Last week

A few tidbits from last week...

I wanted to take pictures but alas, my camera is in hiding. I did use my Mom's for some things and am working on a slide show.

Monday -- I potty-trained Katie. Okay, girls are a whole lot easier! In my opinion it also helps to wait until they are 3 as it comes so much easier. I really didn't have to do much except tell her what to do and no longer use diapers. She took it from there and wants to be very independent so never even tells me she has to go but just goes and does it then empties it into the big toilet. Surprisingly with no mess. The only problem is she is that she no longer has a diaper to help hold her pants up. This is the first time in SEVEN years that we have only had 1 child in diapers! Wow!

Tuesday  -- was my husband's birthday and I have been planning for the past year to make sure that his day was as special as he was. I didn't do anything really big, just little things to remind him he was loved. Of course we did the typical birthday tradition of streamers in his doorway. Now, I suppose I should do this every day but this day I packed a nice lunch for him and put a loving note along with it. I had a note in the fridge as well. The kids and I made sure the house was cleaned up during the day and I prepared a meal to go with the gift he requested -- his exact words when I asked what he wanted were, "due to the economic times, I want a plate of garlic bread all to myself". What a goofy answer (to me anyway) but I obliged and made lasange and a salad to go along with his garlic bread. I did make a plate full for the rest of us also. We set the table with a tablecloth and my fine china and crystal goblets and had candles lit. The kids thought that was great and I wasn't sure if John would enjoy that or not but when the day was complete he said how much he enjoyed his day, candles and all.

Wednesday -- the kids were involved with a play that we presented at church that evening for our Giving Thanks service. The art group we are in along with a few other families from church decided to venture out into a new area of art -- drama. We found a short play online about Squanto and the 1st Thanksgiving. Re-Pete played a friar who purchased Squanto from the slave auction, George was Samoset, Pete was Captain Dermer who brought Squanto back to America. The kids had a lot of fun with this and it turned out really nice.

Thursday -- We celebrated my husband's birthday along with my Dad's and brother-in-law's as they are all within a few days of each other.

Friday -- I took George along with my friend's children on a field trip to see an injection molding plant where they make toilet seats and Target shopping carts among many things. Fun stuff! I love to see how things are made.

I think we actually took it easy on the weekend. Sigh! Baby Boy had a cold that turned into the whole asthma-type cough and needed breathing treatments all week. :( That made for a few long nights as he would wake coughing and having difficulty breathing.

This week has been such a enjoyable break doing a few thanksgiving things, reading pilgrim stories and getting ready for our Mayflower Meal tonight (idea from Doorposts).

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Blog Anniversary

I realized today that it is my 2nd year blog anniversary. Much has changed in those two years and our family has grown. I have learned and grown in many ways as well. I thought I would link back to my first post to bring back memories. Alas, our visits to restaurants and other places is very similar to this first post but I am again thankful that we are consistent and can go out to eat without any fear of our children misbehaving. Yes, they have their moments but they are few and far between. Click HERE to reflect back.

Writing Class - Newletter

The next few posts I am going to be catching up on things I wanted to blog about but haven't had the chance to...

The boys had writing class a couple weeks ago and this was Pete's first time writing and then giving a speech. He was so excited to do this. The assignment was to write the family Christmas newsletter. He was all gung-ho and after listening to examples of what I typically do he wrote a little bit about each of us. I typed and printed it out for him and he decorated the edges to make it look like a newsletter. George wasn't quite as excited but once he got started he came around. He took the letters of Christmas and found favorite events of our year for each letter. I was very pleased with what he came up with and he does quite well, despite the fact that he has had such a hard time reading/writing.

The time came to give speeches and Pete was ready and excited while George was quite nervous. Pete seems to enjoy being in front of people and I love that about him. He just doesn't get nervous and wow, I wish that was me! While both boys desired to go first and continued to raise their hands to do so the "teacher" never looked their direction and so they ended up being almost last. Both boys did really well though! We get a kick out of watching Pete as he cannot read what is on the paper but yet his eyes follow the sentences and move to the next line as if he really is reading it when it is actually memorized. Re-Pete was sorry that he chose not to write and so he is gearing up for January's assignment which is a Poetry Night. That sounds like fun!

The Four Musketeers

Do you remember last year when first I told you that in addition to me, 3 other friends from church were pregnant and due all within a few weeks of each other? Then, that October the first baby was born. Three weeks later on the same day the other two were born, and four days later Baby Boy was born. They have all grown and changed so much and the last picture of them together was this past spring. On Baby Boy's birthday we took another picture now that they have turned ONE! They are each at various stages of developing with two walking already (thankfully not mine!), and obviously Baby Boy is the only baldy but it is slowly coming in. We plan to make this an annual picture for as long as we can. We joked that when they are 18 we'll try to have them squeeze on this little bench.

True Woman Conference -- details (finally!)

The True Woman conference was last month and I have wanted to blog about the experience but it is difficult to put into words. Moody Radio has been broadcasting a different speaker each week so I have been listening again on the radio to help remind me of what I came away with.

It was an overwhelming weekend to say the least with 6000 women! There were 20 ladies of all ages from our church together and we had times of sweet fellowship which began on the drive down. Arriving at the hotel, we were privileged to stay at the conference center itself but did have a few glitches at check-in. The Lord knew what we needed however and everything worked out.

The teens and our Pastor's wife

I had chosen along with two others to volunteer for the weekend. None of us knew what that entailed as the details were very sketchy to say the least. As we found out this was a huge undertaking and no one had put together a conference of this magnitude before. I was working in the resource center keeping books on the tables and bagging for the checkers while the other two ladies were ushers. We had lovely pink aprons to wear but found that when wearing these ladies assumed that we must know what was what and that was not the case but we helped out as much as possible.

Not quite our whole group -- here I am in my pink apron.

We were lead in worship by the Getty's and it was a truly uplifting time. If you haven't heard of them you probably have heard of their music as they wrote songs such as "In Christ Alone".


I would write about each speaker but this post would be too long. If you are truly interested I recommend that you click HERE to Moody Radio and scroll down to True Woman to hear each of the speakers from the conference. (You can also download them from iTunes.) I will say that I really enjoyed hearing Mary Kassian, author of "The Feminine Mistake", whom I had never heard before. She talked about the feminist movement and how it has shaped our culture and effects each of us as women today.


Janet Parshall especially spoke to my heart . She talked about the joys and trials of raising children as she told the story of the life of Hannah in such a way that it felt as if Hannah was one of my closest friends. In the end I realized how tightly the hold on my children is and was reminded again that they are on loan to me by God to raise for His glory but are not to be my all-in-all.

(I found some of these pictures from TrueWoman.com and cannot find one of Janet)

We also enjoyed various breakout sessions and I laughed and cried during a session about "Intentional Mothering" by Holly Elliff (Pastor's wife and Mom to 8 children) whom I often hear on Revive Our Hearts.

It was difficult to come home to reality from a mountain-top type experience but I am thankful for the time away and have been trying to apply what I have learned to become a "counter-cultural" woman -- a true biblical woman.

Show & Tell Friday -- Advent Puzzle

For Advent, a time of preparing for Christmas, we typically will read stories including Jotham's Journey and this year we will probably read the next one in the series. When my in-laws last visited they brought us an advent puzzle that we are all looking forward to putting together. The boys love puzzles and can put the 1000 piece puzzles together in a matter of days. So, they are itching to get working on this new puzzle but we will wait until Dec. 1st. The puzzle is called Passion Tree by Jack Dawson and it follows the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Each ornament in the painting illustrates an event and shows HIS story. It includes a short devotional for each day as you search for the various things hidden in the painting, all the while pointing us to the only reason we celebrate Christmas. They sell this on FamilyLife today and I see they have an accompanying hardcover devotional book to go along with it. (Click on the photo for more info.)

For more Show & Tells please visit Mary aka Canadagirl at Raising 4 Godly Men.

Show & Tell -- New Glasses

I have had the same glasses since Pete & Re-Pete were babies. I remember clearly picking them out as it was one of my first outings with three children. I was by myself trying to carry two baby carriers along with getting my 2 1/2 year old to follow along. Oh, those were the days.

Anyway, I usually wear my contacts, at least when in public, and so it didn't matter much if I had new glasses. This time when my prescription changed I decided after 6 years it was time for a new pair of glasses and I planned on wearing them more frequently seeing as the contacts are disposable and more costly than I had thought. So, I have new glasses and am enjoying wearing them and will now wear contacts only periodically (that's the plan for now).

Pete took this picture of me at the pumpkin farm. If I have my hair "poofed" enough when pulling it back, some say I look like Sarah Palin. :)

Thanks for hosting Show & Tell Friday Mary! To see more visit her at CanadaGirl

One Year Old Today!

Baby Boy turned one year old this morning! What can I say about my little ray of sunshine? He is one of our happiest babies (Tank was our other) and loves to smile. I would say that he is the cuddliest baby, which I thoroughly enjoy! Thankfully he is still a Mama's boy and what a wonderful feeling to watch his face light up when I walk into the room.

Baby Boy has had quite a year, first being diagnosed with laryngomalacia (floppy esophagus) and going through testing for that. Thankfully he seems to have outgrown it for the most part and only occasionally will I notice a stridor when nursing. He also had two hospital stays both for respiratory problems. Through it all he kept a cheerful disposition to which the nurses always commented on.

Baby enjoys being with his siblings and doesn't care much for playing alone. He needs to be where the action is and lately he is working on joining in. At this point he doesn't walk for which I am very happy about but he is walking along furniture and tries to walk pushing anything that moves.

He loves food (but don't most babies?) and it seems that he would eat constantly if I let him.  He has 7 teeth right now and I thought he was cutting his 8th but this one is slow in coming. His best friend is his thumb, either one. He is rarely without it, which makes me wonder how we will ever stop this habit when the time comes.

Baby makes the sweetest little "oo  oo" (as in "moo") sound with pursed lips when he is excited about something and we love to make him do it. Of course he likes to make us laugh and we have such fun with him. Baby Boy is such a joy and delight to our family.

Thank You Lord for blessing us with this precious little boy who brightens our days and reminds us of Your goodness to us!