Hammin' it up at lunch...

Elijah's First Oreo

Judah's First Verse

Judah said this verse all the way home from Sunday school last Sunday. It's the first official verse he's learned in his short little life. How wonderful of God to have it be a verse that is so applicable to his fear of the wind in the trees because of the tree that fell a few weekends ago.



(The phrase he first said in the video is actually "Wrappin' Crew" and has nothing to do with the verse. There's a Christmas episode of Barney in which three real dwarves are dressed up as Christmas elves and rap a song about being Santa's Wrappin' Crew. It makes me giggle so much. I wish I could post it, but copyright laws... So if any of you are ever visiting and want to see it, do NOT hesitate to ask! I love to share giggles!)

Growth

Elijah - On Saturday morning, we let the boys get in bed with us. Elijah was laying on me looking at my face intently. He poked my eye and said "Eyes!" * Can sign more, please, and drink(sometimes using two in a row). * Loves to put towels (and toys) in the washer and shut the door for me. * Is walking greater distances now, as in across rooms and occasionally all the way to a different room. * Can throw quite the tantrum when he does not get what he wants -- a terrible two-er is in our near future. * Loves to put diapers in the diaper pail for Momma. * Lives to eat and eats to live, and loves colby jack cheese. * Is flat out a cute and squishy love muffin.

Judah - Sunday on the way home from church, Judah started telling us all about "even wind seas obey Him...Matthew 8:26." It's really 8:27, but it's his first official Bible verse. Moving up to 2/3 year old Sunday school has done wonders in just two weeks as far as his mental development. * Uses sentences all the time now, including pronouns, conjunctions, and modifiers. * Will eat pretty much anything if it's rolled in a tortilla. * Is a big helper in many ways! * Has learned how to "skip" and has tons of fun doing it (while giving Momma a heart attack). * Is just entering the "Kids say the darndest things" stage...what Momma's been waiting for! * Drew on paper today and said "football"...and it really looks like one! * Is flat out an adorable and silly little boy friend.

Some Judah with a Little Lijah

We had a "fish fry" dinner, as Matt calls it, the other night. Baked beer batter fish fillets, french fries, and corn on the cob. A lovely treat! It's been a LONG time since we've had corn on the cob, so we had to teach Judah how to hold/eat it again. Judah, being the neat freak that he is, solved his own problem! We noticed half-way through dinner that he was quietly and intently figuring out that he could hold his cob with a paper towel and still eat it, thus keeping clean AND partaking. Elijah? He doesn't care. You can't give him food fast enough!



Judah also gets a kick out of "scaring" people with his lion roar. He loses it in crazy laughter (like my little sister can do) at the end of each LOUD roar. Elijah can do a monkey, but for some reason today he kept looking towards the window when I asked what a monkey says.



::sigh:: These boys make my heart overflow. Thanks, Lord!

Progress

Tree clean-up and removal is complete.

Next stop: window replacement.

All-Clean

And Autumn has this on her blog...and it's really fun!
Here is what you do--
1.) Type your answers to each of the questions below into the Flickr search engine.
2.) Pick an image from the first page only.
3.) Copy and Paste the URLs for each image into Mosaic Maker.
4.) Save your mosaic to your computer and upload it into your own post.



1.) What is your first name?
2.) What is your favorite food?
3.) What high school did you go to?
4.) What is your favorite color?
5.) Who is your celebrity crush?
6.) What is your favorite drink?
7.) What is your dream vacation?
8.) What is your favorite dessert?
9.) What do you want to be when you grow up?
10.) What do you love most in life?
11.) What is one word to describe you?
12.) What is your flickr name?

Have fun!

Irony

I was just looking back at a few posts and found this one from Aug 26th...

"Having a backyard that we don't fear being out in is a blessing!"

Oh, the irony. :-P

We're still waiting on someone to come remove the tree, though Matt has been sawing away at it every evening. Here's the process we'll see happen over the next ::enter amount of time:: -- fallen tree removal, all new siding on the back of the house, new shingling on backside of roof and shed, window replacement (which may include the playroom and the boys room), porch lamp replacement, and removal of the tree in our front yard. We've got mixed feelings about that last one. It's a maple tree, and I've been getting excited to see all the red leaves outside our bedroom window this fall. It does offer shade which keeps it cooler. But...it is entirely too close to the house for comfort during bad weather and it does keep things pretty dark. So oh well. We don't own the place anyway! All these things are going to add to the value of the home -- without us paying a dime for it! Renting has its perks for sure!

Some family fun at the park...



Some fun with a Central Asian hat...



Don't forget to check out the "COME SEE!" link above to the right!

Hanna Came to Visit

And she made for a unique weekend!

Pictures

The Latest

Newest Photo Albums:

Fun Brothers

Cute Labor Day Kids

Medical Update:

For those that didn't know, both my kids came down with colds last week. Elijah landed himself 1 1/2 ear infections and is on a course of antibiotics. Judah landed himself a week of preventative inhaler to keep asthma at bay. Both are doing better, just lingering cough and a little bit of runny noses. I also came down with a small version of a cold, that I think is indistinguishable from allergies. Apparently ragweed is in season. :-P

Boys Update:

Judah is talking like CRAZY! Other people are really starting to understand him, and he is using more and more complete sentences. Yesterday, he said something like "Daddy, have mine blankie, please" because Matt was teasing by playing keep-away. Judah is also getting kinda spastic. Mostly hyper, half the time happy, half the time cranky. Whew! He can be quite a handful!

Elijah is, well, adorable. Squishy and snuggly. I can tell he's on a mental growth spurt right now. He's gaining motor skills with his hands and is playing more intricately with toys. He LOVES peekaboo, food, and bathtime.

Matt Update:

Workin' away and being a great husband and daddy. I am truly blessed!

Me Update:

I start teaching a Home Ec class on Sept 9 to 5 young teen students. It should be fun -- though adventurous! This semester will be all about food. I just started working on the "curriculum" today. :-P

My thumb is an issue still, despite the ibuprofen therapy. I pretty much quit wearing the brace because it seemed to only make my thumb hurt worse, perhaps out of stiffness? So I'll probably call the doc back later this week and ask him if he wants me to continue ibuprofen or go see a specialist.

Hopefully, I'll start those allergy shots soon. It's tough -- the office hours are different every day and having only one car makes it a challenge!


Alrighty, time to go. Things to do!

Chalkin' up to some Family Fun!

Having a backyard that we don't fear being out in is a blessing! Look!

Thumbs are Useful

I finally went to the doctor to have my right thumb joint looked at. It's been bothering me for several months, but more so in the last month. I feared the worst -- a cyst that would need to be removed. But I heard the best -- a simple inflamation of the tendon and the sheath that surrounds it. So I'm taking ibuprofen regularly for the next two weeks and have one of those gloves for carpal tunnel (though that's not what it is) to see if that helps it heal. If not, then we'll start on the x-ray and hand doctor path. The doc is pretty convinced this is the problem and deemed it a "life inury" meaning that life has injured my joint. Especially having 1 and 2 year old sons. :-)

Elijah!

Trying Hard

Spiderman! Spiderman! "Goes" wherever a spider can!

I'm starting to think potty training is as scary or scarier for parents than it is for toddlers. But we acquired these from Mrs. Robin last night. I plan to get him some more tonight. He wet these within 10 minutes. :-P So....heeeere weeee goooo!

Colorado Adventures

It was grand!

To spend so many days focused on just Jaclyn was a never-before-had treasure! It was a very peaceful, relaxing, and refreshing few days. I love her family. I hope my boys grow up to have character like her brother Ben -- kind, thoughtful, chivalrous, playful, Scripture readily quoted, a halo of Christ-worship ready to shine. It was good to see examples of how to teach/discipline a 4 years old. The food was yummy (don't forget to give me the Red Beans & Rice recipe!!!). The mountains were beautiful and showed me just how altitude can affect a body used to sea level. :-P You do reach a point where your heart is pounding fast and little floaties appear in your vision. That's your queue to turn around and head back down the mountain path! Celebrating Jaclyn on her birthday was priceless. I never bumble over words in a serious moment. Ever. But when it comes to Jaclyn, there really are no words. There was TOO much to say about her that I couldn't choose. And of course, after my turn was over, I thought of numerous ways to say what I wanted everyone to know about why I love her. :-) I cried alot that night. Affirming tears of affection for my dear Jaclyn and what God has done in our lives individually and together.

But there was one thing that stood out to me about this trip. And that is the detail I will give. Now, to give a little history, if God has been showing me one thing the past few years, it has been the reality of lostness. God has been awakening my heart to this from the moment I stood staring at my sleeping newborn Judah and realized here lay a soul without Christ. The pain of that moment still brings tears to my eyes, sting to spiritual reality, and desperation to my prayers. SLOWLY, God has continued showing me the reality of souls with and without Christ. I'm thankful for the pace. It's already overwhelming learning it over several years. Having grown up in a Christian atmosphere and being blessed with excellent teachers all the way through college and even now definitely sheltered me from seeing blatant lostness save for the 5:00 news. And I think that up-bringing allowed me to easily slip into a spiritual reality of my own that did NOT include the seriousness of souls without Christ. But true spiritual reality is as serious as anything in life gets. The difference between hell and heaven. Eternal pain and eternal bliss. Prideful unbelief and humble faith. And it doesn't take a lifetime of goodness. The switch happens in an instant. Everything hinges on one moment in time for each soul.

So, Jaclyn's church held their baptism on Sunday. Pastor Ed appropriately taught on "Why be baptized?" It was a great message! And an easy lead in to a powerful Gospel presentation and invitation. I used to roll my eyes at invitations (again, I think the attitude stems from my response to up-bringing). But last Sunday, with this new sense of spiritual reality, I finally was in touch with what was truly happening. A few stood up as Pastor Ed spoke of receiving Christ. It hit me -- in that very moment, those souls were saved for eternity. In that MOMENT. Boom -- from the pits of hell to the heart of heaven. From Satan's shackle to God's stronghold. From self to Christ. Forever sealed to the Father. Granted, a long journey is ahead for those newborn souls. But the journey is not the salvation. It is the result of the salvation. Incredible!

And that was followed up by an afternoon of food, fun, fellowship, and the baptisms. Now, Friends, THIS is how baptism should be done! It was amazing! It made me realize how stoical my view of baptism is. Emotionless. There was no man-made baptistery, testimonial speeches before a microphone in front of a crowd with all eyes on you, or white robes. I'm not knocking the way most churches do baptism. A great deal of why we do what we do is tradition and culture. But once you see it done the way I saw -- like it was in John the Baptist's day and in the Acts church -- wow! The congregation just stood on the shore of the reservoir, some in the water, others on the sand. The pastoral staff waded out in the water, and those wanting to be baptized waded out one by one, couple by couple, family by family. No one was singled out to give a testimony to the whole crowd. Each pastor spoke with each person for a few minutes and then prayed over them. While I do think it important to make sure someone is a believer before baptism, I don't think it needs to be a long formal process. We are not the judges of someone's heart. If they say they know Christ and understand baptism, we accept that and trust God for the truth. And to see couples and families being baptized together...What a treasured memory they will always have! And the joy on people's faces, some gleeful and others tearful. Souls publicly professing that Christ is Lord of their lives, relishing the freedom found in Him, resting in the love of the Brethren! What more can I say??? I might just start a No Baptistery Petition if/when our church ever builds. ;-)

Whew. I'm spent. Don't feel like your toes were stepped on by any of my words. It's what God has been doing in my life and the changes in my personal views. I would not relive my upbringing for anything -- it was perfect! It was my response to it that was skewed and is now being corrected. And I don't think baptisteries are wrong at all. I just now see that there's a different way that I love to watch more!

Now go see pictures. :-) See photos here.

One Small Step

Elijah decided that he would go ahead and start walking! Of course, the camera was immediately rolling...

Lovin' CO

It's gorgeous here. The sky, the landscape, the air quality, the temperature...the company. :-)

Eye of the GOOD Storm **FIXED**

**We all owe our undying gratitude to Laura-Loo who has finally cleared up my confusion and ingnorance about how to let people who do not have a Facebook account see the pics I post there! Now the question is, will I EVER post another picture on my blog since Facebook is so much easier! :-P Enjoy the now-working links! **

So last week was busy. I have a couple days respite, then off to Denver!!! So here's a quick update and some links for those who are not on Facebook so that you can still see my photos. :-)

Kids' Check-ups

Took the kids to see Dr. L last Thursday. Judah's ears are perfectly fine, praise the Lord! Dr. L also checked all of Judah's vitals and mushed on his terrible bump to make sure all was well, and all is indeed well. Quite the rainbow of color on Judah's forehead, I might say. See this photo album for pics of his bump (and some fun play date pics) right after it happened. ::shiver::

Elijah is 99.9 percent healthy. He had one red ear, but not enough to warrant treatment. So we're praying it stays that way! He's making all his milestones on schedule. We were surprised by his percentiles, though. Everyone thinks he's a hefty baby. Well, he is. But not in the way we all think! He's 50% for height, 50% for head. But he's 90% for height! So he's tall, not fat. ;-) Last week, he started standing by himself. It won't be long until there are no more crawling babies in our home. Weird!

Judah Smarts

While waiting for Elijah's "shops" as Judah calls them (shots), Judah was playing on the little bed in the check-up room. The door was open. He pointed behind me and said "Nummer Two." Sure enough -- there was a big 2 on the door! Matt took him to a picture of some dogs dressed up like nerds and asked Judah to count them. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5." There were five dogs! Matt took him to a picture of 4 lion cubs and asked Judah to count them. "One, two, three, four, fff..." He stopped saying five, thought hard, and didn't count anymore. MAYBE he can count??

Judah learned the word for where airplanes fly in and out of. "Air-pork." :-)

Facebook Photo Alubms

Elijah's Birthday Party

Washington DC

I added a few new pics of some room rearranging to this album.

Play Dates

I'm sorry, ya'll, but Facebook is way easier to post pictures on. You edit and save in one folder, select all and upload. No formatting to worry about with words messing up placement of pictures. I'm crossing over! Ahhhh...save me! So, if you want to see some fun play date pictures from today, look on my Facebook!

If you're not a friend on Facebook, let me know if you're desperate for pictures. ;-)

Monday, Monday...da da daaa da da...

As Judah currently plays "golf" with a drum stick and random balls, I thought I'd take a moment to do a short post.

I took Matt to work early this morning in order to keep the car for daytime grocery shopping. It was so pleasant to be up in the quiet (chilly!) morning with my hubby. We got Dunkin Donuts and watched the red sun rising while we drove along. On my way home, I was lost in thought and missed 175, so I just drove on to 100. (Note to Fellow MDers: I'm weeding out our California talk concerning freeways. You've won.) While on the clover leaf to 100, I saw two little fawns having a fresh, dewy grass breakfast by the side of the road. They were absolutely adorable! Probably even smaller than a golden retriever. A small blessing on an already pleasant morning. :-)

I have a bad mosquito bite right in the spot where most flip flop straps meet the base of the shoe. I-T-C-H-Y. Matt had the great idea to put some padding and a big bandage on it to keep things from rubbing it, to stabalize the skin so it doesn't wrinkle much as I walk, and so that I can't really scratch it. Thanks, Love! Hopefully, it'll heal soon.

I just instructed Judah to push on the legs of a chair to get it out from under the table where he wants to play. He scooted closer to the chair and put his leg on it and tried to push the chair with his leg. Kids are so literal!

Judah's conversation ability has gone through the roof lately! He speaks in sentences regularly, even using some pronouns and conjuctions (not that he knows what they are!). Often, he adds "uh" in the middle of words. Examples: "Yook-uh, Mommy. Go fass!" & "Shut-uh da door." Speaking of Judah, here is another Translation List:

yook: look
fass: fast
dinah-s-sore: dinosaur
seh-dert: dessert
goshee door: grocery store
dah-ter: helicopter
uh-swee: nursery
tun-ner: thunder
yee-ya: Lydia

Elijah is starting to stand by himself a little more. Yesterday he stood for about 15 seconds when Matt put him in the middle of the floor. He'll be there soon -- but I'm not pushin' it. He crawls fast enough as it is! He's so adorable...and he'll be ONE on Thursday! Weird!

Funny story. My mom showed me a Ty beanie baby on Amazon, and I raved about it! It was a light blue monkey like the brown one he has...or so I thought. When I opened the box, it was a light blue bear. I thought perhaps something had gone wrong in shipment or that my mom accidentally ordered a bear instead. Uh...no. Something went wrong with my vision. The picture I saw was indeed a blue bear, and for some reason I saw a monkey. :-P The bear is adorable, soft, and squishy -- 'Lijah will love it! And now it has a fun story behind it!

Alright, off to finishing my shopping list. Have a good day!

Dining on Cuteness

The Dining Room is now finished enough that I want to post pictures. The only thing left to do is fix the curtain rod, but that's minor. The room is done!



And now dine on some mid-day playtime!



Lowes has the GREATEST kid carts! Facing forward, high sides, two steering wheels, seat belts, separation from cart items...perfecto!



Hi, Jaclyn! I like the purse you made Momma!



Have a trippy day!



All our happy love!

July Hodge Podge

N.A.S.T.Y. That's what it feels like here. I was told on Saturday that this summer and last are unusually hot and muggy for MD weather. I hope they are right!

Judah did three memorable things this weekend:

1) On Friday morning, Matt came down from getting ready for work and had chosen to wear a nice blue Hawaiian print shirt to work. Judah saw him, paused, and said "Cool shirt." :-D

2)Saturday, Judah had gotten a hold of a small picture of Laura (his favorite person) that was in my purse. Matt was trying to get it back from him. Judah put the picture behind his back and told Matt, "No have it." :-( His first contemplated lie. Matt asked, "Are you lying?" Judah responded, "Yes." As Laura said, at least he's an honest liar. :-P

3) Saturday night, a friend Chris and his sisters came over to watch the boys while Matt and I had a Dark Knight date. :-) Apparently Judah had loads of fun with Chris and the really cool semi truck toy he brought over. When I went to get Judah from his crip Sunday morning, I was greeted with a "No...Chris!" That meant that Judah wanted Chris to get him up, not Momma. Then Sunday afternoon, Emilee was here. When I went to get Judah from his afternoon nap, I was greeted with "Emee?" That's the first time the person Judah has requested was actually standing by his crib at the time of request. ;-)

I'm just glad I'll always be his mom. :-)

I've been noticing that as the icky weather has continued, the death of our tomato plant has drawn ever nearer. So I gave it some good TLC this morning. I retied it to the stake using pantyhose rather than nylon rope (thanks, Momma!). I cut off all the dying branches. And praised the Lord that He's the one that is really growing this plant! Look!



I also took some pics of our other gardening endeavors: sage & oregano, bell pepper. I really wish we could get some basil. But the only kind available now is cinnamon basil. Maybe next spring we'll snatch some up!



Here's a pic of how Matt completely redid the patio. He dug all the stones up then carefully replaced them in a different more snug and eye pleasing design. He also left off a row on each side so that we can have more grass area. Now if only the grass seed would do as well as the tomatoes!



Here's another travel blanket I crocheted for a dear new friend who is going to have a baby soon -- whether in Iowa or here. Her doctor (also my doctor when Dr. T is away) gave her the go ahead to stay in Iowa for several weeks...when she's due in early August. So they may come back as new parents! Reagan's favorite color is red, hence the color choice. I'm also going to attempt to sew a nursing cover for her. :-D



Other than doing a little gardening this morning, I also put up some nice hooks in Matt's closet for his belts/hat and WD40ed the hinges so it doesn't squeak for him in the mornings. I also hung our grocery bag holder, changed our bed sheets, and did some dishes. All this in an hour and a half! Woo hoo! I even used a drill. ;-) How can I do this when Judah's up you ask? Because he's not!

Both kids only got about a 1 hour nap yesterday. It was so busy! Matt was gone by 7:30 to help the men set up stuff for our church service at the Hilton (our regular facility is doing some renovating). Then church, 2 couples over for lunch, youth leaders meeting, grab McD's, help clean up after the clothing exchange, bath time, feed cat/water plants for out of town friends, and then a movie. :-) Just a good kick off to this busy week. Matt's going to a week long conference that will require a touch longer days than usual...and then Auntie MoMo gets here Saturday!

And Elijah turns ONE next Thursday! AAAHH!