Friday, February 29, 2008

this is funny!

"no cut hair, daddy,no cut hair" -micaiah




"i want my haircut like uncle chris!" -elijah
"i want my hair to spike!" -caleb



so while i was having a "girl's night out" daddy was very busy cutting hair! and micaiah continued to repeat herself, "no cut hair daddy, no cut hair"

when i told them i wanted to take their picture, these were their natural poses! beautiful children aren't they? i wouldn't trade them for the world.

and here is uncle chris, in case you forgot what his beautiful hair looks like...


daddy decided to do it gradually and if all goes well elijah will be shaved for the wedding in july where elijah will be his ring bearer. he said, "mommy, does that mean i get to carrry the jewels?"

Thursday, February 28, 2008

yeah, more friends to visit from cincy!!

it's so fun to live in a place where people like to come visit.

amy came for a few days, although i didn't get to see her all that much! she is like family and i had to share her with the kids and peter. we are all very attached to our surrogate auntie. what's another auntie amy in the picture? two? three? what's the difference?




thanks for coming amy, we had a blast!

caleb


"if i want to do something special like make pancakes or read the Bible with daddy, I have to wake up early, like at 6:00"

caleb's blog

don't forget to check out caleb's blog. WE have been very busy today!

another video attempt...

the video is getting better

hey,

maybe i don't have to use You Tube and this will work! let's see!

ok, hmmm, let's try this...


still not quite there, but it is improving! i am still try to fix it so you can see everything i recorded rather than only part of elijah's head, urrrgh.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

revision of spaghetti project

previously i posted a spaghetti project on my blog.

i thought i would post some revisions in case anyone out there tries it.

you have to weight down the pics while they dry or they curl up and dry curled and of course when you try to flatten them the dry the pasta all cracks into a million pieces and you have yourself a fun mess that you created without any help from the kids, not directly at least :o)

also, i refridgerated the extra pasta and made more!

to answer your curiousity

several of you have inquired about our foster care process, sorry i have not updated sooner, here it is...

we signed up for classes on wed mornings, jan-mar. because they were during the day no one else signed up and they were canceled the next classes are not available until april. we will be attending classes every tues and thursday in april, 3 hours each evening and have the course completed by the end of the month.

i was frustrated when we found out about the delay, but have resolved to know that the child/children God has for us are not in need yet. yes, children. our social worker asked if we would be willing to take siblings. we said it would be a case by case decision, we were not opposed to it, however we do have some restrictions. we do not want a child older than caleb, etc.

it is easier to wait for a class, the complete the classes and wait for the phone call that we have a child(ren) coming!

God is preparing my heart for fostering children. though I want to adopt, i know i must go into this with the intent to foster and see where He leads. we are excited for the journey and excited to be used by God in these children's lives. i know we will be blessed either way.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

i have some very exciting news!!!!

but i can't share it just yet.... stay posted i will blab as soon as i can.....

Friday, February 22, 2008

marketing in america

so i bet you are wondering why i would post these images. what do they have in common? well....my 2 1/2 year old daughter has spent the last several months commenting in the car. Everytime we drive McDonald's s she says, "MAC DONALDS MOMMY, MAC DONALDS"

and every time we drive by CHUCK E CHEESE she says, "CHUCK E CHEEEEEEEEESE"

Now anyone who knows me knows these are not places we frequent, and quite honestly we just about never go there, except when Grandma takes them. I am a nutrition nut, or at least i try to be. I like my kids to eat healthy and rarely allow them to splurge on the joys most kids experience weekly if not daily. So, of course when Micaiah starts saying and recognizing these images I was embarrassed! (a little sarcasm here:o) How could my sweet little daughter who has only lived in this coutry for a little over a year, only been exposed to the english language for a little over a year be obsessed with THIS! couldn't it be, something we frequent more often, or even better something healthy and good for you. then i sat back and thought of the brilliance of the marketing of these products. then i sat back further and embraced the brilliance of my daughter! she is just amazing!

and the images are getting better...

I work out at this gym 4-5 days a week and now when we pass by she says, "look mommy, gym!" or "turn here mommy, gym" even when we are on our way to get caleb at school.

like i said, she is brilliant!
and getting healthier every day :o)

and for the record, she is eating VEGGIE BOOTY in this pic, not MAC DONALDS! :o)

sorry auntie amy, wish we could share some with you!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

lunar eclipse

tonight as we drove home from Awana we watched the lunar eclipse. Then went home, raced to put our pajamas on and finally watched the moon in totality, completely covered by the earth's shadow. WOW!!

This was so neat, but things are sooo much more fun and exciting with kids to share them with!

(not that you can see it, but the eclipse is in the square above Caleb's head in each picture)



here is a short video i found on the eclipse, that was fun to share with Caleb!

Friday, February 15, 2008

thank you Amy & Damian

Auntie Amy in Australia (and Damian too) got us this great book for Christmas! Here is our first project!

We cooked spaghetti, added a few drops of food coloring and let the kids have at it!




and look, it didn't even make much of a mess! can you tell which kid used which color? :o)

the spaghetti, actually the gluten in the spaghetti, makes it stick to the paper, even when it's dry! now we know what makes our pasta stick if we don't get sauce in it!


next time we will try other pasta shapes!

the kids had an absolute blast, caleb said, "this is so cool". they thought i was so brilliant until i told them it came from that great book Damian and Amy got us for Christmas. Now they want to know what else is in the book...stay tuned for more fun Science Art!

off to the theater...

caleb, osten, and jack (they all rode in our van to the theater)

am and pm kindergarten kids at the show

anna and caleb

today i had the privaledge of going with caleb on his class field trip to the theater to see "if you give a mouse a cookie" and other short stories. it was excellent, we had a great time, and today we are off to the library to pick up these great books we saw at the theater.







i love being a mommy

and i love staying home with my kiddos!! what a blessing! what a privalege! i am so very grateful for this opportunity and wouldn't want to miss it for the world! even the tough days. so thanks babe! for working so hard and helping us manage our finances so that i can stay home and play all day, while you are off to work just so i can be here! thank you, thank you, thank you! i hope i don't ever take for grant it my choice to be home. the sacrafices are sooooooooo worth it! thank you God for providing for our family so i can watch our kiddos grow up! it is so much fun! here they are, just being kids.

micaiah found these in our winter basket and didn't want to take them off

elijah was reading and micaiah jumped up to join in. she pointed to all the pics and he told her what they were, it was adorable.

fingerpainting fun!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

what a fun valentine's day we had!

daddy made heart pancakes for breakfast!

micaiah got a candy necklace kit from auntie amy clark, she shared with elijah and the two of them spent the morning lacing up their candy!



elijah took ths shot himself, not bad huh?

done!

now time to eat them! (micaiah didn't quite get it at first)

now she's got it!

i made this cake for my valentine!

it was the best cake i have ever made!!!!! (not to brag) good morning america was bragging about it, apparently over 1000 hits on epicurious.com