but who's counting?

in precisely 7 days ... 2 hours ... and 57 minutes we will be arriving on maui!!

yes we are ALL going.

yes we are crazy - or will be soon.

and YES i am SO looking forward to wearing my tevas for an entire week straight!

anyone have any fun tips?

long long ago ...

drew is fascinated with things from "long long ago" ...
at the library today he even searched for "long ago" in the catalog to see if he could read some books on "long ago".
he loves learning about different things ... like inventions ... and other things that are, you know, REALLY old .... like this ...

we were on our way home tonight and he asked me about how cartoons like alvin and the chipmunks were made if they didn't use a computer. i told him that cartoons are made from drawings. i also tried to explain how movies used to be made on film.

his response ...

"what's film?"

oh man!!! am i really that old?!

following this conversation he made a 180 turn and went on to say ... out of the blue ... that he really wishes that he was 7 because then he could have met my grandpa (my grandpa died one year - exactly - to the day - before drew was born). he went on to tell me that he is so impressed that he could be an artist, and run an insurance office, AND be a christian .. all at the same time!! he said he thinks he must have been such a nice, neat man that he would've really liked to have met him.

it was so random - but meant so much to me that he was even thinking about it. you're right drew. he was a very neat man. i wish you could have met him too. i'm sure the 2 of you would've gotten along really well.

now i've heard it all.

on the way home from school today drew said "mom, i REALLY need a cell phone."

might i remind you that he is in FIRST GRADE!

um. maybe not.

getting to know ben

each year i run through some questions with the boys. it's fun to look back and see how they've changed each year. today ben and i sat down and went through his. here are some of my favorite answers that he gave.

*how old is your mom?
- 17 (HA!)
*how old is your dad?
-17
*what's your favorite animal?
-a rhinoceros (how's that for random?!)
*what's your favorite sport?
-foosball (ok we didn't know even he knew what foosball was! ha ha!)
*what's your favorite sport to watch? (thinking he'd say the twins or the packers)
-foosball
*what's your favorite thing about yourself?
-that i'm crazy
*what's your favorite store?
-i don't have one because i don't like to shop.
*what do you want to be when you grow up?
-a D.J.

and i saved the best for last--

*how tall is your mom?
-taller than my dad.
*how tall is your dad?
-taller than my mom.

HA!
we love you ben!
even if you are a little crazy ... and random:)

as spoken by alex ...

in the past 2 weeks alex has changed SO much. he seems to just really get it and it's so fun.
he is interacting in a different way ...
listening in a different way ...
and DEFINITELY talking in a different way...
of course he says a lot of "normal words" and will copy just about anything we say to him - but here are a few of my favorite "alex-isms"

"oh me!" = oh man!
"ba!!!" = ben
"do" = drew
"baby" or "nigh nigh" = blanket
"peebee" = phoebe (our babysitter)
"sacy" = stacey
"mo" = milk (i think this started with more milk because he is ALWAYS asking for more milk and just got shortened to mo)
"feeeshys" = fish (usually goldfish crackers)
"ba ba" = belly button
"guyees" = basically any rescue hero, action figure, animal figure that comes out of the boys room
"elmos wood" = elmo's world
"side" = outside
"SIDE!!!" = i want to go outside NOW! ha ha.
"ba buls" = i want to take a bath

every day he seems to say something else that makes me laugh or that surprises me. this is just a list of the ones that i can think of off the top of my head because i hear them all day long :)

this is one of my favorites stages. i love just watching their little minds work. they take in so much and do all they can to just try to keep up.

i love you little alex. you're so fun to watch! not a day goes by that i don't just sit and smile at the fun little person that you are becoming.

YUM!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: what in the world goes through a little kid's mind when they come across a 3 day old, cold and crusty french fry in the car that makes them think eating it is a good idea ???

perspective

tomorrow at drew's school they have a night where you can walk around to each of the classrooms and do different activities. in addition to this, if the kids wanted to, they could create some sort of creative piece. they could do photography, creative writing, a drawing, a video ... anything that they felt they wanted.

drew decided he wanted to do photography. so ... the rules were ... well, there were no rules - other than he had to be the one to do the picture taking :)

SO ... here's the picture that he decided to use.



interesting perspective, huh?!

if someone would have told me to go take an interesting photograph - i probably wouldn't have gone under the trampoline to take pictures of icicles. BUT ... it's different perspectives that keep life interesting, right?! :)

nice picture drew!! you are an excellent photographer in my book :)

busy with babies

this weekend stacey and i got the chance to get away for a bit. we figured that with hawaii 3 weeks away, we could use a little "recharging". and what better way to recharge than to go visit some of the people closest to us that we don't get to see all that often:)

PLUS ... what a fun way to meet their newest additions!!

first ... we stopped and saw our nephew, owen. of course he's darling. his heart is recovering nicely from the surgery. however, his lungs were damaged a bit and they're working at getting him off the ventilator, so far unsuccessful. their entire family can use your prayers :)

then we got to see my sister. normally we have the kids with us - so it was fun to spend the afternoon/evening with her and ryan, her boyfriend, in chicago - with no kids!

then, FINALLY .... we got to go meet josie!! what a peanut! she is absolutely so precious i could have stared at her for hours on end! (oh wait ... i guess we kind of did!! how fun!!) i sit and look at her and am reminded of how absolutely, truly amazing God is! it was so fun to see elizabeth and tim too! thank you guys for giving up your day for us! and for sharing your little sweetheart! once again - seeing you was a reminder that i wish we lived closer.

overall ... we spent a lot of time in the car - but driving long distances is always better without kids :) so ... it was totally worth it!

in fact ... i'd hop in the car and do it again this weekend ... but i think my mom needs a break :)!!

BY THE WAY ... thanks mom!!! the boys had a blast!!

what happens when you try to climb shelves

i've known for quite some time that i have 2 super heroes living in my house. however, it wasn't until last night that i discovered how this "superness" happened. ok ... back up a bit ... one of our kids has "a robot world underground." he goes there to build robots and i'm not sure what else because i have not been there. well, one night he was down there and he was working on a robot. he was trying to get a potion down off of one of the high shelves, but he did not have any chairs. so he had to climb the shelves. well, the shelves fell and the potions all mixed and fell on him. this caused quite the reaction and turned him into super penguino (peng - WEEN - O). AND ... since no super hero, or super penguino, is complete without a partner ... AND since he now had special powers ... he turned his brother into super penguino too. they are careful to not let their guard down and allow people to figure out who they are. so ... i won't blow their cover here ;)

but ... if you're in trouble ... and need some help ... now you know how the super penguinos came to be.

love and logic = 0 invisible coat = 1

this morning i had the perfect opportunity to use a little love and logic. ben consistently walks out the door and couldn't care less about whether he has his coat on or with him. so, as we were just about to leave i told him one time to get it, THEN, we decided to not remind him as he walked out the door. he got to the car and i was hoping and praying that he would be sitting out there cold. thinking ... that'll teach him to put his coat on the next time. so i opened the door to put alex in and he was sitting there with his arms crossed looking slightly cold. thinking it might actually be working, i said "oh wow ben ... you really look cold." (trying to use my empathy to make him think that not wearing his coat, or bringing it was ... well rather dumb :)) he looked at me and said "actually i'm just fine because i have on my invisible coat."

AHHH .. not exactly the response i was expecting.

don't blink

my friend kristi posted about a song that talks about your kids growing up - and how fast that happens.

i couldn't resist following that up with a video and song that i love with the same message. i've actually been thinking about putting it on my blog for a while -but just hadn't. SO ... let today be the day.

a month or so ago our pastor gave a message on "giving yourself 20 years". basically talking about time and how one decision that we make can impact us 20 years down the road. and how fast time goes. (it was an EXCELLENT message and if you have 20 minutes free i HIGHLY recommend going and listening to it online.) he ended with this don't blink video. i had never seen the video before and WOW did it hit me!

to think that my baby is 6 - almost 7! and to think that next year i'll have 2 in school all day!! yes, i am thrilled .. but it just means that time is getting away from me! sometimes it does feel like all i did was blink and they grew up in front of me. they went from babies that were 100% dependent on me to little energetic boys that love nothing more than to do things themselves.

i love you drew, ben, and alex. i love all of the stages that you have gone through and are going through. (well most of them). and i love to see how you are growing into such great big kids. but ... could you just slow down a little!!

is it my problem?

it's tuesday ... so of course you get some deep love and logic thoughts :)

tonight we talked about determining who owns problems that we are faced with every day - us or our kids.

this is a biggie for me. i am 100% guilty of taking on my kids problems. tonight was a good reminder for me to step back and realize that when i do that i rob them of a chance at learning something!

it's just so easy to think that if they do something like not getting their homework done, it will be a reflection of me. or that if they're late getting to school because they were too busy messing around that it's somehow my fault. but really ... those are their problems. and if i let them have to go to school without their homework done....or let them walk in late to class - they are probably going to learn a lot more from the school's consequence than if i had to nag them through the entire process.

tonight was a good reminder to just let things happen. to allow my kids problems to be my kids problems. not mine. to step back ... allow my kids to make choices ... and then plan to be there with a ton of empathy and love when they fail. AND ... to NOT respond with sarcasm and to NOT say "see, i told you." both of which i am incredibly guilty.

my goal is to step back, and allow my kids to learn that they are 100% capable of solving problems that they are faced with. and when they make the occasional bad choice i can let the consequences do the teaching and as hard as it is - just bite my tongue!

persistance

over the past few days alex has made us well aware of the fact that he likes to be outside.
as you can see, he grabs his mittens and his hat - or sometimes just his boots -
and he heads for the door.
then he stands and yells "SIDE ... SIDE ... SIDE ... SIDE"


he does not care that it is barely above zero.

we thought we would outsmart him on saturday.
to TRY and prove how cold it was to him we let him go out in it.
we thought he would just turn around and come in ...
but ... NOPE!

even when the wind REALLY picked up ...

he was having fun and was where he wanted to be.

so (keeping in mind that we wouldn't allow him to be out TOO long) we let him play.

i, on the other hand, did not find the weather so enjoyable.

SO ... i decided that it was one of those times when bribing drew and ben to go out and play instead of me was WAY worth the price.

moving on

now that the booster seat is gone ...

alex has found a way to kill time.

the little filler pegs come out of the posts on our railing. alex figured this out and his free time now consists of taking them out ... and putting them in .. and taking them out .. and putting them in ...

the nice thing is that this obsession doesn't require my assistance.

ole!

we went out for mexican tonight.

it is now apparent that i need to find more restaurants with mariachi singers. it was so perfect! they even came to our table and played a disney melody for the boys! all 3 boys - including alex - were distracted and spent the entire time watching them!

well ... almost the entire time.
alex still found time to find the buckle on his high chair.

either way ... their tummies are full ... they're now in bed ... and i'm sure they're dreaming of some cute little men playing instruments bigger than they are :)

update

ok .. the only update i have is that owen is (obviously) done with his surgery and stable.

we should know more today.

(sorry i didn't update last night. i was scrapbooking! WOO HOOO!!!)

babies babies babies

i've already mentioned josie - and have asked you to pray for their family. thanks so much for all of the thoughts and prayers you've sent their way!!

tonight ... i'm asking that you stop for a second and pray for yet another little baby that's been brought into our lives. my sister in law (stacey's brother and his wife) had a c-section today to welcome another little boy into their family. this little boy (who i don't have a name for yet) has a problem with his heart that caused them to do open heart surgery immediately upon bringing him into the world. thankfully, they knew about the problem prior to his birth, so the team was ready and waiting. i'll update more when i know more.

until then ... congratulations troy and liz ... we're praying for you and love you lots!

**update -- baby OWEN is in surgery. it is a 7 hour surgery, so we won't know more until the morning.

i'm cuckoo for ...

every day alex starts his morning out in the same way.
it's not really the healthiest of cuisine.
nor is it the cleanest.

BUT ... it is something he will eat!!
and that's rare!

he is officially SERIOUSLY cuckoo for cocoa puffs!! :)
(3 bowls just this morning!)

on a side note -
1. you'll notice these pictures were taken a few days ago - before we banned him from the booster seat.
2. you'll notice that just like drew and ben - alex insists upon having a cereal box in front of him "to read" while eating :)

one, two, buckle my ...

as of yesterday, alex no longer sits in a booster chair.

is it because he is such a clean eater? NOPE
is it because he sits so well and so patiently through dinner? not a chance.
is it because he is so big that he doesn't fit in it anymore? wrong again.

it's because he is so fascinated with the buckle that nothing gets done when it is in sight.
by me or by him.

he won't eat, because all he wants to do is get down so that he can buckle .. unbuckle ... buckle ... unbuckle ... buckle.... and so on.
i can't do anything because he can buckle .. but he can't unbuckle on his own.
so the chain of events actually goes more something like this -
buckle ... "HELP ... please .... MOMMMMY" ... unbuckle ... buckle ... "HELP ... please .... MOMMMMMY" ... unbuckle .. and so on.

SO ... after many days ... and a fascination that never died ... the booster seat has found a new hiding spot.

pray that a. alex doesn't find it and b. that he doesn't realize there are other things in our house that buckle and unbuckle as well.

what is stress?

stress = the 10 minutes between when we leave our parenting with love and logic class, pick up our 3 crazies, and get out to car. hoping and praying the entire time that they will not do something that makes them one of "those kids" that we just talked about.

creative devotion continued ...

after seeing how effective these ear muffs were while he read -
drew must've decided they would assist him in sleeping as well.
we walked in to find ...



i'm thinking i might need to take a turn wearing them.
they could be an effective tool in getting alex to stop waking up at night ;)

creative devotion

drew has been asking us for a while to buy him a "real Bible".

yesterday he and i finally went and picked one out.

once we were home, all he wanted to do was sit and read it.

well ... sometimes it isn't easy to just sit and read when you have 2 crazy brothers that think you should be playing with them instead.

it's then that you need to get creative ...

welcome to this world ....

on thursday, my good friend elizabeth was 30 weeks pregnant.

on friday she had her baby girl.

josie is 2 lbs 14 oz. and 15 inches long.

she's doing well - but if you can, take a second and pray them. the next few weeks are probably going to be quite an adjustment for everyone!
(keep in mind they have 3 other little kiddos at home)

i put a few details over on elizabeth's blog. when she finds the time, i am sure she will share even more. it's is actually an amazing thing that things happened the way that they did.
God has once again proven himself to be completely amazing, and have absolutely perfect timing.


welcome to this world little josie!!