more silly pictures

This must be the week of taking silly pictures of the kids because I have more to share. We had a delightful day yesterday playing with our friend Rachel. She is about 3 months younger than Scott and they have known each other since birth. She fit right in with us, doing school work with Scott and playing with both of the boys. In these pictures, they found our magnifying glass and were discovering how you can make your face grow larger by putting the glass next to it. (Well, it isn't really glass - it's plastic).




Also, in the past couple of weeks, I have totally given up my dreams of ever having a "formal" dining room. With only one room in our house to have a table, the dining room becomes much more than that. It is the "art room", "sewing room", "school room", "breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack room", "enjoy a cup of tea with a friend while our kids are playing room", etc. Therefore, I just decided to take the plunge and decorate the walls accordingly. After all, it is where we spend much of our day. Last year we hung the alphabet and numbers on the wall and last week I added our world and US maps. Our next step is to hang cork strips above the maps to display the kids' artwork. At Christmas I plan to take down the (fairly ugly) chandelier and use my Christmas money to buy a ceiling fan. After all, the only drawback to the room is there is no way for air to circulate. That will certainly complete the transformation from formal.

34 weeks!

I realize it has been a while since I've posted a picture of my growing belly. I always seem to be behind the camera lens, not in front of it. Since I dried my hair this morning and wore a decent outfit (one not plastered with Playdoh, applesauce, mud, etc.), I asked Derrick to snap a picture.



Baby Ceiling Tile is growing well and is quite active. She has a boney little foot that pokes me just below my ribs and creates and extra bump on my belly. Derrick and the boys love to poke it back into place. I'll be 34 weeks on Tuesday, which gives me about 6 more weeks to go. The Doctor doesn't think I'll make it to my due date of Oct. 7, but time will tell.

memorize verse = get prize

Now that Scott has officially moved into the "children's program" at church, he can participate in the Family Bible Challenge. Each month, the kids work on a new bible verse to memorize. When they can recite the verse to the Children's Director, they get to dig into a prize box and select one. It is great motivation to hide scripture in their hearts.

So, this week we worked hard to memorize Joshua 1:9. Scott proudly recited it and went to get his prize. Since this was our first try, I did not know what to expect. I thought he may get a sticker. I busted out laughing when he emerged from the room looking as such:


He loves his new teeth and was especially delighted that they made other people laugh. With teeth like that, we'd better start saving for braces!

We have also been working on the Lord's Prayer, but that is taking quite a bit longer. The problem with it is that there are so many words that we don't use in everyday English. He has the rhythm down pat, but often substitutes random words for the ones that he does not know. After all, how many four year olds use "hallowed" or "trespasses" in their every day speech. My favorite mistake is when he says: "Thy kingdom come, my will be done." Gee, is that a Freudian slip or what! Isn't that what we all struggle with - the fact that deep down we really want our own way. That may be the hardest line for me to say and believe...that, no matter what, I want God's will to be done.

Of course, as with any time I teach, I get more out of the lessons than the student. As I memorize with Scott his verses and slowly repeat the Lord's Prayer daily, it gives me much time to reflect on what they mean and hide them in my heart as well. If only I could get such cool prizes for my work...

Date night?

On Sunday we were in the car on the way home from church. We were almost home and Andrew was already asleep in the backseat. Scott was quiet for a while and then all of a sudden asked, "Mama, when are you going on another date?"

I had no idea what he was asking, so I said, "What do you mean?"

His answer: "You know, when two people love each other and want to go out alone."

I love this definition! Maybe I should submit it to Webster's.

New Recipes

My dear friend, Alisa, sent me a link to a blog that I just couldn't help but share with everyone. I'm always on the lookout for new recipes, particularly ones that can be prepared in the morning when my brain is still firing strong. By 4:30, I'll likely forget at least three ingredients (or do something equally as silly.) Unless I am having a GREAT day, our typical dinner routine is for me to plan and prep dinner. Derrick (who is the better cook, by far) arrives home in time to season the food just right and fix any mistakes I have made.

So I was thrilled when Alisa told me about a Mac & Cheese recipe that could be made in the Crock Pot. If you are so inclined to plan ahead for meals, you should check out this blog - crockpot365.

new sleeping arrangements...again!

Well, last night we had another "sleeping surprise." Again, it started like any other. After reading books, we prayed and Derrick hauled the children (piggy back style) to their beds. Andrew was super-tired and pitched a fit, so we allowed him to settle in our bed while we headed to the office to catch up on Olympic news.

Sure enough, bedtime rolled around and I went to check on the boys before heading into our room. Scott's bed was empty! He was not in bed or below in his cave. "Where is Scott" I called to Derrick.

We went into our room and this is what we found:


This morning when Scott awoke, the first thing he said to me was, "Momma - did you see our nest that we built last night in your bed?" He was so proud of it, especially taking the pillowcase off of one of the pillows and using it as a sleeping bag. I asked him how long they were awake and he told me that he did not remember falling asleep.

"scrapbook" pictures

I hope you liked my summer "scrapbook" that I posted a few days ago. Enjoy it because it will probably be the last that I post. It proved to me that, not only do I not have the patience to scrapbook in real life, I don't even have the patience to "scrapbook" online. It takes too much time and effort to select the right photo, crop it, realize it is not all going to fit in the space provided so select a new photo, think of a clever caption and then realize the background just doesn't quite fit. But, I really enjoyed the ability to post lots of summer pictures all at once. Maybe next time, I'll try to make a slideshow.

Summer Highlight Pictures

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

End of summer

What better ways to celebrate the last few days of summer than with watermelon and creek mucking. Saturday night before bath time, I noticed both boys had streaks of dirt down their stomachs from where the watermelon juice dribbled and then mixed with the dirt of the day.



Sunday was an exciting day for Scott. It was "promotion Sunday" at church. He has officially graduated from the nursery and moved to the Children's program. To celebrate, they marched the kids to their new classroom while playing musical instruments.

Finally, as we enter "back to school" mode, we had a traditional Sunday night movie night, with popcorn for dinner. After a large lunch after church, we are rarely very hungry for anything big. (Don't worry - we also served eggs and fruit after the movie was over.)

New Background

We are starting a new school year on Monday, so I thought I would commemorate the new year with a new background. What do you think? I hope it is still "readable." I went through a couple where the font colors hurt my eyes, but I think this is better.

We are taking it easy this weekend and enjoying our last couple of days of sleeping late and taking naps. Next week Derrick starts school. The boys (mainly Scott) are also schooling at home, so we'll start our new year on Monday as well.

New sleeping arrangements?

Last night, Derrick and I put the kids to bed as we normally do. Andrew was in his "big boy bed" and Scott was asleep on the top of his new loft. I went in once, about 10 minutes after bedtime to give extra kisses (as requested by the boys both calling out from their beds) and then there was silence for the rest of the evening. Derrick and I were in the office checking email, etc. and didn't think anything of the silence, although it is always nice not to have bedtime battles.

Well, about 10:30, we headed to bed and this is what we found:

*Andrew sleeping with his beanbag on his bed:



*And, Scott sleeping under his bed:

Who knows what transpired to produce this sleeping arrangement or how long it took for them to put it together. I'm sure they conspired together and helped each other with the arrangement. We laughed and set everyone back the way that they were supposed to be before heading to bed ourselves.

Ready for Ceiling Tile!

Even though I'm still 10 weeks out, my nesting instinct has jumped into high gear the past couple of weeks. I think just knowing that Derrick is starting school soon has inspired me to get everything ready while he can occupy the kids. My original plan was not to do too much with the room, since I loved the blue and yellow theme that we used with the boys. But, Jill and Geoffrey gifted us with Callie's (my niece) nursery room decorations and bedding. It is fun to do something different for our new little girl.

When I first hung the curtains last week, Derrick's first comment was on the amount of pink in the room. Not only were the curtains, sheet and changing table cover pink, but the light that came into the room filtered through the pink curtains and tinted everything a nice shade of pink. My mom spent Wednesday afternoon and evening with us and we adjusted the curtains. I love the new look. See what you think.

Here are some pictures from our trip.