More pics in 2006!

Yay! I figured out how to post pictures to my blog! It's really not that hard...I think my big problem was that my camera was not transferring pictures to the computer as easily as it used to and I wasn't sure what was wrong. Our friend, Jon, is here and he used our digital camera alot in Germany so I enlisted his help in figuring out my software problem and he sat down to work on it and of course, it made a liar out of me! It worked just like it used to before it started giving me trouble, kind of like a car when you take it to the shop. It never makes "the noise" for the mechanic! But either way, I think my camera is now functioning properly again so you should see more pics on this blog in 2006!

This picture was taken yesterday morning, December 30.

Christmas

Yesterday was Christmas and that makes today my Grandpa Burton's birthday. He is 82 years young...Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

When my sisters and I were little, my mom would sometimes say, after we had opened an especially nice gift or enjoyed some holiday time with friends or family, "We could stop right here and say we had a good Christmas." She said this exact sentence every year at least once and it became a family joke of sorts, to the point that even now, my brother-in-law keeps a running count of how many times it is said during our family Christmas celebration each year. (Was it 11 or 12 this year, Jeph?) She is not the only one who says it now and even though it is partly said in fun, it helps us all remember the real reason we are together and what we are celebrating. This year, I think we all felt the truth of that simple statement on a new level. We had three little family members celebrating their first Christmas this year and Michael was not in Iraq, like last year, but here with us. These are just two things that come to mind but the best part of Christmas truly is just being together and enjoying each other as we remember the wondrous gift that God gave us in Christ. Without Him, we would have nothing, much less anything worth celebrating. We really could stop right there and say we had a good Christmas!

And now for a humorous story...my grandmother sent an interactive nativity for the kids this year. The point of it was to remind the kids that what God wants for Christmas is US. There are seven small boxes to open. The first 6 boxes each contain one nativity figurine and the last box has a mirror. We did this all together on Christmas Eve with the adults taking turns reading the poems from the book to go with each box. The suspense was building as Alley and Liam anxiously waited to see what it was that God wanted for Christmas. They opened the last box and Mom said, "What does God want for Christmas?" and Liam looked in the box and said, " A mirror?" He was quite surprised at God's Christmas wishlist! We had to explain that it was actually him (and all of us) that He wants.

Even though I could have stopped right there and had a good Christmas post, no Christmas post would be complete without mentioning some of the gifts we received. :) I got the FlyLady feather duster set and a Southern Living cookbook I had been wanting for a long time and a much needed gift card to IKEA!!!!! Alley got a Cabbage Patch doll and a few things to assist her in her pursuit of theater, Liam got assorted Star Wars and Spiderman toys, and Dresden got blocks, balls, and stuffed animals. Michael got a personalized book stamp for his growing library and some cool T-shirts and cds. These are just a few of many. It really was a good Christmas!

God's Gracious Gift

I have been sorting through ALOT of papers in my office room lately. Most of them have something to do with the four and a half years we spent in the Army. As I look at the enormous stack of paper and manila file folders, I have to agree with Michael, the Army does kill ALOT of trees!

At times I am tempted to throw all the papers in a box and forget about them for a very long time but instead, I was plodding through a rather thick pile the other night and came across a single sheet of paper that reminded me of a very special gift that God gave us two years ago.

On November 15, 2003, Michael was notified of the Stop Loss put on his Unit which would require him to be deployed to Iraq for a year and then spend several more "recovery" weeks in the Army before he would be allowed to get out. This was going to add an unexpected year onto our time in the service. Upon hearing the news, Michael said that if it was at all possible, he wanted to go home to Bristol for Christmas before heading off to the desert. I really did not think it was going to be possible with international plane tickets costing so much, especially on fairly short notice and during the Christmas season. I did my best to find the cheapest flights I could and they were still about $2800 for all four of us and going up by the minute. That was about $2800 more than we had but I didn't let that stop me, at least at first. I looked into every possible option to try to make it happen for Michael.

Finally, we realized that it was not going to happen. Every door we had tried to open was promptly shut. So, we were trying to trust God even though we couldn't see why He was doing what He was doing. One evening during this time, Michael called to tell his guardian parents in Bristol that he was going to be deployed. When he called, they told him that Bob, his dad, was going to be having serious surgery on his neck on December 23. This just made it that much harder for Michael to be so far away, without a chance to go home.

We were trying to make the most of another Christmas in Germany and so we walked the three blocks from our apartment building to the little German grocery store and picked out our tree. We took it home, set it up, and began untangling and stringing lights. In the middle of this, our phone rang. It was Michael's 1st Sgt telling us that a Red Cross message had just come in, requesting Michael's presence during the surgery since it was a critical and possibly life threatening procedure. It took a couple days for all the details to be worked out but on Tuesday, December 16, Michael came home from work with 4 plane tickets from Frankfurt, Germany to Knoxville, TN--completely paid for by the Army Emergency Fund. We could hardly believe it. It was one of those situations that seemed totally hopeless but then God provided in an amazing way at the last minute.

Michael had almost 3 weeks of leave and then he was going to return to Germany to prepare for the deployment. We knew those days would be very hectic with him hardly at home so we made the decision that the kids and I would not return with him at the end of his leave but stay in Bristol. So, I had two days to prepare to be gone for an unknown length of time. On Thursday night, December 18, we went to the Battery Christmas party and then came home and tried to sleep. At 2 am on Friday, December 19, our good friend Jon came to our apartment in an Army vehicle to drive us to the airport. (When you travel due to a Red Cross message, the Army even provides your transportation to the airport. Jon was an approved driver and he got permission to take us.) We left our apartment around 3 am and drove the two hours to Frankfurt. Needless to say it was a long and tiring day with two layovers and three flights. We finally arrived in Knoxville where my family came to pick us up. The weather was bad and it took us a long time to get back to Bristol but we were so glad to be home!

We went to the Branson family Christmas on December 22 and then Bob Branson had surgery the following morning. He made it through okay and was released on Christmas Day, I think. A night or two later, he aspirated in his sleep and had to be rushed back to the hospital. He was in the hospital for several days, hooked up to machines and the entire family was in the waiting room for hours at a time, waiting for a word of improvement. Emotions were high and differing opinions were abundant but finally on January 1, 2004, Bob Branson passed away, shortly before his wife had to make the difficult decision to turn off the machines. We spent the next few days in the activites that accompany the death of a family member, thanking God again for his gracious gift of bringing us home. Another reminder that God does "accomplish what concerns us" Psalm 138:8, and He does it so much better than we can!

The paper I found the other night was a copy of the Red Cross message that was sent by Bob and Connie Branson. It reminded me once again of the gracious gift that God gave to all of us, but especially to Michael, in making a way for us to be home not only for Christmas that year but also to be there for his family in their time of sorrow before facing the hard days that were ahead in Iraq. God is good.

Handwriting and a Super Hero

Today marked a "first" in my life as a homeschooling mother. Alley wrote me a note all on her own! She has been writing for awhile but nothing all on her own. She usually copies from a piece of paper, from the chalkboard, or asks me to tell her how to spell things a few letters at a time as she writes a letter or card to a friend or family member. But today, I gave her a Scripture verse to copy and she went to her room to sit at her little table, which she has lately been referring to as her "office". A little later she came out and handed me the paper. I looked over it and when I turned it over, I saw that at the bottom she had written,

"Momy, I hop uow leac my prnt. Love, Alley"

Then, you might have imagined, the first thing she said was, " Did I spell everything right?" I smiled at her and said, "No, but that's not the important thing right now. The important thing right now is that you did it all on your own and you sounded it out in your head and wrote down what you thought and I am VERY, VERY proud of you."

I went to the chalkboard then and showed her each word with the correct spelling and explained why it was spelled that way but also told her that she did well at guessing. (I'm not sure how she got "leac" for "like", though.) Later, she brought me the paper with another line on it, the same note spelled right. It was very sweet.

Also, Dresden got a visit from Batman today. She was laying on the floor and I was changing her diaper and Liam, disguised as Batman, leaned over her face and looked at her. She looked up and I thought she might cry but she was very brave. She closed her eyes for a brief second and lifted her shoulders up as though preparing for something unexpected. ( I guess she will need her big brother to teach her that Batman is a good guy! ) Liam leaned down and kissed her and then he said to me, " It's a good thing Batman has a place to kiss even when he is wearing his mask." I agreed with him, it is a very good thing and a benefit that Bruce Wayne himself might not have even thought of yet!

Lunchtime Laughter

A few days ago, I was reading a book outloud to Alley and a character in the story was described as having red eyes and slurred speech. Alley wasn't sure what that meant so I explained to her that sometimes when people have had too much alcohol to drink, their eyes are red. Today at lunch, Alley noticed that one of Liam's eyes was slightly bloodshot. She said, "Mommy, Liam's eye looks red...I wonder if he's drunk." The look on poor Liam's face told me I had to assure him he wasn't before I explained to them both that a slightly red eye once in awhile was a completely normal occurence and not necessarily a sign of drunkenness, at least not in a four year old!

Yummy Advent

This year we are not having a Christmas tree. The reason is simple...not enough room! We feel bad about this since our kids love decorating a tree but thankfully, Mimi and Grandpa are all too happy to have help with theirs and they are close enough that we will enjoy theirs almost daily, when we go by for Alley to practice the piano as well as other visits.

Since we are not having a tree at home, we are trying to do some other fun things to make the holiday season special. One of those is making a gingerbread house. We are doing that tonight as well as making gingerbread boys that we can actually eat! We are also putting up our advent tree that Mimi made for us about five years ago. It is a felt tree about 3 feet tall and you put it on the wall and then each day you read a Scripture passage pointing to the birth of Jesus and then you place the felt ornament for that day on the tree. The ornaments are symbols from each Scripture passage (an ark, a burning bush, Joseph's coat of many colors, etc). If I was a bit more savvy with posting pictures on my blog, I would post a pic here. :)

About now you are probably wondering what the gingerbread has to do with advent or what the tree has to do with food, and the answer is....nothing! Our "yummy" advent is actually another project that we did last night. I got the idea from a book and I was hoping it would be a success. You roll out about 3 feet of plastic wrap and then you give each child 25 Hershey kisses. You lay the Hershey kisses down the middle of the plastic wrap about one inch apart. Then you carefully lay each side of the plastic wrap over the kisses. Then you cut 25 little pieces of ribbon about 6 inches long and then you tie one between each kiss. You can curl the ends of the ribbon so it doesn't look so much like a centipede! Then you attach another piece of ribbon for a loop to hang somewhere. You let your child eat one kiss each day until Christmas, if they give you a kiss first, of course! We made one for Alley and one for Liam but next year I might try to get away with putting 3 kisses in each section to avoid cutting, tying and curling so much ribbon! I wish you could see how cute and festive they look...maybe my New Year's resolution should be to learn to post pics on my blog!

Merry Christmas!

A Few Funny Stories

Kids say the cutest things! I do realize that stories about the things other people's kids say or do may not be high on the reading list of some people but since part of the purpose of this blog is to serve as a "baby book" for my kids and since I assume that most of the people who care enough to read this blog know us fairly well, here goes!

Liam, age 4, is becoming very interested in computer games. He has a few that he is pretty good at and a few that he plays with Daddy. They have one that is about the Civil War. At some points during the game, you can hear "Stonewall Jackson" say, "D_mn the Yanks!" Liam does not know that word and so he doesn't hear that word. Every time he hears the computerized version of Jackson yell out, he laughs and says, with his arm held high in the air, "Down the Yanks!" We just smile and say it too.

The other day we were driving and I heard Liam saying something quietly to himself. As I listened closer I could tell he was trying to figure out the correct way to say a word. He was saying, " Franch, French, Frunch..." Then he finally said, "Mom, how do you speak Franch?"

Last night Alley and I were talking about a situation where someone did something unexpected for another person. Alley said, " Did he do it surprisily?" Who knows, maybe that will be in the next edition of Webster's Dictionary!

Yesterday when the kids and I were doing our Bible lesson, we were discussing 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." Alley asked how we can glorify God when we eat. That led to a discussion about gluttony and trying to eat healthy to take good care of our bodies, as well as manners. Liam pipes up and says, " I LOVE chicken nuggets, they are so CHICKENY!" I guess that's as good a word as any!

Dresden will be 7 months old tomorrow and it seems like just last week she was as tiny (well, not quite as tiny) as my new niece Mara Kate. But even though she is unable to entertain us with witty words, she is doing other things, like attempting to play "pattycake" and crawling on her belly all over the place! She is sitting up very well now and can easily get to her belly from a sitting position and she can also turn herself around in circles. She is proving to be a very determined little girl...when she sees something she wants, she goes after it! I think we can safely say that her adventures will be the subject of many future posts!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Michael and I have been married eight years today. Today is also the 42nd anniversary of JFK's assassination, as a friend was so nice to remind me of earlier. Fortunately for us, our generation as a whole is too young to have "where were you when JFK was shot?" flashbacks so they are free to focus on celebrating our wedding anniversary. :)

This anniversary is an important one for us- not just because we can say that we have made it successfully and happily through almost 3000 days of married life but because we were actually in the same state, country and continent on this anniversary! This might not seem like that difficult of a feat to most of you but we have only been together on November 22 four times out of eight. On our first anniversary, he had just left Mississipi where we were living to go ahead to Bristol to start a job here and I didn't move until the first weekend in December. We were together on our second anniversary and we ate dinner at KP Duty in downtown Bristol, ( where Michael would tell you we paid "alot of money for a little piece of meat!"- but it was good! :) On our third anniversary, he was in Basic Training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. On our fourth anniversary, he was in Germany and I was here in Bristol. We were together on our fifth anniversary and we went to a nice German restaurant in a hotel near our neighborhood in Bamberg. We were together on our sixth anniversary as well and we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Bamberg. (Yes, there are Italian restaurants in Germany.) That anniversary was hard because we had just received the news about the Stop Loss which would send Michael to Iraq. And last year, our seventh anniversary, Michael was in Iraq and I was here in Bristol, 3 months pregnant with Dresden. So, even though we did not officially celebrate today since Dresden is sick with a nasty cold and Michael had class tonight, we are thankful just to SEE each other today!

Being apart so much was hard, especially on important days like these, but as I look back over our eight years of life together, I remember that on our wedding day, we promised to stay together (and only in marriage can you be an ocean apart and still be "together" ) and to love each other through good times and bad. We didn't know then what good times or bad times were coming, and we don't know what's coming tomorrow, but trusting God together and living through the joys and the sorrows together, IS marriage. I love you, Michael.

Okay, Okay

I know I have not posted anything for two weeks (Jana :) but that is mostly because we have been busy "living"! I'll try to catch you up on all the exciting Branson family happenings. First of all, we did see Alley's play last Sunday afternoon and she did a great job. After it was over, all the actors/actresses stood out in the hallway so that the audience could congratulate them as they left the theater. We gave her a small bouquet of flowers (from Aunt Jana and Kane) and she acted almost embarrassed to receive them but I think she was secretly glad since she saw several others getting flowers also.

On Monday evening, I went to a homeschool mothers meeting at the library where I listened to a local author speak about helping your children to become independent learners. It was interesting but as you can see, not terribly "blogworthy".

A few posts back I mentioned my bedroom project. Well, it is continuing, be it ever so slowly. On Tuesday afternoon of this week, I worked on stripping the paint off a few more drawers in preparation for painting them, hopefully very soon. Tuesday was also a very cold day here in the mountains of southwest Virginia so I was rather chilly working in the garage with the door up for ventilation. It is amazing what you can stand when you are motivated!

On Wednesday afternoon, I went with Heidi to Wal-Mart to buy food to cook the Wednesday night meal at church. It was raining which always adds a lot of fun and excitement to a trip to Wal-Mart, especially with 4 children in tow! We arrived at church at 2:05 pm where we were going to pull double duty, cooking as well as assisting with the processing of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes, as our church is a drop-off center for the area. We were supposed to help with that from 2:00-5:00. We were a few minutes late and the only boxes that were dropped off that entire afternoon were 3 boxes that arrived in the first 5 minutes, before we even got there! We did enjoy visiting with the lady we were working with and we were able to have plenty of time to get our soup started. I also took Alley to her piano lesson that afternoon and then came back to finish up meal preparations with Heidi. The meal was served at 6:30 and was enjoyed by all.

On Thursday afternoon, I came back over to my parent's house to continue with my project in the garage. It was VERY cold that night for mid November here and I decided to just stay at their house overnight instead of getting the kids out to head home in the dark and cold. Michael was working out of town so it was a little like old times, since the kids and I would stay with mom and dad about once a week when Michael was in Iraq.

Friday morning we headed home and got our school work done and then I took the kids to a "Fall Party" sponsored by the homeschool group. There were crafts, games and snacks (oh, and also face painting- Alley got a Pilgrim hat on her cheek and Liam got a football on his hand) and they had a great time. Michael got home about an hour after we did and then later, I took my girls and went to a Pampered Chef party while Michael and Liam had "boy time". In case you are wondering, boy time usually consists of watching Star Wars movies or playing video games and eating cereal for supper (or some other equally as easy to prepare entree...if cereal counts as an entree!)

Last night, I went to Big Lots with Heidi to buy the stuff for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes which were due at church by today (nothing like procrastination!). Heidi was doing a box for a boy and we were doing a box for a girl and we had fun looking around and picking stuff out and making sure it would all fit in our box! When I got home, I had the wonderful task of ironing clothes for everyone for church this morning...fun, fun!

Today we went to church and then had lunch with family afterwards and right now, mom and Michael are at choir practice and we will be joining them at church in about an hour.

This coming week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Tuesday is our anniversary (8 years, can you believe it?!) and also on Tuesday we are going to spend the afternoon baking Thanksgiving snacks like pumpkin chip cookies and cranberry bars. And of course, Thanksgiving is Thursday and we get to enjoy family and relax and EAT! We also share our annual Thanksgiving lists with each other.....which reminds me, I better get mine started!

Our Little Star

Alley can now say she has been in a real play! Actually, she is still in it since they have only done 2 of their 8 total performances. She had dress rehearsal for two and a half hours each night three nights last week and then had to be at the theater at 8:30 am Friday to prepare for the first day of school performances. (They do several shows for the area schools to bring their students to watch.) She started getting a cold Thursday but she made it through practice that night and the performances the next day and now she has until Wednesday to recover for the rest of the shows. Michael and I are going to see the play next Sunday afternoon at the only public performance. She is excited and we are excited for her. I will write more details after we see it.

I did want to mention something that I couldn't mention when it actually happened due to the fact that we were still planning the surprise birthday for my grandmother in Kansas City. Alley actually auditioned back in April for the musical "Oliver" but was not chosen. I looked at the schedule for upcoming plays and told her that she could audition again in October for the Best Christmas Pageant Ever and she has been waiting and waiting ever since then! About 24 hours before the audition I realized that if she got in this play, we would not be able to go to Kansas City to be part of the birthday celebration. I didn't know what to do, since I thought both things were important. As a parent, I wanted my child's long hoped for dream to become a reality but I also believed she would not want to miss being a part the birthday surprise. We let her try out, deciding to just see what happened. The turn out was not as high as it was for Oliver and the director announced that he could probably use everyone who auditioned in some way but we did not find out until a week later which part she would have. It turned out that she got a baby angel part which was not a speaking part so then we were really in a dilemma. We did not want to take it away from her by telling her the trip to Kansas City for a family event was more important than a minor part in a play after she had waited so long and worked so hard and we also did not want her to think she could quit something when something better comes along. I thought about flying to KC and leaving Alley and Liam in Atlanta with my sister and brother -in- law so she might only miss 2 practices. All this time I was thinking it was going to be a choice between the two events and that there was no way for both to happen BUT God is good! My dad and other sister (and my adorable nephew, Grant :) were going to fly to KC for the birthday party on one- way cheap tickets and fly back the same way. I realized that if I could get Alley a ticket to come back with them, and if I could get it approved that she could miss a couple extra practices, she might actually be able to do both things. I got the approval and the plane ticket later that day. (She was going to miss 4 practices but they ended up cancelling 2 of those days so she only missed 2 practices.) I was amazed once again at the grace of God in our daily lives, even in the little things.

Kershmulls

We don't watch hardly any television in our home but somewhere along the way, the kids have discovered commercials. Liam calls them "kershmulls". The kids and I just spent several days in Kansas City, Missouri, visiting lots of family. While there, my two oldest ended up watching some cartoons and things since there weren't any other children around, not many toys and it was a little too chilly to be outside for too long. I didn't realize until last night, our first night home, just how influential those little advertisements that adults tend to use for a bathroom break or to get a load of laundry out, can be to young children. We did our usual bedtime routine, involving reading a chapter in a book and praying and then, just before I turned out the light, Alley asked me, "Is this a Tempur-Pedic mattress?" I said "No" and then she said," How am I going to get to sleep?" I told her she would manage somehow and laughed to myself as I went out the door. Hopefully, thoughts of Tempur-Pedic mattresses will soon leave her head as she prepares for her stage debut later this week!

Bedroom Bargain

I have heard it said that your bedroom should be a place that makes you smile, not the extra storage room. So, I am working on making my bedroom a "haven" instead of a dumping ground! It's not that bad really, except for the fact that we don't have any chest of drawers or dressers right now so we are making do with plastic storage totes and a baby cradle! You can imagine how excited that makes me! (More on that later). The other thing that was not quite right was my bedspread.

I bought a new comforter set at Tuesday Morning about 2 months ago and I really liked it. It was several different shades of blue which went well with my carpet, lamp and other accessories. After a few weeks, though, some of the threads started to come undone on some of the decorative areas. I decided that I could not live with that and thankfully, Tuesday Morning has a return policy of 45 days. So, about three weeks ago, I went in there with my receipt and the comforter set carefully repackaged in its original bag and got to exchange it. I ended up getting a cream colored quilt type bedspread instead. I really liked it but it had no shams or pillows and no bed skirt. While I was at the store, I found 3 black throw pillows with cream colored designs on them. So, I knew then that all of my blue accent pieces would no longer look right and I was embarking on a slow journey of redoing my bedroom color scheme! I started looking online for a black bedskirt. My bed is tall and it's hard to find bed skirts that are long enough but I finally found one that would work. I added it to my wishlist and kept wishing I had the money to get it NOW because I was tired of seeing the things I have stored under my bed everytime I walked in my room! The other day I was trying to think of what I could do in the meantime that would look okay and cover up the "underbed area". I decided that a black sheet might work so when I was at Wal-Mart last night, I looked at sheets and they had flat twin sheets in "soot black" for $2.96! I checked the length and it looked like it would work. This morning I tucked the sheet between my mattress and boxspring as far as I could until it was the right length. It looks great! I really don't even know if I will even buy the other bed skirt now. I will probably buy 2 more sheets to do the foot and far side of the bed since I had such good results with this. It may not look as good with any color but with black you can't see the hem or stitching so it just makes it look finished. I love it when I can save that much money and get something I like even better! Plus, I feel really creative and "Proverbs 31-ish" when something turns out that way! Now, time to save for the mirror and lamp shade!

Play Update: Alley was chosen to be a Baby Angel in the play she auditioned for. This means she has no speaking parts but she gets to be on the stage and see what it is like to be in a play so she will know what to expect in the future. She is very excited about this opportunity!

The Natural

Earlier today, Alley asked me what it meant if someone said, "You're a natural." I explained that it meant that a particular thing comes easy to you and you don't have to work at it much. A little while ago, Alley and Liam were out swinging on the swingset and Alley was trying to teach Liam to "pump" so he wouldn't have to be pushed all the time. When I came out a few minutes later, I noticed he was pumping so I told him he was doing a good job. He said it was "fantaskit" and then he said "I'm a natural! It comes easy for me." I agreed with him! I love to hear them using things they have learned, especially when it brings a smile to my face!

Play Update

We went to the call back audition last night. It lasted about an hour and a half. No one is allowed to watch the audition except the other people auditioning so I don't know exactly what happened. Alley did say that he asked her to say a line from the part of one of the fairly main characters. That could be just because it was a short and easy line and he wanted to see how loud she was. We were hoping to find out last night what part she will have but we are still in suspense until Monday evening. Basically, everyone there last night will be in the play but we have to come back Monday night at 6 pm to find out what part and to have the first rehearsal. She is very excited to be picked!

Night and Day

It is an interesting and challenging thing to raise a child who is about as different from you as night is from day. When these children are babies, you do not think about their personality developing in the completely opposite direction of yours but then it does and it takes some getting used to! Alley is a wonderful blessing in my life but we are very different. She has completely different interests and talents than I do and it is sometimes hard to know exactly what is right for her when it seems so foreign to me. There are two main examples of this; first of all, Alley is talented musically. ( She definitely gets this from her father!) She likes to listen to kids cds in the van and then once she knows the songs, she sings along with the singer and she makes her voice sound almost exactly like theirs. She inflects her voice the same way they do, adding in accents and all. She has also recently started piano lessons and except for a few "meltdown moments" during practice, she has picked it up very fast and very well and I am very proud of her. I think it will be cool when she masters a skill I do not even possess!

But the main difference in us is her strong desire to be in a play. She is constantly talking Liam into acting out little parts of stories or movies, or even sections from the Bible or history books. But her real goal is to be on the stage. At 4 years old she said to me (her mother who would NEVER audition for a play even if her life depended on it), "I want to be on the stage with the light shining on me." (Yes, we have a little pride to work on :)Needless to say, these thoughts do not compute in my brain! Over the last few years, we have attended a handful of plays at Theater Bristol. This gave her a specific focus for her goal. Back in March she attended a 3 hour workshop put on by the theater to teach kids more about dancing, singing, and acting. After that she auditioned for Oliver. I took her and waited while she went through a three hour long group audition. Each time they would take a break, she would run out to see me with a huge smile on her face! She did not make it in to Oliver but that made her even more determined to audition again. For months she has looked forward to the Best Christmas Pageant Ever auditions and so we went Monday evening. They called today to ask if she could come tomorrow night for a call back. I don't know what this means exactly but we are going. To me, this would seem like a nightmare but to her, it is a dream come true. She knows she might not get a part or at least she might not get the part she dreams of having, but either way, I am very proud of her! We'll keep you posted. :)

Blanket Break

Today was an absolutely beautiful fall day, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy...just perfect. So, I decided that even though I had a TON of things to do inside, we would spend some time enjoying the great outdoors. Normally, I would tell myself that "tomorrow will be just as nice and we will do it then" but then, of course, something comes up and it never happens. Then I stand at my window a few short weeks later and watch the snowflakes fall and realize that I have let the opportunity pass me by again!

I have also been realizing anew how lightning fast kids grow up (Dresden is just about a week away from being FIVE months old!) so I am conciously trying to grab more moments with my kids, even if it does mean skipping a load of laundry or not getting the schoolroom organized as quickly as I would like. So, after school and after lunch, we headed outside to our little yard with a blanket, a couple of books and the dog. We read a couple of chapters in the American Girl book we are reading now and then Alley and Liam played on the swingset and just ran around getting some of that energy out! Dresden and I hung out on the blanket and I read some of my book, too. We ended up being out there for about two hours and it was a much needed break. I know that my kids might actually remember days like this where I was outside with them, even if I read and they play for part of the time, much more than they will remember that I spent the afternoon vacuuming and lining up workbooks on a shelf. Being a homeschooling mom of three kids, I have to always remind myself that there will never be a day when there is NOTHING to do so if I am going to make memories like this, whether it is sitting on a blanket under a tree or sitting under a blanket on the couch, I have to make choices. I'm not saying housework and things aren't important but when you step back and do something more important once in awhile, your priorities seem to fall into place on their own.

Belly Laughs

One of my very favorite things is hearing (and watching) a baby belly laugh. Dresden has been doing it more and more over the last few weeks and it is so much fun! It is rewarding to see her paying enough attention to what is going on around her that she finds certain things funny. A couple of weeks ago she laughed alot at her cousin, Grant, who was just sitting on his mommy's lap wearing nothing but a diaper. He wasn't doing anything really but she found it hilarious!

I knew that Alley and Liam would be the source of many of her laughs and this week they have figured out that if they jump up and down in front of her, she starts giggling and then it turns into a full-fledged belly laugh. She has done it about 3 times now and it is so much fun to watch her! She is 4 and a half months old now and the newborn hard part is over and the up-all-night-fussy-crying-teething baby part hasn't started yet so we're enjoying every minute!

Homemade Baby Wipes

Today I made a "batch" of homemade baby wipes. I have made them several times in the past but this is the first time since Dresden has been born. It is a little more work than just opening up a package of store bought wipes and I'm not exactly sure of the savings since at times you might need to use two where you would have used only one of the other kind but they are also handy for wiping the spaghetti-stained faces of 4 year olds and you don't have to think of it in terms of "wasting" a wipe! (You also get to have wipes with pictures on them...mine have Charlie Brown raking leaves!)

Anyway, here is the recipe I use but in the words of a friend, "a recipe is just a guide!"

• 10 cup capacity round Rubbermaid or other plastic storage container
• very sharp knife (some people use an electric knife, I have never tried that)
• strong husband (possibly not needed if you use electric knife)
• 2 and 3/4 cup hot water
• 1 and 1/2 TBSP baby oil
• 1 and 1/2 TBSP baby wash (I use 1 TBSP so it's not too soapy but this is adjustable)
• 1 roll Bounty or other strong paper towels

First, purchase or gather all supplies and then ask your husband to cut the paper towel roll into two equal halves. Be prepared for a strange look to cross his face at this request the first time...don't worry, he will get used to it! This does take a little time and some effort. (I read a suggestion to keep the plastic on the roll if you are using an electric knife.)Keep one half for a refill and place the other half in the plastic container. Heat the water (doesn't have to be boiling) and then stir in the baby oil and wash. Pour this mixture over the papertowels in the container. Set lid loosely on top and let sit for a few hours or overnight. You will need to pull out the cardboard tube either before you place the lid on or after it sits. You will pull the baby wipes from the middle of the roll to use.

And just for a laugh, today I heard Liam singing "Hunky Gunky sat on a wall, Hunky Gunky had a great fall...". I realized that "Hunky Gunky" sounds like something that definitely would not break even if it did fall off a wall!

Thanksgiving in September

We've all heard of "Christmas in July" when stores have special sales or churches take a special offering for missionaries or whatever but this weekend we had Thanksgiving in September. My sister, Jana, is pregnant and is due just days after Thanksgiving and will not be able to travel to visit family then so we had an early family Thanksgiving dinner last night. We were all there (all 13 of us, including the unborn baby) for a turkey dinner with (most of) the fixins. We even used mom's special "turkey" dishes. It was very good and it was fun to take some time to be thankful on a different day of the year.

Alley and Liam really got into this "fake" Thanksgiving, as Alley said in her prayer at the table last night! ( There were quite a few of us struggling to maintain our composure throughout the remainder of the grace! ) Alley asked me earlier in the day why Uncle Jeph was WORKING on THANKSGIVING! It was equally amazing that people were having yard sales and the bank was open!

One of the highlights of the evening was the "Pilgrim Play" put on by Alley and Liam. Last year, my aunt Jane made them paper Pilgrim hats and they used them to entertain us last Thanksgiving and they were pulled out again yesterday. Alley was in charge of the costumes and they practiced throughout the day to be ready when we were all there together. They did a great job and it helped it to really feel more like a "real" Thanksgiving. I enjoy watching them be so creative...it's one of the best blessings of parenthood. I knew as I was watching that eventually they would be too old for little holiday plays so I did my best to take it all in and turn that moment into a memory.

One of the other highlights of the evening, in case you were wondering, was the pumpkin pie! It's always the right time of year for that!

Potato What?

Alley just told me that a "potato split with butter and cheese and sour cream" sounded soooo good to her! I tried not to be outwardly amused because I could tell that she really thought that was what it was called. And the more I thought about it, I realized that's exactly what it should be called! I can see it now....Veggie Queen for supper, Dairy Queen for dessert!

Sick

I am suffering from a pretty bad cold. Liam is getting over it and Dresden is a day or so behind me. So far, Alley and Michael have been spared. The hardest part about this cold is that my job of taking care of a 4 month old is harder when that 4 month old has a runny nose and a fever and harder still since I absolutely don't even feel like doing the job even if it wasn't extra demanding right now. Needs go up and strength goes down. I have been up for about 2 hours in the middle of the night the last two nights trying to console a feverish, fussy baby just when I could use some extra rest. I am not saying all this to complain :), but it has reminded me of some things. First of all, it reminds me that God gives us strength even when we know we don't have it. We are weak, He is strong. This, of course, is true in many more situations than a common head cold but it's good to be reminded of it.

Also, it reminds me of "agape" love or "love in action". I don't feel like being up in the night with the baby but I love my baby so I do it anyway and when I am actually carrying out my motherly duties, I am able, at least to a degree, to stop thinking about myself and my own needs and concentrate on loving in deed my precious baby who can't do anything to make herself feel better. Mothers learn this very quickly, as we are "on duty" 24/7, sick or not, tired or not. And even though this may sound like a burden, we actually find great satisfaction in doing what God made us and called us to do and we would want it no other way.

I am also reminded as I look around my house, that I need to do the important things and the dishes and laundry will be there when I feel better and my children feel better.

It is also nice to know that God planned for me to have this cold at this time for any number of reasons, many of which I may never know. I know the Puritans believed that we should be thankful for even small trials as they prepare us to be more understanding and compassionate when others experience similar things. This is important but I am also thankful that my current "trial" is just a cold and not something much worse, possibly requiring me to be sitting at the bedside of my sick child who is in the hospital. It is good for me to remember that it can always be much worse and all I can do is trust God. Somehow, as I remember these things, I don't feel quite so bad.

Pop Goes the ?

Today we were running errands and we were listening to a cd of kids music in the car. The song that was playing was Pop Goes the Weasel. At the end of the song, Alley said, " Is that "weasel" like you draw on?" I explained the difference in "easel" and "weasel" while I was wondering what she must have been picturing in her head as she sang this song!

103 Dollar Bills

Right now, I have 103 dollar bills. It is quite a stack! This is not an every day occurence, unfortunately, but it is due to the fact that I just had a very successful yard sale. I made over $500 but 103 of that was in one-dollar bills! I also have almost $27 in quarters (that's 107 quarters, in case you were interested!) as well as several of most every other denomination.

This yard sale was the result of merging the two sets of household goods we have accumulated over the last year and a half or so. While Michael was in Iraq, I used alot of hand-me-down or yard sale things to get by while my own things were sitting alone in our apartment in Germany. As I unpacked after the shipment from Germany finally arrived, I filled several boxes with things for a yard sale. Our church was kind enough to let us use the house the church owns for the sale because it is a great location on a busy street with lots of easy parking. I am convinced that was a big key to our success this weekend!

As I sat watching people peruse the tables filled with past treasures that I no longer need, I made several observations about yard sales in general as well as the people who shop them.

- the very thing you thought would sell in 5 minutes sits there until the afternoon of the second day if it sells at all
- people rarely buy what you expect they might buy when you first see them step out of their car
- people feel they absolutely MUST get a real bargain and will ask you to take less no matter what the price
- people think that if they do not intend to use the item for its original purpose, they should get a discount (would
you take $1 for this $2 item, I'm just going to use it in my camper")
- people love it when you offer everything for 1/2 price!
- people make you think that all they have is $2 and they REALLY want this $3 item and you agree and then they
pull out a twenty to pay you
- people come in ALL shapes, sizes and flavors! ( scents, too!)
- no matter how much or how little money someone has, all are equal at a yard sale
- some people are too friendly and some people aren't friendly enough
- some people know a good deal when they see one and some come just to criticize what they see
- some people will spend exactly 2 minutes looking and spend $10, others will spend 45 minutes and spend 50 cents!

I pondered all these things and more but most of all I realized that no matter how long my Needs/Wants list is, I am very, very blessed compared to alot of people around me. I may not have as much as some, but I have considerably more than most, and I am not thinking only of material things. And for all of my blessings, I am truly thankful to God.

"Fake" Sisters

I just heard Alley ask Michael if he was blessed to have a family like us. He said yes, of course. :) Then she asked if he was glad he had a mother-in-law and father-in-law like Mimi and Grandpa. He said yes again. Then she said, " And fake sisters like Jana and Heidi?" I laughed out loud (in the other room) and then told her they were technically "in-laws" too, but that he thinks of them as real sisters!

Tweezles

I was organizing in my bedroom this morning and Liam found a small zippered case with some nail care items in it. A little later he said he was going to use the "tweezles" (tweezers) to get something out of his finger! Maybe we have a new name for tweezers in our house!

Building Bunk Beds and the Kingdom

Right now, Michael is working on putting a bunk bed together for the kids. Alley and Liam are helping. I love it that he lets them help him but even more I love it that he talks to them while they do it. I was in the next room, writing a card to a friend and listening to their conversation at the same time. It was not the conversation you might imagine, about wood and nails and screws, but instead it was a conversation about redemption and idolatry and sacrifice. Alley asked a few questions in response to a conversation Michael and I had just had and he patiently answered and explained these things to her, giving her examples to illustrate the meanings so she could really understand. It hit me that this is life, this is building His kingdom and this is what God wants us to do with our children all the time. The Bible tells us to teach them about Him when we rise up and when we lie down, and in between, we build bunk beds!

English Lesson

Today while we were driving home from the library, we passed a gas station and Liam saw a car that looked similar to our last car, our green Mercury Mystique. He said, " That's the green car that Daddy drooven." Maybe I should have given him an English lesson but I just said, "Yeah, that looks like it," and enjoyed the fact that he is still little enough to say things like that!

August 14, 2005

Sunday was a very important day in our family. It marked 7 years of life for Alley and 7 years of being parents for Michael and me. It is really hard to believe that she is actually that old...for those of you with little, little kids or babies, it really does go so fast even though it may not feel like it at 3 am! But we have enjoyed watching Alley grow and learn so many new things and she has been a wonderful blessing in our life.
The other reason that Sunday was an important day was that Alley joined the church. She spoke with the elders of our church a few weeks ago and officially became a member but she took her membership vows this Sunday, on her 7th birthday. She was excited to be included in communion, as that was also the Sunday of the month that we celebrate the Lord's supper at our church. We, and several others around us when we were expecting Alley, prayed that she would never know a day that she did not love Jesus. This prayer has been answered. It is exciting as a parent to be able to see your young children being changed and convicted by the Holy Spirit and we look forward to helping her grow in grace for many more years.
She said the prayer at her birthday lunch on Sunday and one of the things she said was something I have come to expect in each of her prayers but I love it because it sums up everything. She said, "Thank you for the blessings you have received for us." It is so true that all blessings we have, have been received by Jesus for us because he died on the cross to take away our curse. It is not just the actual blessing of salvation and eternal life but EVERY single thing that comes to us is a blessing from HIM and one that we couldn't receive except that he already secured the blessings for us. And a little child shall lead them.....

Fast and Funny

This morning, Liam asked me what "document" meant. I told him it meant to write something down. A few minutes ago he came in and said, " Mommy, can you give me a paper and a pen so I can document?" I guess that means he was paying attention!

Marshmallow Mistake

Friday night Michael took the kids camping. They got this idea while watching "Parent Trap" earlier in the week. We happened to have a small tent that I had just discovered in unpacking boxes from Germany. So, the plan was made. Friday evening about 6 pm, Michael dropped me and Dresden off at my parent's house to spend the night and he and Alley and Liam headed off to Sugar Hollow park, a nice park very close by. A couple of hours later, I called Michael on his cell phone (is it really camping if you have a cell phone?) to see if I could come to the campsite just long enough to enjoy some roasted marshmallows before leaving them for a cool, non-misquito filled sleeping environment. In the end, mom and dad and Dresden came along too...I think mom wanted more pictures! :) We got there and it turned out that the fire wasn't really doing well with the rain-soaked wood Michael had found there so Dad went back home and returned with dry firewood and a flashlight and some other important things we hadn't thought of! Because of this extra trip, we were at the campsite for more than an hour and it was quite dark by the time we were preparing to leave. Alley suddenly decided that she wanted to go home with us and forego the camping. She vacillated back and forth for a few minutes and Michael assured her that he would not be upset with her if she decided to go. (Liam was keeping quiet...he had no intention of NOT staying in the woods with Daddy!) She finally decided to go with us. She then spent the next hour second-guessing her decision and asking us if she did the right thing. I used it as a time to explain to her that all people, at one time or another, have made a decision that they wonder about. We doubt ourselves and possibly spend alot of time thinking about what might have happened, "if". I did not go into this much detail with her but it reminded me that we have a wonderful gift in life, and that is God's sovereignty. When we know that nothing, absolutely nothing, happens without God ordaining it, we can truly rest, knowing that no decision we make can lead us out of His will.
For a minute (okay, for a few minutes) I thought that we made a "mistake" in going to the campsite, that if we had left them there, just the three of them, she would have been forced to make it through the night in the tent one way or another and in the morning she would have been proud of herself for conquering her fear. But I know it was not a mistake at all, because that is what God planned.

Walking Dictionary

When you are preparing to become a parent, there are many "parent-jobs" you envision yourself performing....changing diapers, giving baths, changing diapers, buying clothes and shoes (and diapers!), taking them for check-ups and shots, changing diapers, :) reading to them, etc. But there was one job I didn't really think about and that is being a walking, talking dictionary. This job is easy in its simplest form. As you drive down a country road, you point out the window and say, " See the COWS? Cows. MMMOOOOOOO." You go through your days pointing out all kinds of various animate and inanimate objects, adding sound effects when appropriate! Then your child turns THREE! They begin to be able to express this little mind they have been developing and that involves questions, lots of questions! In our house, several times a day I am asked the meaning of a certain word. I usually don't mind answering these queries because I know that they are learning and that's what I want, but I find the most challenging aspect of this job to be not the fact that I have to be ready at a moment's notice to explain a word or phrase but that I am expected to explain it on a level that a child can understand at a moment's notice at the same time that I am doing one or more other "parent-jobs"!

Today's entries:


1. bonding- to become close to, like really good friends or family
2. briefly- short and quick
3."for a limited time only"-you can only get it for a short time
4.trembling- shaking because you are so afraid
5.abiding- living or staying somewhere alot

Those last 2 were asked while I was composing this blog!

(To become even further accomplished in this skill, try explaining what the Pledge of Allegiance is to a three year old while you are driving in congested traffic!)

The " Missing" Sandals

I was just reading Jana's blog about her missing oven mitt and that inspired me to write about what happened to me this weekend.
Let me start by saying that I DO have mischievous children around! It started when I was down in mom and dad's basement going through some of my boxes from Germany that are being stored there. I found a pair of green rubber boots that look like frogs. We bought these in Germany (I don't think you could find anything quite this weird-looking in the US of A.) He wanted to wear them, of course. He took his sandals off right there by the box and left them. I grabbed them and carried them up with me, specifically so WE WOULD NOT LOSE THEM. When it was time to leave, no sandals. We looked a little then but went home in the boots. Sunday afternoon I looked for the sandals again, for about an hour and a half, all to no avail. (In the trash, in the car, in other boxes, EVERYWHERE!) Finally Dad told Alley and Liam that if one of them found the sandals, they would get a box of markers. They looked for a few minutes and then Liam "found" the sandals in the green cabinets in the family room...literally the ONLY place I did not look. Even after talking to him about it and explaining the importance of not doing that again, we are still not clear on WHY he moved them at all, much less to a place where we would not think to look. We are also a little foggy on why he didn't tell me he knew where they were, when he usually would. Ah, the confusion of parenting.......

White, fluffy....

Today at lunch Liam and Alley were discussing the cottage cheese on their plates. I overheard their conversation and it reminded me of a time awhile back when Liam asked me if cottage cheese was made out of sheep! After a big laugh, I gave them both a lesson on where both sheep and cottage cheese come from! Homeschooling happens when you least expect it and that's why I love it!

Daddy's girl

Dresden loves Daddy! She is only 3 months old but every time she is learning a new thing, like smiling ,"talking", and now laughing, she does it for Daddy the most. Yesterday I was gone with Alley and Liam (to get yummy snowcones) and when I returned to Mimi and Grandpa's house, they reported that Dresden had been laughing for Michael while I was gone! We got home last night and she did it again for him! I am glad to see that she has a special connection to him even though she did not hear his voice at all before she was born since he was in Iraq and Germany until just days before her birth. She has definitely wrapped him around her little finger...it's a little crowded with two others already there!

Our Family

Liamese

Before Liam could talk, he used his own language that we dubbed "Liamese". He talked alot but none of what he said actually made sense! Slowly, he started adding "real words" to his repertoire. For example, he used to say, "I'll do that tummow." (tomorrow) Even though he now speaks very clearly, every once in awhile he says something that reminds me of that sweet way he used to talk. This morning he said,"I'll eat my cerealmilk (one word for him) and that will keep me poccupied."

Alley 's first word (if it can actually be classified as a word) was Yaukel. Of course, I have no idea if that is the correct way to spell it since it doesn't actually exist but she said it often around the time she was 9 months old. Sometimes we still use it! I am sure there will be many more entries about my children and their adorable attempts to make sense of the completely non-sensical English language. I am going to try to type what I can remember, even if they might be stories that are months or even years old by now.

travel

Today was a milestone....Alley travelled to Atlanta without me! She went with mom and dad to surprise Jana for her 25th birthday. (Mom got the idea yesterday driving us home from Woodbridge, VA where we went to IKEA to purchase a bookcase and bunkbeds and we also met my old friend, Jamie Rutland, for dinner at Macaroni Grill.) Liam was pretty tired of the car, as he and Dresden went with us and Alley stayed behind in Bristol with Aunt Heidi. In March of 2004, Liam and I flew to Germany and were gone for more than 2 weeks and Alley stayed behind in Bristol with Mimi and Grandpa. That was hard but I guess there is something a little different when THEY leave YOU.

Moments and Memories

This is my blog...sort of! I am not exactly sure what all a "blog" should be but what I envision this blog being is a way for me to make quick notes about the little things of my kids "little" years, as well as throwing in some events of our lives to keep others updated, as well as remind ourselves of what we did when! And, who knows, maybe even a thought or life lesson now and then. Life changes so quickly and kids grow up with lightning speed that I think this will be a valuable tool to aid us in keeping the important things near to our hearts. I want to try my best to save as many "moments" as possible so that one day when they are not little anymore, I will have yots and yots of memories! (Alley used to say "yots" for "lots"!) I constantly think of things I should write down in their baby books but I usually don't take the time to actually get the book out and write...so, I am hoping this online way of doing it quickly will make me do it more often. Also, this will give me something really cool to pull out on rainy days...my kids LOVE to hear stories of when they were little!