This and That

It has just really been down and dirty at our house for a solid week.  Chris and I both had the flu...thankfully not at our worst at the same time.  The kids have been snotty so I took them to the doctor Monday.  He's got bronchitis.  She's got an ear infection.  Breathing treatments and antibiotics for both.  Sheesh. 
Seriously, it sounds like a nursing home here.

Sometime in the last ten days Audrey has begun to actually pronounce Christian properly...instead of the "Chrisshen" that it's been since she started talking.
And, little miss sassy pants has also begun to ask for showers instead of baths. 
She just gets more grown up all the time. 
Get me a tissue!

I finally started watching Downton Abbey.  I'm now addicted and cannot seem to stop watching it, reading about it, and watching interviews.  It's SO good.  I'm really glad that I finally gave it a go!  

I made brownies with my boy yesterday...and by that I mean that we opened the box and followed the directions. :)  I love it that they appreciate even the small things, as long as we are together.  Christian said several times how happy he was that we made brownies together.  Then again this morning he reminded me with a smile.   

I've attempted to keep these little busybodies busy since they're out of school this week.  They tend to stay out of trouble a lot better when they have different activities to do.  Not even necessarily extravagant things.  Just things we have here: puzzles, movies, games, coloring.  The key seems to be changing the activity before too much time has passed, and moving them from one place in the house to another.  Whatever works, right?!


Looking forward to warmer temperatures.  Or maybe a good dusting of snow.  You never know around these parts.

Happy Wednesday.




Butterflies

 

Math Practice

Currently...

Currently I'm...


...loving... that Christian wants to learn!  Even over the Christmas break he wanted to do school work.  That feeling you get as a teacher when you can see the light bulb come on in a kid's brain is even better when it's your own kid!  He's so proud of himself (and of course, so are we) that now he can read to us!  I love to read, so seeing him enjoy it is pretty awesome.

...watching... Elementary and Sherlock.  Same idea.  One's on CBS.  One's on BBC.  Both are really great!  If you're into Sherlock Holmes, you should give them both a go.

...listening to... Grace Potter & The Nocturnals.  Andrea tried to get me to give this a listen several months ago.  Like, before we moved.  So maybe in August or September.  I'm seriously frustrated that I waited until last week to put it on my phone.  This album is fantastic!

...getting over... some kind of beginning-of-the-year funk that I was in for a few days.  Something about not being able to make things go like I think they should go.  In the end, that always ends up with me remembering that I'm not really in control of anything.  God has my path laid out just exactly like He knows it needs to be.  I'm who I am and where I am in this moment not because I took some random turns and made some random choices, but because God has plans for me and mine.  I'm glad to know that nothing (not even my but-why-isn't-this-going-my-way selfishness) can separate me from His love. 

Romans 8:39-39

Mostly, Audrey just opened all the packages while the rest of us used the chalk.

We've all enjoyed the break.  
If I'm being honest, at this point we've all enjoyed about as much of it as we can stand.  :)  Today both the kids asked when they would be going back to school.  We're all (mostly me) ready to get back to our routines.

Happy Monday.

good news

Children are a gift from God.  I'm sure a lot of people know that, but because of the way our children came to be ours it's pretty easy for me to remember that truth.  The Bible tells us in Proverbs to train up a child in the way he should go so that when he is old he will not turn from it.
There's no one right way to do this, so we all do it the best way we know how.  We knew we wanted to present this message to our kids in such a way that they could come around to salvation when they were ready, instead of us pushing it on them or scaring it into them. 
We've read the Bible to our kids and prayed with them as part of a nightly routine since very shortly after they became ours.  We have prayed for them and will continue to do so as long as we're on this Earth.  I honestly don't know how you could be a parent without having God in your corner.  One of our prayers has been that our kids will come to know God at an early age.  
Last night while Chris was reading Christian's Bible story to him, they were talking about who Jesus is and how He loves us.  The four of us sat together as Christian prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart last night!  My heart is full.  

"Currently" and the weekend update

I saw this idea for "currently" posts here and decided to go with it.

Currently I'm:

Listening to...The Civil Wars.  They are fantastic!  You should most definitely go to iTunes and give a listen.  A couple times in the last week I've also done a John Mayer station on Pandora, and that's always good.  I seriously could listen to that on the regular.  

Reading... a series by Karen Kingsbury.  She's a Christian author, and this is the tenth book I've read by her in the last few months.  It's not my norm.  Usually I go for sappy love stories (just not anything with naked people on the front...'cause I can't help but make fun of those) or mysteries.  When I read the first one, I was a little unsure.  These are church people that are a little churchier than the folks in my circles.  All that said, they really are good stories!  I've really enjoyed reading them.

Watching...So You Think You Can Dance since it's one of my favorite summer shows.  Chris and I have also recently gotten into How I Met Your Mother and I gotta say, it is a scream!!  We've been watching it on Netflix and we're only into the second season, but it's a new fave!

Anticipating...closing on our new house.  We're set to close on at the end of September and are super pumped about it!
...cooler weather and all things pumpkin!  I got some pumpkin k-cups at DD today and will for sure be having that happiness in my cup tomorrow morning!
...my baby girl starting pre-school this week.  Eek!  Apparently she's old enough to do that now.  I'll be back with more on that after her first day, which is on Wednesday.  

Loving...seeing my boy thrive in kindergarten!  I was pretty nervous about him starting school.  He's a busy boy and he's a talker, so I was just kind of expecting a call by the end of the first week with a, "hey, can you come handle your kid?!"  What I've gotten instead are lots of smiley faces.  More on that in another post this week too.



It's been a nice weekend.  Cut and color Saturday morning, and in addition to the way-past-due freshening up that gave, the best part is that it also means time to hang out with my sis!  Go see her!  As Ouiser would say, "have your roots done."
Then Chris and I had lunch on the square and did some shopping.  We were really in need of a date! :)  Sometimes I'm amazed that we still have so much to talk about!  We had several hours to just be together...talking about the kids and the new house and just dreaming about our future.  I love that guy.  
Church this morning and then had some small group fellowship tonight.  Fun times!  

I'm ready to call in a night!  
What's a post without pictures of the kids, right?
Have a great week!

harvesting

And again I'll say, there is something so stinkin' cool about growing food!


These first couple of pictures were taken right at the end of April.  They were planting flowers along the outside of the garden.  Chris had just finished planting all the food and then let the kids help with the last bit.

---


Then these were taken yesterday.  
It is completely amazing to me that food grows this quickly and that there's so much of it!  
When I was a kid, my godparents had a garden in their backyard and I remember thinking how weird that was.  
Little did I know...

Sharing a fresh-picked cucumber.

 Bell Peppers that I can't wait to skewer and toss on the grill.

 World's tiniest watermelon.  

Blueberries.  These have been so much fun!  The kids ask to pick and eat them almost every day. :)

Chris ate his first tomato from the garden yesterday with lunch, and he just raved about it!  I don't eat tomatoes, but I do eat a great many things made from them. :)  I'm looking forward to all the tomatoes we'll put up for winter.  We had some killer tomato sauce a couple of years ago when we tried gardening the first time.


Cool stuff.

Instagram, Postal Pix, and All In

I love my iPhone!  I use it for everything.  Doesn't everybody?  :)  

One of my frequently used apps is Instagram.  It does such fun things with your pictures!  My only complaint about it had been that there was not a good way to print them out.  I mean, I tried it with a regular photo place like Shutterfly or WalMart, but they just don't turn out right.  

Two weeks ago I searched how to print them.  I found an app called Postal Pix, and it is awesome!  These are just a couple of the pictures I printed out, and I was so pleased with them.  If you use Instagram, you should totally try it.  

For the last couple of weeks I have been listening to a series on podcast from NewSpring Church.  
You should definitely listen to it!!  You won't be sorry!  
The name of the series is All In.  It has been amazing for me.