Boys and their stunts

Yesterday a couple of the boys were playing outside. Tank and I were looking at pictures on the computer which is right next to a sliding glass door leading out to our wrap-around porch. All of a sudden he is pointing at the door saying "LOOK!" I turn to see one of the boys (I will not say who did what) straddling the railing and begin to climb to the other side.

I began to yell and pound on the door for him to get back over as that is a MAJOR jump! I cannot tell you how many discussions we have had about the dangers of the porch railing and how far of a drop it is to the ground, albeit I usually only discuss this in the summer when they are always outside. I went out and looked down to find that someone had already jumped and took off running.

I also found out that they have all done this before and they don't think it is big deal. After all, they didn't get hurt landing in a pile of snow. My husband said it is about an 11 - 12 foot drop and he couldn't believe they did this. He said if it were him he would have broken something for sure. Last night he talked to the boys and made sure that they understand that they can NEVER jump from the porch again. They seem to think that adults get too "freaked out" about these things. No kidding! Crazy boys!

This is the view I have looking out the door. I don't know if you can tell the distance to the ground but this is the railing they climbed over.

This is looking over the railing. There is a small ledge they stood on to jump and you can see that the snow is not a big pile as it is very melted. They jumped at the spot in the left-hand bottom of the picture.

Walking and Talking

Baby Boy is walking and walking and walking! He started taking his first steps right around Christmastime. It is always fun to watch a baby learn to walk, taking their first steps, falling down, clapping and getting all excited, only to get up and try again. The beginning of February he really took off and gave up on crawling altogether. Unfortunately along with walking comes a personality shift as with this independence, he has also become more demanding. It also means he is into more things and trying to climb up on everything. Having an inactive little girl before him made me forget how active little boys can be (how could I forget?)

Baby Boy is also learning more words including baw (ball), dow (down), caga (cracker) with his favorite still being "Hi!" and  "Daddy" and now he puts them together. This weekend he did start saying "Hi Mama!" which was so sweet to hear.

It always amazes me how God created a child to learn to walk and talk on their own. There is nothing that we do to teach them besides maybe modeling it. Each new skill learned comes at just the right time. A couple months back I tried to teach Baby Boy how to go down stairs but he didn't get it. But yet a few weeks later he was crawling up and down stairs like he'd been doing it forever.

Baby Boy is growing up, faster and faster each day... "sigh".

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Indoor Water Park trip

I am so behind in posting this. I was waiting on getting time to put a slide show together which I finally did. Pictures aren't the best but I am having problems with my camera (remember the one that dropped in the bathtub?)

 At the end of January we took a trip along with my parents, sister and her family to an Indoor Water Park. We rented a 3 bedroom condo on the grounds which was really nice and fit all 13 of us comfortably. We got quite a bit of exercise as the walk from our condo to the water park areas was a hike through overpasses and hotel hallways but when I thought the kids would complain they surprised me as they really enjoyed all of the walking, even when we entered the "refrigerator" halls as they called them. We picked the coldest of all days to go and so even being indoors it was still cold, especially walking from place to place without shoes and in a swimming suit. While we were walking if we would see someone about to open a door to the outdoors we made a run for it as the temps outside were below zero. Tank would ask me a few times why we had to keep going swimming when it he was always so cold.

I do not enjoy being in the water and neither does my Mom so we spent our time watching the little ones and I had Baby Boy strapped to my back for the most part. He did go in the water a few times though. I wasn't sure how the boys would do going down water slides as they don't even like to get water in their face in the bathtub but again, they surprised me. Pete and Re-Pete were constantly going down almost everything their Daddy went down. John seemed to be in his element. George wasn't quite as daring but only because many of the slides were completely dark and he wasn't keen on that as he loves water and such. His favorite though was the Hurricane which was quite the ride and John said had some drop! My sister managed to get me down one family slide which was okay but I would have enjoyed it much more if it wasn't completely dark. I closed my eyes the entire 30 seconds or so and tried to be calm. At least I can say I went down a water slide.

By the second day the chlorine was starting to get to some of us and George especially had a hard time with it as it made him cough continuously the entire time he floated down the lazy river. Then we tried the hot tub (which was connected to the outdoors and they had it partially open) and the steam got my dad and me coughing along with Re-Pete who almost threw-up because he was coughing so hard. Well, that was the end of that and we all went back to our room to relax.

We did celebrate the boys birthday there and went out to a favorite Mexican restaurant of ours where the boys were treated to fried ice cream.

It was a nice couple of days just being together as a big family. George said we wouldn't even have to go to a water park. He just liked all staying together. We hope to make it an annual winter trip.

Cute Quote

Lately we have been trying to "retrain" Missy Blue as unfortunately we let a few things slip with her to the point where she is very whiny and screams if she doesn't get her way. Today especially I have been working on enforcing "no screaming". She spent a bit of time in her room also until she could come out happy.

Tonight she is walking around with a huge grin saying loudly, "I no bumpy, I SMILE!" (Bumpy is her word for grumpy). That's right Missy, you got it! Just remember it for tomorrow!  

A Godly Woman

I want to tell you about a woman who had a great impact on my life. Mrs. Joanne Wilson was my Sunday School teacher when I was a young girl. I remember the time her family first attended our church as we were a small group and I was looking forward to children my age of which they had two boys. My parents invited them over for a meal and I have no idea why this sticks in my mind but I clearly remember my Mom trying to figure out what to serve as they were vegetarians and she ended up making some type of quiche.

As a Sunday School teacher Mrs. Wilson brought the Word of God to life. So often a Sunday School lesson will be more like reading a good story but she made it fun and interesting to a young girl and challenged us to learn. I remember writing reports on what we learned, searching scripture to find all the names of God, carving animals out of soap, and my favorite was a bible-times meal which was when I first enjoyed the taste of a pomegranate.

Not only that though, Mrs. Wilson lived her life to glorify God and it showed. She was always encouraging others in their walk with God and striving to know Him better. She was also instrumental in my good friend being saved and countless others as well. There were tests in her life as her oldest son had Cystic Fibrosis and then lost the battle in his late twenties, around six years ago, but she continued to praise God.

Mrs. Wilson went to be with her Savior after battling cancer and I had the privilege of attending the most amazing memorial service last weekend. She had it all planned out and did not want much said of her but only of God her Savior that others would come to know the One who had saved her. Her son spoke and said that when his Mom first called him with her diagnosis she said, "Now we find out if I really believe all the things I said I believed." And from what I heard testified, even in her last days when the cancer was having it's way in her body, her eyes did not grow dim. Despite her pain she still praised the One who made her and looked forward to seeing Him face to face.

I am so thankful to have had a true woman of God in my life.

Show & Tell Friday -- Birthday Cakes

**Update -- In the comments someone wondered if I would share my modified recipes so if you are interested in one or all email me and let me know and I will email them to you. The four I make are: carrot, pumpkin, applesauce, and of course chocolate. Two are with cream cheese frosting and the others are with a cooked whipped frosting which isn't as sweet as buttercream.**

I really enjoy baking, especially taking a recipe and modifying it to make a more healthy version with whole wheat flour, alternative sweeteners, etc. In the beginning of this process I ended up with dry cakes or really flat cakes but over the years have perfected four cakes that I regularly make for birthdays that are very moist and tasty.

In addition to that I enjoy decorating birthday cakes. I grew up with birthday cakes that my Mom beautifully decorated each year and thankfully she has passed on her talent to my sister and me. I have carried on that tradition but only wish that I wouldn't have ever given the boys a choice of which cake to make. They typically find one on one of my favorite websites on my sidebar called "Coolest Birthday Cakes". It also is a little more difficult in that we have two birthday parties where I need to make more than one cake and that slightly decreases the fun of it. For the three boys birthday two weeks ago my sister was a sweetheart and offered to decorate a cake for Tank as I had been very tempted to buy one. It turned out beautifully and Tank loved it!

I am going to share the cakes from the past few months.

Our fall birthdays from the beginning of November. I was going to make Baby Boy a #1 cake but time got away from me so I just quick decorated the pumpkin sheet cake. (Not as if he cared). Missy Blue had a "dolly" cake in her favorite color.

I used an old Storybook Doll pan that my Mom used for one of my cakes.

Pete and Re-Pete selected jeep cakes. I wanted to make one large one but they couldn't agree on a color or flavor so I made two smaller cakes (one carrot and one pumpkin). I have found piping the icing on works great as it hides imperfections, although it also hurts your hand after awhile. My Mom helped me finish the orange one as I always run out of time. :( The black frosting was a pain and I found that it is better to start with chocolate frosting but I made cream cheese so ended up adding a bit of cocoa to make it black rather than the dark purple it was. It sure stains teeth though!

Here is the Thomas the Train cake my sister decorated for me. (Thanks so much Sara!) She decided to make it more exciting than the picture he had seen and so she made the tunnel out of rice krispy treats covered with frosting.


If you would like to see more Show & Tells visit Mary at Raising 4 Godly Men. Today she shares a spelling program that I have also found to be of great help.

How many??

A quick story for you...

Recently we stopped at Home Depot to pick up a few supplies. Upon getting everyone out of the van I heard a man make a loud noise leading me to believe something bad had happened. I turned to see what the commotion might be, hoping that my children were not involved, only to see nothing but John and my children with the man watching us. He then said, "How many do you have coming out of there? They just keep coming and coming." I was thinking, honestly, is that all? I shook my head, smiled and we walked on as normal with the man watching. No, we aren't clowns in the circus trying to fit as many into the little car as we can, although sometimes it does feel like it. :)