Mighty Ducks

For those not in Grand Rapids, let me share with you that there has been a blizzard here the last few days. Realizing that we would be snowed in and having my brother Nate back in town, we decided to pack up and head to my dad's for a couple of days and enjoy the winter storm all together.

Well, while we were there, Michael found a new kind of movie. He has always loved watching music DVDs and cartoon movies but Uncle Nate showed him one of his first real people actor movies so to speak - The Mighty Ducks. Boy did Michael have a blast with this movie. He bounced around on the couch yelling and cheering for all of the hockey scenes like they were real games. While we were there he saw movies 1 and 2 and can't wait to go back and see #3 sometime soon!

Presents at Thanksgiving

Since we have extended family in so many different places we have started a tradition where we visit one side of the family for Thanksgiving and the other for Christmas. This also lets us relax a bit more during the holidays and not try to be two places in one weeks time. So this year was Thanksgiving with the Haigs. We got the boys up at 4:30am on Tuesday that week and we arrived at Tim's grandma's house in New Jersey at 7:30 that evening. Besides being a really long trip it went well. I think Jon only whined for about 15 minutes the whole way!
We had a blast there with everyone. Even Sarah from China and Anne from South Africa were able to make it. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with beautiful live music from the family in the evening. And then we celebrated Christmas. Yes, you heard me right. Since we won't see them all for Christmas we shared our gifts with them and they had gifts for us too. One of these years Michael and Jon are going to be shocked to find out that giving Christmas presents is not a traditional Thanksgiving event.

World Record Holder

Michael is officially a world record holder!! We went to a sports stacking tournament a while back and Michael stacked great but we've been waiting for the final results to come in. Michael stacked a 15.84 second cycle which set the world record for 4 year olds and under. You can check out the article about it here:
http://www.worldsportstackingassociation.org/index.htm - just scroll down to the second box.

And here is the video Tim put together of the tournament. All of Michael's individual stacks also set MI records as did Tim and Michael's double stack. Tim also set a bunch of US records for his adult age division. How cool?!

Grief

I'm not really ready to post much, but I just don't feel right posting other things to this blog without first sharing the horrible life-changing news in my life. My mother passed away a couple of weeks ago - I almost can't believe it's been that long already. I talked to her on the phone the night before and she quietly passed away in her sleep during the night. I miss her so much.
Two things have been my saving grace these past weeks. First is faith. My mother was devoted to the Lord and I know that she is experiencing the amazing joys of heaven. And one day I will get to spend eternity with her. I don't know how people make it through this without that hope.
Second is my boys. They keep the joy around and force me to keep my sanity. Michael understands a bit about what is happening and it has been a true blessing to talk to him about death and heaven. It all seems so simple when presented to a 4 year old. The best thing I could leave him with is that it is a sad time because we will miss having her here with us, and it is a happy time because she gets to be in heaven with Jesus!

A trip to the farm

On Monday this week we took the boys to a farm in the area to pick some apples and pumpkins. They had a blast. I can't wait to scrap the pictures, but for now, here are a few to show off:

Oh where oh where can I find routine

I just visited my own blog (here) and noticed that the last post was July 7. If I don't write soon that will be two months and that is just way to long!
I love summer time. It always means vacations and times away from my normal day to day routine. However, I like coming back from vacations too and seeing my old life again. When I'm on vacation I have such a hard time getting anything done. I fall behind on the house work, barely keep up with laundry, forget about my devotional time, feel lazy a lot, and obvious don't post on my blog. I feel now, like we have been on vacation for a long time and unfortunately don't see a way back to my old routine for months. We have now sold our house in PA, moved to MI, spent over a month living with my wonderful parents, moved into our rental house for the year, visited the cottage, taken a summer course, celebrate both boys birthdays, taken a trip to Canada, and so much more - it has been a packed summer. Now we are looking towards fall. However, Tim is going to be subbing and taking classes online this fall and so his schedule is going to be up in the air each day depending on if he gets a sub job that day. I'm going to be taking two classes at Calvin and trying to fit in time to do homework on the days Tim is home without work. I feel like we are going to be on a day to day schedule all fall and I'm not really looking forward to it. I need to find some way to make a routine for it. I need to get my daily life back!!! :)

The calm between the storms

Sorry I haven't been on much. We are having two very busy months right now. For the past few weeks we have been moving. We packed a POD up with most of the stuff from our house - I forgot to take pictures but it was an incredible packing job if I do say so myself. :) It was like one gigantic tetris game. Then we drove a load in our cars up to Grand Rapids and spend three wonderful but way to short days at the beach on Lake Michigan. Then back to Pittsburgh to sell the house (Yahhh! All went so smoothly) and then off to a hotel for two days. Then we said good-bye to Tim who headed for Virginia for two weeks for classes while we drove up to Grand Rapids. We have spent one week here trying to catch up on some much needed rest. Now I feel like I have energy and time to fill this week ahead before Tim comes back and I take a two week intensive course at Calvin.

While we are in the calm week of our busy summer I thought I'd update you all with some pictures of the cutest boys ever!

Here are some pictures from the time at the cottage. Jon loved walking:

Michael and CJ watching cartoons:

Out in the lake:


The hit at the hotel was the pool. Michael loved it and swam by himself with the water wings. Jon was overwhelmed at first by the cool temp and the loud noises, but soon he was having tons of fun too.



For the 4th of July we went and saw a parade. Michael was told that if he waved at the trucks they would throw him candy.



And then there was a carnival too:



Grandma treats!

Jon Walks!

He has been so close the past two weeks. And tonight he did it:




He was so excited that he just kept giggling and trying for a hour or so and it took us forever to get him to go to sleep tonight. I can only imagine the trouble he is going to get himself into this week with his new skill!

Some picture updates

Yah! Jon who has been refusing to take a bottle, is finally learning to drink from a cup! He actually adapted to it fairly quickly once I starting remembering to offer it him on a daily basis. I hope that this will come in handy during our upcoming move when finding a quite nurse might be next to impossible.







Check out this cool shot! Michael who last summer decided that he was deathly afraid of slides has resigned himself to the fact that they really might be fun! He loves the play area at the zoo and especially this slide. By the way, if you have children and are in the Pittsburgh area, the zoo here is a must - it has got to be one of the top zoos for children. Amazing play areas and a path around to see all the animals that isn't too long or too short.




On this trip to the zoo, Michael was allowed to take our old camera along to take his own pictures. He was so proud of himself. Which reminds me, I haven't downloaded the pictures from that camera yet. It will be fun to see if any of the animals actually made it into the shots!










Michael is getting ready for a hair cut. After we wet his hair he wanted it up like the "spiky fish." (Reference to a porcupine like fish in Super Mario World.)










Well, Jon is now standing up on his own. He cruises around furniture and lets go all the time. However, whenever we try to get him to take a step, he just falls to the ground and crawls to us with a giggle. Maybe that is for the better. He already gets into everything (see further down) and walking can really only lead to even more trouble!




Michael has been begging to go golfing, so we took a family trip to the driving range and mini golf course. While Michael is actually pretty good on his own (for a three year old at least), he did get some lessons from Dad.























Jon got to take a ride on my back for the day. This carrier worked great, although Jon still found ways to get his arms free and scare me that he might topple over or something. He was very happy to be hanging out with the family, which is his favorite thing to do!





Michael is still very addicted to cup stacking and we are trying to find a way to get him to a couple of official tournaments this year. Check out this link for some videos!















Just an amazing adorable face!












Michael love to practice his basketball. Here he is dribbling. I think he can get three dribbles in a row now!



















And here is Jon getting into trouble. He fascinated with doors right now - they close and they open, oh my!

Home Inspection - check!

Monday was our home inspection. We had to be out of the house by 8:00am, so we took the boys to Chick-fill-A for breakfast. Michael thought the idea of eating breakfast at a restaurant was a pretty cool idea, and of course loved the indoor playground there. (Actually that is why we chose the place.) Then we had an open house at Michael's preschool to pick up a picture book they made for him. When we swung by the house to pick up sunglasses and they will still at it.
We picked up a friend of Michael's from church and took the boys to the zoo for the day. They had a blast running everyone and seeing all the animals, although they both agreed that the playground and ice cream at the end of the day were the best.
So then we came home to an empty house and wondered what the results of the inspection were. We just found out tonight that all went well. There were a couple of things like poor window seals that came up, but nothing the buyer won't accept. So another step towards our move can be checked off the list!

Who loves you the most?

Tim loves to tuck Michael in bed at night. He tells him that he loves him and that Mommy loves him and then asks, "But who loves you the most?" Michael smiles and answers, "Jesus."
Today the Lord reminded me of the same thing. I've messed up today. I yelled at my kids, I was lazy with my word, I didn't respond in love when I should have. But then I sat down to read God's word and he reminded me how much he loves me. How cool is it that God loves us not because of anything we've done, but just because. Such a simple lesson, but such a great reminder!

Chores

Michael is getting so good at doing chores. He can load silverware, plates, and cups in to the dishwasher and can clean up most of the entire living room and his room. Now I do need to say that he is no where near fast at it or perfect. When he cleans up toys, he is easily distracted and plays with each toy before putting it away. And after he puts away silverware, I have to go through and resort the soup spoons from the regular ones. But he is getting in the habit of doing chores and that is the important thing. In addition, of course, we have the usual "I don't want to" and "I'm too tired" that any parent probably gets. I usually just repeat the instruction and Michael knows that I'll follow through and make him complete the task no matter what.

Today I just realized that Jonathan is getting old enough to start teaching him to help with the chores too! You may be saying, wait, I'm keeping track and he's only 10 months old?! Yes, I know. But that is the perfect age for me to start teaching him about putting toys back in the buckets. He is so good at emptying them, so why not teach him to fill them too. I start by just taking his hand in mine and helping him to pick up a couple toys - that's it at first. Later we can move to cheering for him to pick them up on his own. :)

Memorial Day picnic

On Monday we had our church Memorial Day picnic. It is always so much fun to get together with these great folks just to hang out, chat, play, and eat!
Michael had a blast playing all sorts of sports out in the grass. He hit baseballs, threw footballs, and ran all around. Jon had a blast on a blanket with a buddy of his who is only a month younger than him. They stole each others toys, grabbed at each others hair, and tried to drink from each others cups.
Our church has been our life here in Pittsburgh - we love our West Ridge family. We sure are going to miss them when we move. It has been a bit bitter-sweet this month. We are so excited about all that God is doing in leading us forward, but that also means starting to wind down on some of our involvement here. If only we could just move our church family with us....

Jon and the Bathtub

Jonathan loves baths. He gets so excited when we carry him into the bathroom and practically jumps out of our arms and into the tub. Tim is usually the bath giver, so he will take the boys up and get them settled. Without fail, about 5 minutes later, he is calling out, "Jonathan is done, can you come get him!" You see Jon enjoys the bath so much that no one else can enjoy the time much.
Tim feels like he is one arm short in bathing Jon. You need two arms to hold him and one arm to clean him with. Jon crawls all over the tub, stands up, tries to crawl out, grabs at anything and everything, and well you get the point - he is a handful (or more like three handfuls).
Poor Michael is resolved to hiding out in the corner of the tub. Jon splashes and splashes him, grabs at his toys, and tries to crawl over him. I think it is the only time Jon seems to have the upper hand in their relationship.
And me, well I try to sit down for some peace and quiet while Tim is in charge of the boys and five minutes later, my quiet time is over.
Jon's favorites:
*Splashing until everything and everyone is soaked.
*Trying to drink out of the plastic cup in the tub.
*Having water dumped over his head!

Some scrapbook pages

Just wanted to share. :)

The Lord's Timing

Last year about this time we were hearing from the Lord that we were moving back to the Grand Rapids area. We sent our resumes, looked at schools, and tried to get ready for the move and no doors opened. We wondered if we were to step out in faith like Abraham. Then we met with Pastor and God opened a door for us to remain in Pittsburgh for another year and for Tim to complete some classes online.
So now back to this year. The Lord is still telling us to head back to GR and so we started searching again for doors and can I just tell you - they are opening with no effort on our part, one right after the other in front of us as if the Lord is pushing those handicap buttons for us. We put out one call for realtors and found a pair that are working out perfect for us. We had an offer on the house that was going to have some snags and it fell through only to have another one come that we've accepted. It is for the perfect amount of money and with the perfect closing date! (June 26 by the way.) The Lord has someone great to take over Tim's job at the church. We have several leads on jobs ourselves. And I got an e-mail from my adviser at Calvin saying that this was the last year I could get back into my master's program and asking if I wanted my name added to the scholarship applications. Not only did I add my name but I ended up getting two scholarships that will pay for almost 2/3 of my tuition for this year. Oh, and would you believe I just got $5 out of a cereal box this morning?
The Lord is so good at providing!
So where does that leave us? Well, we just continue to walk through the doors and wait for God to push the button to open the next.

What part of spring are you?

As part of a blog challenge at Sweet Shoppe Designs I took a "What part of spring are you?" quiz. My hubby will be proud to know that I'm:

You Are Baseball Games

You like old fashioned things. You're one of those people who values tradition. You enjoy a slow pace of life. You believe that life is all about enjoying every moment. You love the changing of the seasons, and you look forward to what each season brings. You are smart and a bit obsessive. You become very immersed in your interests.

What Part of Spring Are You?

Funny thing is we're actually planning our first Bball outing of the season for next Sunday. We're taking a group of kids from church with us so it should be a blast! Hopefully the Pirates can pull together and win for us!

Want to take the quiz yourself?

The house

Our house is on the market. For those who don't know, we are packing up and moving to Michigan this summer to be closer to family. So we have our house of for sale. So here is the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The bad: It has been very hard getting people to come and see the place. It's been on the market for almost a month now and we've had three showings. Our second showing led to an offer, but it was soon after withdrawn.

The good: We just got a call from our realtor saying that the person who came through today (our third showing) is very interested. He is going to be finalizing some financial things on Monday and then might be ready to make an offer. So you all can be praying about that!

And what is the ugly you may ask: I'm suppose to keep the house VERY clean so that it is ready to show whenever. Now I've never been a great housekeeper, but this has got to be hard for just about anybody. Especially since Jon is just loving the fact that he has learned how to crawl and is trying to find all the cool places he can go and all the fun things he can pull out of their place. And just today he learned how to open the the kitchen cupboard where the trash is kept, so we might be in for even more of a treat! Michael, while he can make a mess just as good as any other 3 year old, is at least old enough to help with the cleaning too now. He picks up toys, helps sort laundry, does some of the dishes, and also keeps Jon distracted so I can clean the bathroom without Jon crawling on me and grabbing the cleaning products. So Michael has been a huge help, but I think he will be done with cleaning for a long time after all this - and maybe I will too!

because...

I have a three year old child. All day long I'm bombarded with questions. Why? How? When? Why? What? Who? Where? Why?? While I love to talk to Michael and explain to him all the ins and outs of how everything works and why it is that way and how I know that to be true, there comes a limit to the how many times I can answer seemingly the same question over and over again. So I have picked up a statement from my mother-in-law. "Sometimes Mommies know thing."
So today, completely out of the blue, Michael comes to me and asks, "Why do Mommies sometimes know things?" So I used my other favorite question ending answer. "Because that's the way God made Mommies!"

Teeth

Just a note to say that Jonathan got his first teeth overnight. He woke up this morning with two sharp teeth through his lower gum!

My numbers boy

Here is the following conversation I just overheard while Tim was in the kitchen and Michael was watching the Bulls/Celtics game and keeping Tim updated.
Michael: "The Bulls are winning by 2!"
Tim: "Why? How much do they have?"
Michael: "one hundred one"
Tim: "And how much do the Celtics have?"
Michael: "ninety-nine"
Tim: "Yup, they're winning by 2 alright!"

How is that for number knowledge for a 3 year old?!

Updates on Michael

As promised here are some things going on with Michael right now:

He is three and half and anxiously awaiting his 4th birthday, although it's over 4 months away. He has realized that most of his friends at church are older than him and always will be which upset him, so we started talking about those who he is older than. Now he will sporadically come up to me and say, "Mom, do you think Jonathan will catch up to me? NO! He won't! When Jonathan turns 1, I'll be 4, when Jonathan turns 2, I'll turn 5, ..."

On a related note, Michael loves numbers. He can count to 100 now and recognize them too. He wants to learn to write them all now. He is also beginning to understand addition and subtraction.

Michael is even more into all things sports. He still talks daily about how football will start up again after his birthday. He got very much into watching March madness and cheering for the teams that he picked out. Although, his loyalties to any team are pretty thin and will likely shift to whichever team is currently winning. He hates that he has to go to bed before a game is over and can't wait to ask who won in the morning. He likes to play sports too, and with the weather getting warmer, loves to go outside on the back deck. He loves for us to pitch him balls to hit and play defense while he shoots hoops.

Michael is learning how to stall. Within minutes of going to bed, he is usually back downstairs under the pretense of having to go to the bathroom again. Then he will continue to ask question after question until we finally assist that he return to bed. Then there is the need for one more hug and kiss, etc, etc, etc.

Michael loves being a big brother. His favorite thing to do with Jonathan is play tackle!

Jonathan Update

He is crawling! It happened Sat evening. Tim and Michael built a tower for him to knock over and put it out of reach and Jon just went for it. He crawls like one of those wind up baby dolls that crawls - very small movements, all of which seem to be identical. It is so cute! And if that's not enough, he also has taken a couple of steps cruising around the table. So we are in trouble soon! But so very excited for him. :)

Some updates on Jonathan

He is eating a wide variety of foods and enjoying it immensely. The newest addition has been banana bread that makes a huge enjoyable mess. Next up is trying to teach him how to drink from a cup and not just from his mother.

He still loves his pacifier but doesn't fully understand it:
*When he has his paci in his mouth in his high chair, he will pick up a Cheerio, bring it to his mouth, and then stare at his hand in disbelief that it is still there and didn't get past the paci into the mouth.
*When I lay him on my lap and get ready to nurse, he sucks all the more aggressively on his paci in excitement. He then gets mad at me if I don't start feeding him or if I take the paci out of his mouth. Sometimes you just can't please a kid!
*We did a week long experiment to try and get him to fall asleep without his paci to hopefully reduce the number of times he wakes up during the night needing it put back in his mouth. He now goes down fine without it, but still wakes up crying consolable throughout the night until he gets it. This one he seems to understand just fine, but his parents to not.

He still doesn't have any teeth.

He is soooo close to crawling. Right now it is just backwards and in circles, but.... any day now I just know we will need to rebaby-proof the house. When I got him up from his nap today he had rolled over onto his stomach which is the first time he has done this unassisted I think.

He adores watching his big brother. And whatever Michael can build, Jonathan can destroy faster!

Well I think that pretty much sums up his life right now: Sleep, eat, play, poop (although I'm sure you don't want details on that last one. lol)

I'll be back later this week to update you all on Michael. :)

Praise the Lord!

I got 8 hours of sleep last night!!
Jonathan has still been waking up 4-5 times a night most nights. Sometimes we can just give him his paci and sometimes he cries until I nurse him. And I do not do well without good sleep at night. I've still been spending my days in the "I've just had a newborn" daze where my patience is short and I can barely get anything done. So about a week ago, we decided to give him a shot at learning to sleep without his paci in hopes that when he wakes up in the middle of the night he'll be able to settle himself back down. The first couple of nights went way better than I hoped. We had off and on crying, but never more than 30 minutes. And he was waking only 1-2 times a night. Then two nights ago was back to 4 times and I though we were doomed. But, last night the little angel went down perfect - no crying, and slept until 7:00 this morning without a peep. I feel so refreshed! .....Now, let's see, I should probably get some things done this morning with all this energy! :)

Michael Got Dressed

Michael has been able to dress himself for a while now. However he still runs into trouble with his shirt getting twisted or his socks not going on. And of course there is the daily "I don't want to"'s or the "I need help" when he really doesn't. So getting dressed has still remained a chore that I need to participate in. I usually goes like this:
Me: "Michael it's time to get dressed."
Michael: "I don't want to get dressed." (Michael doesn't ever like to change anything, ever!)
Me: "Well, you have to. Do you want to pick your shirt or should I?"
Michael: "You pick!"
I go in and get out some clothes for him and call him to come again.
Michael: "I need you to stay and watch!"
Michael then very slowly takes his pjs off and starts to put on his clothes, while taking a minute or two here and there to play with the trains or talk to Jon or anything else he can think of to get distracted by.
I finally give in and start trying to help him along.

Today however was...
Me: "Michael it's time to get dressed."
Michael: "I don't want to get dressed."
Me: "Well, you have to."
And I go into his room about two minutes later to tell him again that he needs to get dressed and I find him fully done. He picked everything out and put it all on himself (and correctly too). Way to go Michael!

My Shopping Trip This Morning

To do list before leaving the house:
Get dressed: check
Get Michael dressed: check
Get Jon dressed: check
Make sure Michael goes potty: check
Comb hair: check
Put on make-up: ooopps
Change Jon's diaper: check
Get shopping list: check
Get coupons: check
Get shopping bags: check
Strap Jon in carseat: check
Strap Michael in carseat: check
Put on my seat belt: check

Well, I almost remembered everything. I can't believe I'm one of those moms that ventures out of the house without make-up!! At least I showered. :) And I suppose the fact that I remembered both of my boys is a good thing too. lol

Maybe it's mommy brain.... pregnancy and postpartum hormones really do mess up your memory. Or maybe it's just that I have so many things to keep track of with the boys that I can't remember my own things. Oh, well, I haven't left the house in my pajamas yet so I guess that's something.

...

OK, well I did walk out once in slippers, but I caught myself on the front porch and came back in for shoes - does that count?!

Half Birthdays

Growing up, half birthdays were a fun celebration at my house. Like most kids we were fascinated by birthdays and spent hours figuring out when we would be 10 1/2 or 10 3/4 etc. For our half birthdays my mom would make a round cake, cut it in half and layer it to make a "half cake." Then we would get one present. This was such a fun tradition.
Last month was Michael's half birthday and I realized I forgot to share our celebration for all of you. I let Michael help me frost his cake - I did the frosting, he added more than enough sprinkles. :) Then when he wasn't looking later in the day I added a matchbox car. Tim always got a car on his cake growing up and we did one for Michael on his 3rd birthday and he thought it was the greatest. So when I brought the cake out with the car, he just got soooo excited. It was a cool blue race car that opened up to show the engine - a definite hit! We sang a half birthday song, ate the cake, and Michael played with his new car. It was a simple but fun night!
On a side note, when I made the cake there was enough batter to fill two pans. I only needed one pan to layer and make the "half cake" so I had another cake sitting around. Michael's idea was that we should save that one for when he turns 4! He was disappointed to find out that it would get yucky if we waited that long to eat it.

Sitting and Playing

I realized today that this is the 4th year in a row, that I've had a baby in the house to entertain, and specific to this post a 6-9month old. Three years ago it was Michael, then it was Casey, a little girl I babysat for a couple days a week, and last year it was Shane, a little boy I sat for. And now, or course, there is Jonathan. My recollection of this age with the other three was that this was an age of frustration, both for them and me. They were no longer content to just sit and stare at things, but not mobile enough to keep themselves entertained, so they would sit on the floor and constantly cry for more toys to be brought to them.

Jonathan, though, has so far been very content to just sit and play with thing on the floor. Don't get me wrong, he wants to be mobile and really tries, but he is also content to just be sometimes, especially when he is sitting and can see other people. Now, I don't know if this is just because Jon is so much more laid back than the others or if it is because I have gotten "better." For example, I have found that I can fill a bucket with toys and set it next to the child. Then there is a supply of toys for him to pull out and play with and when the toys run out there is always the never failing entertaining bucket! On the Jonathan side, he seems to love people more than things, so if he can sit where he can see me or Michael he is very happy. And his two fav things to play with are his paci and his socks which is easy entertainment. :) He works so hard to get his sock (his left one) off his foot. This can take a good 5-10 minutes. Then another 10 minutes of entertainment is chewing on it and seeing all the fun noises he can make while holding the sock in his mouth.

All in all, Jon has been the easiest 6-9 month baby for me. I'm so glad too, because I was dreading this age a bit. Hope it stays so fun!

Awesome Humbling Future

In Philippians 1: 23-24, Paul says, "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body." I use to read that and think, how could he truly wish for such a thing. I felt like there was so much of life I still wanted to experience and so many things I could do with God's help for the kingdom here on earth. Why would I long to die and leave it all behind? I began pray that I would understand this and that I would develop such a longing for Christ that this could honestly be my prayer too. I have since forgotten about that prayer.
Today I was reading in Numbers for our church's devotional plan and read the passage where Aaron is called up on the mountain and there he dies. My thought was, "Wow, how cool that must have been for him to finally meet the Lord face to face." Aaron served the Lord in His tabernacle, interceded for the people of Israel, and spoke the Lord's words to friend and foe. But God was always veiled in his interactions. How refreshing it must have been for Aaron to meet the Lord, worship Him in glory, and rest in His grace and love.
I was reminded of my old prayer and see know that God answered it. I too, long for the day when I can meet Him face to face. I long to leave the struggles and sadness of this world and bask in the Son! Now please don't think that I'm going to end my life or think morbid thoughts about death. It's not that at all! I'm happy and content to remain on earth and serve the Lord however He desires, but I look forward to my awesome and humbling future resting at His feet and singing His praises for eternity! Praise God!

New scrapbook pages

I've had some fun times scrapping lately! Here are a few pages:


credits: Chocolate Parfait and Star Quality by Jennifer Barrette, alphas by Traci Reed and Amanda Rockwell, font is Teckton Pro






credits: Tender Hearts by Lisa West; 2 stamp by Traci Reed; fonts are Dolphin, Eras Light ITC, and Forte






In this layout, I was challenged to describe my life or my mission in 7 words!

Credits: Grungy graph background by Gretchen Tripp, Foxy Lady, Party Pants, Lilac Garden by Miss Mint, an alpha by Sherri Tierney and another by Diannalynn Claridge, fonts are Bradley Hand, Dolphin, Elephant, Footlight MT Light, and Poor Nut, All That Pops photo effect by Holly McCaig






Credits: Winter Wonderland by Creations by Rachel






Credits: Honey Bunch by Kristin Cronin Barrow, scribbled alpha by Miss Mint, glitter dots/hearts by Brenda Smith, All That Pops photo effect by Holly McCaig, font is teckton pro, scraplift of SeattleSheri

100 Million Dollars

Tim tells me today that there is a football player who just signed for $100,000,000. I can't even imagine that kind of money?! Actually, I can barely comprehend $100,000. What a different life that must be. But then, I looked back at my life, and I realized that while I certainly won't turn it away if the Lord wants to give us 100 million bucks, I'm glad right now that we don't have the weight of that. What an amazing responsibility it would be to have to make decisions about that type of money and to be open to all of the temptations that come with it. Just my random thought for the day. :)

Michael's Heart

So last Thursday was Michael's valentine party at preschool. He got to write his name on 16 valentine cards and pass out treats. I guess they also made hearts out of some type of clay material and let them dry over the weekend. Yesterday, Michael came home with his:















Now before you all tell me that he's a bit slow because this really looks nothing like a heart, I think he's just well advanced for his age. It does look remarkably like the heart muscle in the body!


ETA: Michael calls it his "fancy heart." While we were on vacation in Jan we ate at Friendly's which has a cursive capital F in their logo. Michael wanted to know what letter Friendly's started with and when I told him "F" he looked at me with the "you're crazy" look, explaining that it didn't look like an F. So I was trying to explain cursive to him and we ended up settling on calling it a "Fancy F." So now, whenever he writes a letter or does anything and it doesn't end up looking right, Michael refers to it as "fancy."

Jon's got a cold

Poor little guy. He is just miserable. His eyes are watery, his nose is running, and he is drooling up a storm. He was up at 6am this morning unable to fall back asleep b/c his nose was so stuffed. I feel so bad because there really isn't anything we can do. I give him Tylenol a couple of times a day because he has a low grade fever with it all too, and we nurse, play, fuss, nurse on about an hour rotation all day long. Please pray that he is better soon!

Jonathan and eating

Jonathan now has a food repertoire of 5 thing: breastmilk, rice cereal, sweet potato, applesauce, and today, oatmeal. He of course loves the milk the best! But is also enjoying the solids. Unlike his brother, though, he does not seem fascinated by new flavors. Every time we introduced Michael to something new to eat he made a "disgusted - what was that face" and then fell in love and begged for more. Each new flavor was better than the last.
Jon on the other hand, seems to enjoy new foods, but really only wants a couple of bites of them. His favorite solid so far is the very bland and blander rice cereal. When we give him anything else he eats a couple bites and then just looses interest. With the rice cereal, he eats and eats and begs for more making happy screeches and squeals all the while. I'm not really sure what that means for him, that he prefers the boring to the fun new tastes but.... maybe he's just loyal to his first love! :)

He Did It!

We put Jon down to sleep last night at 8:00 and he didn't wake up until 7:00am! What did it? Well, it's hard to tell for a boy who doesn't seem to do much of anything in a pattern. But some of you know he has been having trouble with really dry skin that he just rubs raw until it bleeds. We seem to have finally found a prescription cream that is clearing it up, so it might be that he just isn't waking up itchy or sore during the night. I hope this is one trend Jon will continue with!!

New pictures are up

We've had a lot of first in the last couple of weeks!
*Michael can now write his name!
*Jon turned 6 months old!
*Jon is now eating cereal and loving it. He grabs at the spoon and shoves it into his mouth.
*Michael started preschool.
To share all of these moments with you, I've uploaded a bunch of pictures. There are also pictures from our last couple visits with family. You can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tchaig/. Have fun looking! :)

Jonathan's Growing Too

So not to leave our second son out, let me share with you all how much he is growing too.

First of all, Jon is finally sleeping again. For the last two weeks he's had a straight sleep of at least 3 hours at night, usually even 6-8 hours straight. We are loving it here and even Jon seems much happier in the morning from a good sleep.

He is also reaching for, holding on to, and diving for anything he can get his hands on. He wants to experience anything and everything. We have a feeling that he will be a wild child when he learns to crawl.

But the biggest change for Jon is that he started eating cereal yesterday! And he loved it. At the first bite, we got a bit of a strange look, but on the second he grabbed for the spoon and shoved it into his mouth. Even Michael got in the action helping to feed him.












While I'm on the subject of my wonderful second son, I'll let you know that I finally got around to scrapping the pages from his birth. :) Here they are: