and one of my 10 coats!! But for better or for worse, I've no where to go, so here I sit by the fire blogging nap time away...

Our New House

2008-12-08T15:30:00.000-05:00

Due to popular request, I am now able to post on Jonathan's blog. After you see the pictures of the house, you'll understand why I haven't posted in so long. This week is the first time that I have actually been able to sit down and relax since moving into our new home. Before I post, though, I want to say thank you to everyone who has said that they missed reading Jonathan's blog. So few people comment that I didn't think anyone was actually reading it. I didn't feel super-motivated to post to a site that no one was reading! ;> So, I encourage you to actually post if you are reading this (I accept anonymous postings) so that I don't think I'm just posting to cyber-space (there are a few who have posted, you know who you are--thank you) OK, here is the front of our house... And here are some before shots of our house... Here are the "after" shots of our house: I'll spare you the "work" shots--there are about a 100 of them. We sanded, primed, sanded, primed, painted two coats of white on all of the green paint (cabinets, doors, mantel). We got new countertops, faucet, sink, hardward, and put up a tile blacksplash. Painted all the walls, baseboars, and crown molding. I made curtains for the living room (still waiting on fabric for the windows by the fireplace). In the master bathroom, we textured the wall, painted it, rolled it, replaced the mirrors, and replaced the lighting. We replaced all of the switches and plugs. I'm sure there's more that we did, but that's all I can think of now. There's still a lot left that we want to do, it's just finally in a place that I don't mind showing people! I hear from more seasoned home owners that you never stop working on a house! YIKES! ;> We've actually really enjoyed the process and couldn't have done it without my two AMAZING parents who have worked I think harder than we have! ;> THANKS mom and dad!!

Well, here are some video clips of Jonathan in our new environment...
Riding his beloved tricycle (we live within 3-4 blocks of 4 parks/pools)

His new love...

His vocabulary has REALLY taken off and he's repeating just about everything we say. Some of our favorites are when he says, "Awww...man!" "All-right!" and "Oh, boy!"

Our time in Houston

2008-10-10T23:26:00.000-04:00

Jonathan has been having a great time while staying at his Puddin and Pappy's house. Now that I know that we do have a house, and we have a closing date in sight, I've been freed up to enjoy my time here. I wanted to give you a glimpse of what Jonathan has been doing here in Houston. Also, I'm going to try to upload more videos because they capture so much that is missed in photos.

Jonathan's favorite thing to do is color...with anything and everything--colors, chalk, pens, pencils, etc. Inside we're very careful what he colors on, but outside we're a bit more lax...

Jonathan LOVES my parents' dog Natty. The first thing he does when we go downstairs in the morning is open the drawer, take out a bone, and feed it to her. He holds up a little finger for 'just one more'. He's also saying so many words I can't even keep up with all of them. Everything from 'pit-zah' (pizza) to 'bul-du-du' (bulldozer) to 'peez' (peace, which is what my mom tells Natty when she's barking). If you listen closely in this next clip, he says 'Natty' at the very beginning...

We LOVE the HEB that's right across the street from my parents' house. It's very similar to Central Market, where you can get food from bins, etc. Jonathan likes it because he gets to drive a 'ca-ah' and get a 'ba-loo'

Finally, here's a little piece of heaven for Jonathan's far-off grandparents, Mimi and Papa John... WE LOVE YOU!!!
u-

The Move

2008-10-08T23:02:00.000-04:00

These are really late because my photo device thing got packed and I was just able to find another one and upload my pictures to my laptop. ANYWAY, these are some fun pictures of the move.

Playing in boxes...

Playing in the newly emptied pantry...

Playing on the ramp up to the truck...

Helping Daddy load. (Thanks to Grant and Wiley for helping us move)...

Ok, I think during our stay at the mission house our stuff strangely multiplied...I don't know HOW we have so much stuff. We had a Uhaul truck, trailer, my mom's suburban and my explorer AND we still had to end up leaving some stuff behind to pick up in December when we go back for my graduation...

Our first week and a half in Houston has been great. When we drove up to Houston, 12 men from the church were ready to help us unload...what a BLESSING! Michael went into work the next day and hit the ground running. He LOVES his new position and has definitely been challenged in it. Our first Sunday was SPECTACULAR! We've been welcomed with open arms and Jonathan and I had our first playdate today with the Junior high youth minister's wife and son who is Jonathan's age.

On a personal note, we found out yesterday that we were approved for a loan, and we close on a house next Wed!! We've enjoyed staying with my parents, but are excited and looking forward to being on our own again. Stay tuned for more pictures coming soon!!

A Week of Goodbyes...Part Three

2008-10-01T21:54:00.000-04:00

Last Friday was my last day to watch Audrey. We so enjoyed the short time that God brought Audrey into our lives, and we're excited about what God has in store for her...Montessori school! Audrey's mom, Jessica, had really wanted to put her in, so we rejoiced together when she found a place.

Here is a great video of Audrey and Jonathan playing together...

Some other fun pictures of our last week together...

Goodbye, Audrey! Thank you for teaching Jonathan so much about friendship, sharing, and taking care of others. I hope that your mom and I stay in touch so that I can see you grow into a beautiful, Godly woman.

A Week of Goodbyes...Part Two

2008-09-24T14:57:00.000-04:00

Fort Worth supposedly has one of the best zoos in the country...random, huh? We took Jonathan last Spring, but he was really too young to get into it, then the summer was too hot, blah, blah. So, I definitely wanted to visit the zoo one more time before we left. My closest mom friend (we've never actually done anything without our kids despite great intentions, sniff sniff) has a season pass, so Jonathan and I got in free, wahoo!! Thanks, Annie!

With Annie and her little girl Danielle...

Looking at the gorilla (Jonathan can now beat his chest and roar like a gorilla...hysterical)

Close up with the gorilla...

Seeing the elephants...

Cool penguins! I hate that this shot didn't turn out better, but the kids were squealing and laughing and pointing. Every minute or so, another penguin would swim up close, it was so awesome!!

The train taking us back to the front of the zoo...

Goodbye Fort Worth zoo, and more importantly, goodbye Annie and Danielle. Thank you so, so much for being a phenomenal friend--for watching Jonathan for me so much when I was in school, for giving me needed breaks, for teaching me so much about parenting and for much needed conversation. I will always cherish this time that I had with you! And don't worry, Jonathan and Danielle can still get married!! ;>

A Week of Goodbyes...Part One

2008-09-23T23:16:00.000-04:00

While we are ecstatic to be moving closer to family, there are many things I will sorely miss about Fort Worth. We will certainly miss all of our good friends we have made. We will also miss the city of Fort Worth itself. It has everything you need, without all the traffic/smog/humidity of Houston (boo hoo). SOOOOO, I am attempting to visit everything and everyone I love one last time before heading out.

This past Saturday began with Reagan's birthday party. Reagan and her two sisters attend our church, and she invited Jonathan to her party at McDonald's. Jonathan had a GREAT time running around, eating his Happy Meal and eating cupcakes. Also at the party were our good friends Sean and Lendy and their two boys Daniel and Zachary, who are in this picture.

Sitting by Hope, Reagan's younger sister...

Yummy frosting!

Thank you Reagan for a wonderful time. Jonathan will miss not getting to know you better, but we look forward to keeping up with you and hearing about all the wonderful things that you do.

One of the things I will most sorely miss about Fort Worth is the Botanic Gardens. About 15 minutes from our house is a beautiful, peaceful, quiet escape. Jonathan can run around without hindrance, and I can enjoy the beautiful flowers, fountains, and waterfalls. I have escaped there numerous times and Saturday afternoon, Jonathan and I escaped there one last time.

Stopping for a milk break...

Wide open spaces for little boys to run around and also for lovely picnics...

A quiet pathway is just on the other side of these bushes...

As many stairs as a little boy could hope for...Those of you who have been to Asia will laugh at me, but I feel like I'm in Japan when I look up at this sight...

So long beautiful gardens! Thank you for many afternoons of wonderful memories from weekend studying to picnics with Michael to playing with Jonathan. I'll miss you!

Houston

2008-09-20T10:59:00.000-04:00

It is with a mixture of sadness and anticipation that I announce that we are moving to Houston. The trip down to Houston during Ike, believe it or not, was to go in view of a call at Copperfield Church. Despite not having any electricity, we had two services Sunday morning and the church voted Sunday night in favor of bringing us on staff. Our last Sunday here in Fort Worth is Sept. 28th, and we'll pull out and off to Houston the next morning. Please pray for us as we get packed up (difficult with a toddler running around), look for houses, and embark on a new journey.

Here is a picture of Copperfield Church. It's only 8 miles from my parents' house (it takes 30 min with Houston traffic, stop signs, etc, booo) but it's closer than 4 hours. We're REALLY looking forward to being closer to family (free baby-sitting?? ;>). We're also really excited about the opportunity to serve at Copperfield. It's a super-contemporary church (Michael will wear jeans on Sunday morning) looking to add a few traditional elements (more choir participation, some hymns, etc) so Michael is a perfect fit for the position. Going somewhere new is always a little nerve-racking, though, so again please pray for our transition there.

Jonathan is doing GREAT! He continues to grow and develop, learning to share, say more words, and getting more and more into Da-da. I think he's getting used to the trip down to Houston, because he seems to be travelling a little better. I went down to Houston just for the day yesterday to look at houses and he did great! I've been VERY delinquent about taking pictures, but here is a cute little one I just couldn't resist sharing.

He loves doing silly things to make me laugh...that is definitely one part of his daddy that he inherited!

IKE!!!

2008-09-15T11:27:00.000-04:00

So, we definitely went down to Houston this past weekend for a pre-scheduled visit. Yes, we know, we're crazy, but it was really quite an adventure!! We stayed with my parents Wed-Sunday. Thursday and Friday we made preparations for the storm. My brother came to stay with us, too, so it was fun everyone being together. The storm started Fri night and we finally lost power at about 2am Saturday morning. 4-5 am was the worst of the storm, and Michael and I sat up watching it. It was actually pretty exciting, until we saw a 100 ft. pine tree fall in my parents' backyard. Jonathan slept through the whole thing (amazingly) and didn't wake up until about 7am. The worst of the storm was over around 10, so we went out to survey the damage...

Jonathan loved getting out with his daddy. This picture makes us look like such irresponsible parents, but it was actually quite warm and muggy outside and the wind wasn't blowing, so Jonathan wasn't in any danger.

This is my parent's backyard. This picture was taken looking out of my parent's back door into their neighbor's backyard. There's supposed to be a fence in between theirs and their neighbor's yard...

Saturday afternoon, Michael and I had major cabin fever. We joined the crowd of idiots who wasted precious gas to survey the damage. We found huge trees all over the place--on top of houses, on top of cars, and in streets. Signs were ripped apart all over the place, AND stoplights were dangling in the middle of intersections...

Thankfully, my parents' house was fine. On Sunday we decided we had enough and drove back to Fort Worth to get some AC. Thanks mom and dad for letting us experience the hurricane with y'all--we needed some excitement in our lives!! ;>

Sweet Daddy Times

2008-09-06T13:58:00.000-04:00

Anyone who's spent time around our family knows that Jonathan is a complete and total Mama's boy. If I'm around, he doesn't want anything to do with anyone else. Most of the time, I LOVE that he's so attached to me...there are times however, when it would be nice to have 5 min to get something done without Jonathan clinging to me. Just lately, though, he's started getting more into Michael, much to Michael's and my delight.

The Sound of Music was playing on TV the other night, and Jonathan just climbed up into Michael's lap. I had to run get my camera to record this sweet moment!!

The next day Michael was mowing the lawn, and Jonathan was of course fascinated with the noise. Jonathan stayed in the back yard with Michael for about 30 min, leaving me time to get a lot of laundry done indoors. YEAH for the break!!!!! Here's a picture of Jonathan "helping" Daddy push the lawn mower back to the garage. Michael's ready to pass that job off as soon as Jonathan is big enough to push the mower by himself!!

There have been so many other times when I'm cooking dinner and Jonathan will try to play catch with me and I'll say, "Throw the ball to Daddy!" Before, Jonathan might cry and stomp his feet and Michael would have to carry him into the back kicking and screaming, but now he'll happily run over to Michael and throw him the ball! YEAH! Michael is delighted to be able to play with and show/teach Jonathan new things and I am delighted that Michael is able to bond with Jonathan in this way. Sweet Daddy times indeed.