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!