What to write????

You may have noticed it's been a few days since I've posted. It's not that things aren't happening around here, but I guess the kids haven't done anything super funny.

I do have one exciting piece of news to report....

My brother, John and his wife Erin, have announced that they are having a baby next spring! We are so happy for them and looking forward to our newest little niece or nephew/cousin being born.

"For you formed my inward parts; you wove me in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

More Conversations with James

James is a finicky eater.

Although it breaks every parent rule, when he won't eat what we're eating for dinner I offer him kid food.

Tonight he didn't eat, so we asked him a few questions. Here's how it went....

Debbie: James, would you like some chicken nuggets?

James: No

Debbie: Would you like a hot dog?

James: No

Debbie: Would you like a PB&J?

James: No

At this point I felt I needed to check for understanding. Was he getting what I was saying?????

Next question....

Debbie: James would you like some ice cream?

James: Yes

Debbie: Would you like a PB&J

James: No

Debbie: Would you like a some pudding?

James: Yes

Debbie: Would you like a hot dog?

James: No

Debbie: Would you like a cookie?

James: Yes

All right----I see what's going on....

He's his mother's son!

Matthew is Crawling

In the last day or so Matthew has started crawling.

He has been "army crawling" around for awhile, but now he's actually up on his knees and doing an official crawl. Yea Matthew!

Time to say goodbye to the days of finding him in the same place as I left him.


Check back for video.

God's Provision

Being a full time stay at home mom can be a little selfless. Taking care of everyone is fulfilling, but I have to admit I like a little "Debbie time."

I think the Lord must know I need my "Debbie time" because he has provided an amazing weekly schedule for me. Not only do I have lot's of fun activities, but each and every one comes with complimentary Christ-centered child care. Here's a peek at what I'm up to....

Monday: Free pilates class at church with childcare
Tuesday: Bible Study with childcare
Wednesday: Moms in Touch (prayer group) with childcare
Thursday: Play and pray--this is a prayer group at the park with the kids
Friday: Free pilates class at church with childcare
Sunday: Church service with childcare

You'll notice that each activity is compliments of a church. God truly does use his saints to meet others' needs (and sometimes even wants).

As my kids grow up I'll look forward to being able to help out the new moms of toddlers, as the Lord leads.

Philippians 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Apple Picking

Maddie is off at Girl Scout Camp for the weekend, so it's just Owen, the boys and I at home.

For years Owen has been a homebody. Whenever I suggest going out with friends or going over to friends' houses, he says he'd rather stay home.

Lately, things have changed.

It's probably hard for most of you to believe, but after a year of working from home he's ready for some time outside of the house! He's even gone so far as to take all of the kids to the Wild Animal Park on his own. I'm liking this new Owi!

Anyhow, this week two of my friends invited our family to join them apple picking in a small town called Julian. I thought it was a great idea. We've always enjoyed Julian as as some of you may remember, we even got married there.

Thursday evening I mentioned the invite to Owen and was excited to hear that he thought it would be a great idea. So, we packed up the boys this morning and headed to Deanne's house to meet up with her family of five and our friend Lolly's family of six. All together we ended up with 6 adults and 9 children. We always seem to be outnumbered these days.

We caravaned up to Julian and met at the Menghini Winery's apple orchard. (Don't get too excited Dad, we never made it to the actual winery!) They have about 50 rows and about 7 types of apples to choose from. After unloading the youngins and taking potty breaks (something we're not used to since our boys are in diapers) we starting wandering around the orchard and filling up our bags with Pippin, Jonathan, Golden Delicious and Empire apples. Everyone had fun chatting, picking and eating apples and taking lots of photos.

After apple picking we headed into town for lunch. Yes, we are a brave bunch of souls taking 9 kiddos to lunch. Ryan and Deanne picked out a great little BBQ restaurant next to the Julian Pie Company. We ordered lots of good BBQ and the casual atmosphere of the restaurant was perfect for our gang.

We left the BBQ place and started walking up the streets of Julian when we discovered James had a poopy diaper. Since I had just changed Matthew's diaper, Owen stepped up and took James and the diaper bag into Mom's Bakery to take care of business. Unfortunately, mommy hadn't put the wipes back in the diaper bag, so daddy came out of Mom's a little stressed. Toilet paper just doesn't do a good job cleaning up a diaper.

By now it was time for us to make our exit before my 3 men went crazy. It was just before hitting the stores and stopping for apple pie, so I was a little bummed, but the guys had done a great job and we thought it best to end our day on a positive note.

Best line of the day: Owen said, "I really enjoyed our trip to Julian this time. It's much better when you don't have to go into any stores."

He's such a guy!

Plans for tomorrow: Go to church, bake 2 apple pies, have dinner at Dad and Sue's and pick up Maddie. Can't wait!!

God Bless You

One of James' favorite sayings is "God Bless You."

It all started with.......you guessed it......a sneeze!

He began using it appropriately, when someone else sneezed. But now it has turned into one of his favorite things to say.

If you say goodbye, he may say God bless you.

If you hiccup, he'll say God bless you.

If you say God bless you to him, he'll say God bless you back to you.

My mom especially enjoys this and they spend a lot of time practicing on thier phone calls.

If it's true that kids repeat what they hear in the home, then I guess we're doing ok!

Green Hair

We had a crazy morning the other day. Maddie is in the middle of having braces. Any of you veteran parents out there have probably been through this...but here goes the story...

We get up and ready for a 9am orthodontic appointment and just as we're walking out the door Maddie announces that she can't find her head gear and hasn't seen it since she got back from her dad's house 8 weeks ago. The one thing she is sure of is that it's at our house.

In a moment of true mommy craziness, I walk into her room and systematically dump every drawer, empty every bag in the closet and pull every item out from under her bed and throw it all into the middle of her floor.

Still no headgear.

As I exit the room and look back, it looks like a bomb exploded in there and I tell Maddie that she'll be cleaning it as soon as she gets home from school and she's grounded from tv and the computer for a week. For once she doesn't argue because she can see I'm in no mood for that.

After school she obediently cleans the room and even decides to give some stuff away--added bonus! This makes me very happy, but still no headgear.

Thankfully for Maddie, the doctor has decided that she doesn't need to wear the headgear anymore. That girl got L-U-C-K-Y! Her bank account remains full, because I was seriously considering having her pay for a replacement.

Anyhow, out of all this did come something cute. In the giant pile of stuff Maddie found a green wig that one of her cousins gave her a few years ago. She's decided that this is her new favorite accessory and is wearing it all around the house.

When she puts it on it's like she becomes a dramatic cartoon of herself. She has been walking around the house talking in funny voices, singing songs and acting like a supermodel all night.

To top it off she's decided that James should have his turn with the wig too. I don't think he likes it too much, but it sure makes us laugh!

James' First B-Day Party

On Saturday I took James to his first birthday party. It was in celebration of his friend, Emmerson's, second birthday.

The theme was Barney Safari. Yes, Barney is still alive, well and popular with the kiddos. James' favorite activity was the crocodile shaped kiddie pool filled with little plastic balls. As soon as we walked in he made a beeline for it and had a ton of fun jumping in and out, rolling around, and throwing balls in and out of the pool.

We also played a game where they had to go on a safari to find a hidden tiger. It was very cute because the mom, Anna, first gave each child a safari hat wear as they headed out. In addition, they had a cute little safari tent that had a button on it that made animal sounds, a necklace making table and a coloring table.

We ended with a little lunch and some yummy Costco cupcakes---you know, the kind with LOTS of buttercream frosting!

It was a great party!

Matthew's New Friend

Matthew met a new friend today. It's "Mirror Matthew!" He lays on the ground by our mirrored closet doors and laughs at the little baby he sees there. He scoots up close, bangs his hands on the door and moves his head as close as it can get. When he see's the other baby doing the same thing he giggles. It's super cute. I'll try to post video in the next day or two.

Thank You President Bush!

As I spend today remembering back to September 11, 2001, I'd like to say, "Thank you President Bush for protecting our country and our families for the last 7 years."

I read an article by Ann Coulter today (www.anncoulter.com) and have copied an excerpt to this post. She sums up nicely what a hero we have in President Bush regarding our national security.

BUSH 7, TERRORISTS 0

...As many have pointed out, the reason elected officials tend to neglect infrastructure projects, like reinforcing levees in New Orleans and bridges in Minneapolis, is that there's no glory when a bridge doesn't collapse. There are no round-the-clock news specials when the levees hold. You can't even name an overpass retrofitting project after yourself -- it just looks too silly. But everyone's taxes go up to pay for the reinforcements.

Preventing another terrorist attack is like that. There is no media coverage when another 9/11 doesn't happen. We can thank God that President George Bush didn't care about doing the safe thing for himself; he cared about keeping Americans safe. And he has, for seven years.

If Bush's only concern were about his approval ratings, like a certain impeached president I could name, he would not have fought for the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq. He would not have resisted the howling ninnies demanding that we withdraw from Iraq, year after year. By liberals' own standard, Bush's war on terrorism has been a smashing, unimaginable success.

A year after the 9/11 attack, The New York Times' Frank Rich was carping about Bush's national security plans, saying we could judge Bush's war on terror by whether there was a major al-Qaida attack in 2003, which -- according to Rich -- would have been on al-Qaida's normal schedule.

Rich wrote: "Since major al-Qaida attacks are planned well in advance and have historically been separated by intervals of 12 to 24 months, we will find out how much we've been distracted soon enough." ("Never Forget What?" New York Times, Sept. 14, 2002.)

There wasn't a major al-Qaida attack in 2003. Nor in 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007. Manifestly, liberals thought there would be: They announced a standard of success that they expected Bush to fail.

As Bush has said, we have to be right 100 percent of the time, the terrorists only have to be right one time. Bush has been right 100 percent of the time for seven years -- so much so that Americans have completely forgotten about the threat of Islamic terrorism.

For his thanks, President Bush has been the target of almost unimaginable calumnies -- the sort of invective liberals usually reserve for seniors who don't separate their recyclables properly. Compared to liberals' anger at Bush, there has always been something vaguely impersonal about their "anger" toward the terrorists.

By my count, roughly one in four books in print in the world at this very moment have the words "Bush" and "Lie" in their title. Barnes & Noble has been forced to add an "I Hate Bush" section. I don't believe there are as many anti-Hitler books.

Despite the fact that Hitler brought "change," promoted clean, energy-efficient mass transit by making the trains run on time, supported abortion for the non-master races, vastly expanded the power of the national government and was uniformly adored by college students and their professors, I gather that liberals don't like Hitler because they're constantly comparing him to Bush.

The ferocity of the left's attacks on Bush even scared many of his conservative allies into turning on him over the war in Iraq.

George Bush is Gary Cooper in the classic western "High Noon." The sheriff is about to leave office when a marauding gang is coming to town. He could leave, but he waits to face the killers as all his friends and all the townspeople, who supported him during his years of keeping them safe, slowly abandon him. In the end, he walks alone to meet the killers, because someone has to.

That's Bush. Name one other person in Washington who would be willing to stand alone if he had to, because someone had to.

OK, there is one, but she's not in Washington yet. Appropriately, at the end of "High Noon," Cooper is surrounded by the last two highwaymen when, suddenly, his wife (Grace Kelly) appears out of nowhere and blows away one of the killers! The aging sheriff is saved by a beautiful, gun-toting woman.

COPYRIGHT 2008 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
4520 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

Question:

How many shoe stores does it take to find the exact shoes Maddie is looking for?

Answer:

More than 5.

Maddie has been asking for a new pair of school shoes. Before I would agree to purchasing a new pair of shoes I asked her to go through her closet, sort her shoes into keep and donate piles, and then give me a report.

She did as I asked and completely organized her shoes. She even put the ones that don't fit any more into the donate pile. This is a major event in our house because Maddie is well know for NEVER throwing anything away without being threatened or forced. (Good job Maddie!)

Anyhow, when we had our she report meeting she was down to 2 pairs of converse tennies, 1 pair of Land's End brown suede MaryJanes and a few pairs of rubber shoes (Dr. Schools, Crocs and flip flops) which she can't wear to school. She also put about 5 pairs into the donation bag.

Being very proud of her organizational skills, I agreed to allow her to buy one pair of fashionable canvas slip on tennis shoes. You know, something with little hearts, cherries or stars on the canvas. Something all little girls would love to wear.

James, Maddie and I headed out to a shopping center which had 5 potential stores to shop for shoes. We had a Payless Shoe Source, Shoe Pavillion, Mervyns, Marshalls and Ross. I felt confident the perfect shoes at the perfect price were awaiting us.

It seemed that every store we went in had the perfect style, but not in her size. We still felt hopefull after the first store, even after the second, but by the third store we felt a bit defeated. James and Mom were beginning to get a little fussy, so we picked up the pace and continued on. Store 4 was another bust and store 5 was the most disappointing because it was our last chance.

Luckily the shoes were more of a want than a need and she won't have to walk 10 miles barefoot through the snow to get to school like Owi did. Right Evelyn;)

New Friends

Last week I wrote about old friends, but I don't want my new friends to be left out because they're lots of fun too!

Tonight we had the Wilday's over for swimming and dinner. Deanne (the mom) and I met last September at a bible study. We began by talking while we picked up our kids after bible study and have since developed a friendship.

Both of us have 3 children. Although they are slightly different ages, they seem to get along well. Especially if you don't count James stomping on Caleb's hand while he was holding a matchbox car that James wanted or kicking the block tower down that Caleb was building. It's an 18 month old thing----right??

Anyhow, Ryan (the dad) and Owen met for the first time tonight. They got along well and seemed to have lot's to talk about.

It's nice to get back into the groove of having friends over again--Thanks Wilday's!!

Conversations with James

I don't really know the exact day it started, but I've realized that James is having little conversations with me.

He still only says one or two words at a time, but you can actually talk back and forth a little.

It goes something like this....

Debbie: James do you want breakfast?

James: Yeah, breakfast.

Debbie: Then you need to sit in your chair.

James: Go chair uppie

Debbie: Ok, I'll be right there.

James: Help uppie mommy.

Debbie: Up we go baby James.

James: Yogi, yogi, yogi.

Debbie: I'm getting it out of the fridge, be there in a minute.

James: Ok mommy.

Feeding Time

One thing I enjoy is feeding the boys. I especially enjoy days where they're both eating breakfast at the same time.

I set both high chairs up next to eachother, get the rice cereal and fruit ready for Matthew and the bowl of yogi (yogurt) ready for James. Next, I sit down and start to alternately feed each child.

One bite for James.

One bite for Matthew.

Repeat until all food is gone.

Within minutes food is seeping from Matthew's mouth and covering his hands and arms and James is trying to grab the spoon from my hand to feed himself. This results in food all over his face and down his shirt or bib.

The entire process makes a huge mess and I generally start laughing about half way through when a big drop of food lands on the clean shirt or pants I just put on. I'm not sure if I'm laughing because it's funny or because it's overwhelming.

Whatever the case, I'm believing that the laughter comes from joy. Otherwise I may just find out that I'm going a little crazy!

First Day of School

Yesterday was Maddie's first day of school. We now have an official middle schooler.

For the last week she has been talking about how much she can't wait to get back to school. At first I was taking it a bit personally. After all, a mom creates the atmosphere in the home and to have someone so excited to get out of here is a reflection on the job I'm doing, right?

No.

After giving it some thought and remembering back to my own younger years, I realize that she's just at that age where she wants to get out and practice some independence. She needs to have some freedom and spread her wings a little. It's just a fact of life that our kids grow up and I'm going to embrace it.

So, as I dropped her off and she ran towards her friends, I let her go with a smile on my face and a sense of pride that we have raised an independent and confident girl.

May God bless you, Maddie, as you begin your new adventure!

Proverbs 22:6
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Reading Together

It was a busy morning and as I was running back and forth from the kitchen to the laundry room I peeked in James and Matthew's room and saw the most adorable sight.

They were sitting on the floor together looking through a favorite book that Grandma and Grandpa Thomas sent to them. It's so cute to see them doing something together.

Enjoy the picture!