Oh the Bliss!

~ Ben: "How can I give money to Jesus if he lives in my heart?" ~ Ben: ( At the park to some boys who were pushing Addison out of the way, yelled very loudly ); "BE NICE TO MY SISTER!" ~Addison: Instead of Oops or Uh oh, when she drops something she says, "Okie-dokie artachokie". ~ Addison: (When playing a game with Nana and Ben, Ben handed her the wrong blanket, which she unknowingly took because it was very dark, and started sucking her fingers): "This is not it!" (Realizing it wasn't the right D.) ~ Addison: (Upon waking up in the morning and finding me asleep in the bed next to her): "You sleep in Benny's bed? That is a GREAT idea!" Both of my kids, about 57 times a day: "I wanna go to Jonny's house." "I wanna go up in a oplane." (Airplane, Addison says Oplane.) "How many more naps till we go to Jonny's house?" I love Addison's outfit in this picture, she picked it out. Ben is getti...

I was thinking my backpack was on the heavier side so I decided to clean it out. Here's what I found:

This is a picture of the books I currently have on my nightstand. Two of them are staples, two are reference books, three are "parenting must reads" that I have only read the first couple of chapters (or pages) of, and the last five are books I really, really, really, REALLY want to start and finish in a timely manner. Actually, now that I look at the picture, I did start and finish Traveling Mercies, that book was SO good! I just started They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky, the true story of three Lost Boys from the Sudan, and -oh boy!- I think I'm going to love it, (Thanks Rick!). The introduction spoke right to my heart and immediately made me want to read the entire book in one sitting (a luxury I gave up on December 26, 2004). Here's an excerpt, doesn't it sound a lot like something I've written about before? "Two million dead. Five million displaced and at risk. A holocaust happening today. I recall the news stories over the years of famine related...

Saturday morning Carrie and I took the kids to Centennial Farm. I like that place because it's free and if you go this time of year you get to see lots of baby animals. Gigantic pigs? Not cute. Tiny baby piglets? SO cute! I usually like to hit up the produce section of the swap meet while I'm there, too. Here are a few pics from our morning. Adorable Gavin with two missing teeth. My Oh-SO-Sweet niece, Violet. (Who just turned one on March 7th!) "E sneak iel"

I have been feeling such overwhelming sadness lately. In fact, this is a rather hopeless and depressing post for me to write - quite a change from the usual, but it's what's on my heart. To me, there seems to be a heavy cloud covering us, enveloping us in a sickening fog. I feel like the earth is falling apart, figuratively and literally. Decades-long wars, starvation, economic meltdowns, corrupt leaders, AIDS, natural disasters, wars no one wants to be fighting and wars maybe no one should be fighting. I'm sad for America and what we've become to so many: a laughing stock, an enemy, a bully, a weak link. A couple of times lately when I'm out and about and I meet someone in their late 80's or so, I like to ask them what they think about America now and each time with their eyes downcast they sigh and shake their heads, probably remembering what we were, and say something like, "well it's not what it used to be". We're going down hill and every...

Rolling down hills - good idea. Rolling down hills with no shirt on - not such a good idea. Luckily we live really close to this park and he was home and in a bath in less than ten minutes. It doesn't always pay to be the mom who lets her kids freely romp in the great outdoors. Lesson learned; he'll have a shirt on next time for sure.

What do you think, does she like it?

Hot dog (that's for you B) we had some fun Monday! Gma, Howie and Nonny came down for a visit (we missed you, Papa Paul!). The kids were so excited to see them and I was too. First, let me tell you, that I was really productive in the morning and that just set the tone for an overall great day I think. Then I officially enrolled Ben in his school, which I was super giddy about. I kept asking a bunch of silly questions. I'm sure the ladies at the front desk made fun of me as soon as I walked out the door, first-timer , they probably snickered. Afterward the whole lot of us went to Ben's first official gymnastics class and watched him leap and jump and bounce and hang and swing and run all over that gym. He had a blast! No reservations, that boy, fearless. Probably the most exciting part of the day was setting up Addison (and Ben's) new bed! Tina put her mighty skills to work and found the exact daybed I was looking for for Addie's room. To backtrack a bit... Mark had...

I found this video of Ben when he was about the same age Addison is now, so just over 2 years old. Most of you have seen this, but it's always good to be reminded of how stinkin' funny Ben was. The boy just couldn't say blueberries for the life of him! Ben's favorite thing

Tonight I added just a tiny bit of applesauce to Troy's oatmeal, and, well, here's the result: He's also been pulling up on things lately. What!!!???? I know, I'm just as shocked as you are. But the truth is he's not getting any younger and now I find him all over the place, the trampoline, Addison's bed, the bookshelf. Yikes! The bookshelf! That reminds me, I need to figure out how to secure that thing because I have a feeling Troy will be the child that gets into and onto everything. We don't need him under everything too. I'm constantly picking up tiny chokeables from the ground seeing as how I've retrieved some really unsafe things from his mouth already. The other day it looked like he had something in his mouth but I couldn't see or find anything. About 20 minutes later I tried to give him his pacifier and he wouldn't/couldn't keep it in his mouth. I figured out he had a leaf stuck to the roof of his mouth. Lovely. He's also ta...

(Sorry the picture captions are all messed up, but I don't know how to fix that. Make it into a game of "Put the Caption with the Picture", it'll be fun.) Mark's Birthday Dinner Tman in his new jammies. Thanks Nana! The "Baaaaaa" monster. "A" for Adorable "Baaaaaa" Monster Video (No children were actually scared during the making of this video)

Today I was out front with the kids and chatting a bit with our neighbor, Parker. I asked him where he's going to high school next year and he told me he had two choices. I asked him how he was going to decided between the two, thinking he'd say "well I have more friends going to this one..." or "my parents want me to go to that one...". Instead he said, "I don't know, I guess pray about it." Wow. That is SO awesome that a 13 year old boy's way of making a decision is to pray about it. I love it!!! My hope is that my kids will have the same response to life's choices, knowing that God ultimately is in control and His will should be the desire of our hearts. What a powerful concept for Parker to have at such a young age. I love our neighbors!

It's only been a little over two months since Ben turned four, but I feel like he's aged about five years. Daily I am surprised, shocked, awed, and amazed by him. Last year I spent some time with Ben working on his letters and he wanted nothing to do with it. No desire to even try. Then one day, shortly after turning four, he busts out with this: After that he wrote "mom" on just about everything. On Valentine's Day the kids and I made cookies and cards for all the nighbors and Ben wanted to write each of their names on the envelopes. When he handed them back to me he said, "I wanted to write all their names, but I only know how to spell Mom, so I just wrote Mom on all of the cards." It was pretty cute. Since then he's been asking all the time how to spell different words, mostly people's names but never his own. The B was difficult for him so he wouldn't even try. Then one day, bam!: When he was two or so and not talking very much, or at all...

My hysterically funny, outrageously hilarious friend Beckey (Hippo Brigade) gave me one of the only things a blog writer really, truly writes for - A Blog Award. I'm so grateful. I've never been given anything Blog oriented before, though I've known people who have. I am just so touched that she would receive this award and think to pass it on to me (and seven others). I feel like I should write some sort of acceptance speech to really let Beckey know how truly honored I am. Maybe I could brush off the one I wrote 11 years ago when I was pretty sure I was going to win a Tony Award for my incredible acting skills which won me second place in the monologue category at a Shakespeare Festival. Apparently the Tony people didn't see my Much Ado About Nothing fantasticness because my Beatrice was stellar. Maybe they were busy that day. Fair enough, I chose the life of a silent star instead and now my acting skills are tested daily by three very tough critics. So this award mea...

I'm really looking forward to March because so many fun things are happening. We kick it off with Mark's b-day on Monday, then the rest of the month is filled with birthday parties and baby-showers for various family and friends. And the most exciting thing will happen probably towards the end when my newest baby nephew will be born!! His birthday is a tiny bit bittersweet for me because I probably won't get to actually meet him for many more months due to the fact that he lives across the pond, in London. Just like my all my nephews and nieces in the Lands of Faraway, this new baby will live waaaaaaaaaay too far away for me to be the doting Aunt I want to be. :-( I'm SO excited for Pam and my brother, and Jesse and Luci. I think Luci will have a blast being a big sister. So that's all, I'm excited for a new month. I'm looking forward to the end of cold and flu season and I'm really excited to have a month of fun celebrations. Lord please bless this mon...

I have a small stack of Gift Cards that have accumulated over the years, that's right -years, because I suffer from a little known illness called Gift Card Anxiety, or GCA. Due to this disorder it is very difficult for me to spend a gift card. While gifts cards usually come with the best of intentions to give me the freedom of buying whatever I want, it's really like giving me a little piece of torture wrapped in a bow. For example: Right now I have two gift cards to the same pedicure place. Who wouldn't love that? Well, my GCA sets in and all the sudden I can't decided if I want to use them at the same time and get extra special things I would never spend extra money on, like massages or fancy lotion, or do I spilt them up and go two times getting the basic deal? I've had a gift card to a favorite restaurant for almost two years now because the amount is sort of an awkward amount; not enough to completely pay for dinner. Do I go and get a really high priced meal f...

Troy has all but begged for food, solid food, lately so tonight I ground up some oats and made his first bowl of oatmeal. He LOVED it, as I knew he would. He was so happy about eating. He ate like a pro too, like he's been eating oatmeal for years. I did have to hold his hands down at first because he kept wanting to knock the spoon away, but after a little bit he figured it out and was SO pleased. This is just another way my little man has grown up over the last week or so. He's spent the last five nights in the crib in Ben's room. Or should I call it the "Boy's Room"? He's getting better at sleeping each night, and maybe with adding some food he'll sleep even better. (I actually think that's a myth, but some people swear it works). I can't believe I'm talking about cribs and solid foods and crawling and Troy all in the same sentence. I cannot believe it's been a half a year. In some ways he's still such a baby, but in other ways I...

Benefits of having a plugged ear. 1. It sounds like a rain-maker in my head. You know, one of those hollowed out wooden things with cactus needles or pine needles or something in it and when you turn it upside down all the needles trickle down and it sounds like rain. Yeah, that. That's what it sounds like inside my head when I'm in the shower or when I brush my hair or scratch behind my ear. My own personal rain-maker. Rather soothing. 2. When I'm singing worship in church and I think I'm harmonizing now I realize I'm not and I really sound tone deaf. Note to self: Reserve harmonizing talent for car or kitchen. (Some of my best singing is done in the kitchen.) 3. I can get out of doing things because I didn't hear someone ask me to do it, honestly. 4. I hear 50% less whining. 5. I didn't have to fully participate in a group discussion the other day because the leader was to the right of me and I couldn't hear any of her questions. I just smiled and nodd...