Things I never thought I'd be saying. . .

1. Share your underpants with your sister! She wants to play with them too.

2. We don't stand on the dog. Or jump on her. Or sit on her.

3. The rule at Bible study is that you have to wear your clothes. You can't go in just your underpants.

4. You have to wear your clothes to church. You don't see Uncle Andy or Grandpa Hal going to the Chrsitmas Eve service in their Elmo underpants, do you??

5. The carrots want to go to the party in your tummy. You don't want them to be sad, do you?

Steven

I took the kids in for their 1 year and 2 year appointments last week, and Steven is still growing (of course!). He is now 36.5 inches and 33 pounds. That's an inch taller than he was two months ago. He is very, very busy and loves to dance and listen to music. His favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba, and he listens to their cd at least once a day. Interestingly enough, his favorite song is "Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose."

He loves his sister and is (usually) very nice and somewhat gentle with her. They wrestle together, but Michelle dishes it out just as much as he does :)

His favorite food is peanute butter and jelly sandwhiches, which he pulls apart and licks off all the jelly before eating. He also loves cheese roll-ups (cheese in tortilla shells) and calls them "Taco Bells."

He is day time potty trained, and I'm just about ready to work on nap time and night time potty trained. The tricky part will be that he still sleeps in a crib, and we aren't ready to move him to a toddler bed. He would spend half his time playing instead of sleeping, and now that he and Michelle share a room, he'd probably harass her half the night too. He's sleeping through the night again after having a period of nightmares, so we're sleeping through the night again too. (Yay!!)

He's still a snuggle bug, which we love. . .most of the time :)

He insisted getting his picture taken in his outfit of choice--gloves, underpants (although he wanted to skip those!), and Michelle's headband. However, he wouldn't turn around, so he must have wanted it of his backside!

Notice the layer of stickers on his chest?? He is a sticker fanatic, and he piles them on his chest every chance he gets.

I never really wanted to have a boy, but I'm sure glad we did! I can't imagine life without my Little Buddy!

Rocking Chairs!

The Mysterious Case of the Naked Peanut and The Three Way Call with the PD

Can you tell what kind of day it's been around here?? The day started early when the kids woke up before I was ready for them to, so I did what any good mom does--I let them watch tv :) For soem reason, Steven thinks it's the coolest thing EVER to watch his Raffi dvd on the computer while sitting in his crib. Throw in raisins and ritz, and it's his own personal heaven. I don't let him do it too often, but when I need some time to myself, I let him have this little treat. How can I say no to him sitting in his crib for an hour or so?!

Today I put Steven in Michelle's crib, gave them sippy cups and some crackers, and turned on Raffi. An hour or so later, I hear Michelle screaming. I could tell that she wasn't hurt, but she was MAD. Seriously mad. I didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't what I found. Michelle, stark naked. Footie pjs? Gone. Socks? Gone. Diaper? Definitely gone. Of course, I ran and grabbed the camera before helping her, but unfortunately, this is the only picture appropriate to post :(

I asked Steven what happened, and his response was "She no want it on! She no want it on!" I also asked him where the diaper was since I couldn't find it, and he pointed it and told me that it was in the basket of clean cloth diapers.

I still haven't figured out how it all happened. I don't think Michelle could have gotten her pj's unsnapped, unzipped, and off. Now taking the diaper off she could have done. She's tried to get her diaper off in the past, but I've always caught her in the act. If only we had a video monitor. . .

Tonight, while Mark was changing Michelle's diaper, Steven got a hold of my cell phone. (I forgot it when I ran out the door for work.) Mark grabbed it from him as soon as he saw him with it, not knowing that Steven had placed a couple calls until his parents called him. They had the most unusual message on their answering machine. It was from our local police department and was listing the different departments and their extensions. (They live 8+ hours away.) When they listed to it again, they heard a little boy talking too. Apparently Steven called the police and then my in-laws, facilitating a nice little three way call. I swear, this kid never stops!

Praising God. . .

That Ian and Alec are finally with their forever parents. . .forever!! God provided a way to get them from Haiti to Florida, and Pedro and Stephanie met them there.

What I've Been Up To

1. I ordered and picked up our Christmas cards. Yep, you read that right--Christmas cards. My goal is to get them mailed this week!

2. I started a new Bible study, and I'm very excited about it. I couldn't do it in the fall because it was going to be too much with my teaching schedule. It's a lot of work to get the kids out the door by myself, but it was so worth it!

3. My class started this week, and it went well. I have about 25 students in a rather small classroom (the smallest I've had in my 5 years there), so that makes it a bit of a challenge. The room is in a main hallway, so I can't keep the door open too much. It's also the only room I've ever taught in that doesn't have a thermostat. (Of course, they locked them all a few years ago, but still!)

4. I got pulled over for the first time ever. It was on my way home from class Thursday night, and the yellow light I went through turned red sooner than I expected. Seriously, though, if you slam on your brakes to stop here in Michigan, you're just asking to get rear ended! I got a ticket, but at least the officer wrote it for a seat belt violation instead of running a red (or more accurately, yellow!) light. It won't affect my insurance or give me points on my license, and it is a lower fine. It was an interesting experience, esp. since the officer had a lollipop in his mouth the entire time. Good thing Steven wasn't with me--he would have wanted it for himself!

5. I rearranged the kids' bedroom. They now share a room, and I had to take out one bookshelf, but I managed to fit everything else in without it looking crowded. I'm thrilled that it's working out for them to be in the same room--I love having the office back!

6. I got Michelle's scrapbook completely caught up and am ready to start working on Steven's. I have a huge pile of pages for Auntie E, but I don't know when/how I'll get them to her. Mailing them would be convenient, but we aren't really comfortable putting our return address on it, and I've worked way too hard (and spent too much money) to risk them getting lost in the mail. I'm going to be stuck soon, though, because I've run out of plastic pages, and the scrapbook shop I get them out went out of business. They don't carry them at JoAnne's, and I'm pretty sure Michael's doesn't have them either :(

Other than that, I've just been busy with the kids, folding laundry, and doing stuff like making three pounds of meatballs :)

What You Do When You're Two. . .

You take off your pjs for the fun of it.

You think you're hilarious.

You get all the cloth diapers you can reach and put them in your crib.


You ask your mommy to take a picture of your foot.


And then you decide you're done with pictures!

It's FUN to be two!

As Cute As Can Be!

Visiting the Neighbors

This afternoon, the kids and I headed out to visit the neighbors. I try to do this every once in a while, but with the holidays and Michelle being sick before that, we hadn't been over for a while. It has been important to me for us to get to know our neighbors. I don't want us to just wave hi and have that be the extent of our relationship, so I've made it a priority to get to know two of our neighbors.

The first person we went to see is our neighbor right across the street. I bundled up the kids and picked up Michelle to carry her across the street. We weren't even off the front step before Steven insisted that I carry him (snow boots and all!). I agreed because he was already cranky, so I picked him up and started walking. It was all fine until we hit the street. We got several inches of snow yesterday, and our roads haven't been cleared (nor were they from last week's snow). I was half way across the street when I skidded and slid and fell smack on my bottom (while still holding both kids). I must have sat in the street for a minute trying to figure out what happened before coming to my senses and getting myself and the kids up and out of the street. (And yes, there were witnesses!)

We made it to Jon and Cathy's house without any further problems only to find out that Cathy was too sick for visitors and was sleeping. Steven and I had picked a picture of a hippo out of his coloring book to take to her as a thank you for the Christmas gifts she had given the kids on Sunday. She was our priority visit because I thought the kids might be an encouragment to her after her chemo treatment on Wednesday. She only has one more, but they are getting more intense. This time she started getting sick before the treatment was even finished. She has early stage breast cancer, and we've been going over to visit her and encourage her regularly this fall/winter. Her prognosis is very good, but she does not know God. Our neighbors know that we go to church (and notice when we don't!), and they appreciate that we pray for them.

After dropping the picture off with her mother, we went to the next neighbor's house, this time crossing the street without falling :) We hung out with Dave and Judy for a while, and Steven loved that they gave him a box of crackers to eat. He was very good and made sure that Michelle always had a cracker too. He enjoyed giving their dog treats, and he even told me when he had to go potty. It was nice to catch up with them after not seeing them for almost a month.

Both of these neighbors are older than us (they have kids our age), and I think we're kind of their adopted kids at times :) Neither have grandkids, and they love to see Steven and Michelle and play with them. Even more importantly, neither of these neighbors know God, but they are both open to what I've had to say. It's hard to know what to say, but it's far harder to have the courage to say what you need to say. I'm praying that when we dedicate Michelle they'll come to church with us. I'm pretty confident that they will, so I'm anxious to get a date set for her dedication.

I'm also getting ready to start visiting another neighbor. Her name is Rodi, and she is Romanian. She has two boys, one in school, and one who is a year(ish) older than Steven, and just had a baby girl last month. Her husband is a truck driver, so he is gone for extended periods of time. From what I understand, she doesn't know too many people, and all of her family is still in Romania. When I talked to her in October, she was scared to death to have another baby and didn't know how she was going to do it. I'm planning on going over and inviting her to the mom's group I go to at our former church. I don't know where she is spiritually, but I'm pretty sure that she doesn't know God either, and I want to be there to show her Who He is and be an encouragement to her as she adjusts to life with three kids.

Would you join me in praying for our neighbors?

Did I ever mention. . .

that my dad got a job?! It's with an organization that he's been involved with for many years, and it's the perfect position for him! Yay Dad, and definitely yay God!

It's Been How Long?!

It's been FOURTEEN years since Mark first asked me out and ten years since I agreed to marry him. Wow, do I feel old! (Of course, we did get engaged when I was still a TEENAGER!)

Today So Far. . .

Steven (upon bringing me an empty plastic container): "Sadie wanted them." After scrambling for a minute, I remembered what was in the container--peanut brittle from the neighbor. The peanut brittle they gave me yesterday. The only peanut brittle worth eating. I ran to the living room (smashing my toes on something in the process) and grabbed what I could off the floor. I guess it's a good thing I ate so much of it yesterday after all because, yes, Sadie wanted them.

Later, after falling off the toy box (that he is allowed to stand on to look out the window), Steven kept crying that "All I need is love!" (I had asked him if he needed it rubbed--which he usually wants--or if he just needed some loving.) He also got a reprieve from going down for a nap since my toes were still hurting and Yo Gabba Gabba! would buy us both some time :)