Daddy's Little Girl

Abby is quite the Daddy's girl. She is almost 17 months old and her favorite person is Daddy. When he comes home from work, she'll cry if he doesn't pay attention to her for at least 10 minutes. He's who she looks for when she wakes up in the morning. It delights my heart to see her interact and be close to her daddy (at least as close as a 17 month old can be). I hope to see it continue for many years to come. I also hope she will be equally excited about her Heavenly Daddy one day. That she'll delight in spending time with Him and look to Him for comfort and assurance. I am so blessed to be married to a man who sets such a good example for her of who Jesus is (not that Joe is perfect, but an excellent earthly representation). On a lighter note, all of us we were riding in the van last weekend on the way to run some errands. The boys had brought along some of their Star Wars guys. Out of the back seat we heard Sam say, in a deep voice, "I'm Darth Vader, but you can call me Lord Vader." Too funny! Also, Abby has taken to getting Darth Vader and walking around singing her version of Darth's "theme music".

Good Way to Start the Day

Sam slept in late this morning, until around 8am. One of his favorite parts of the morning is giving Daddy a hug and a kiss when he leaves for work. Well, Daddy left before Sam got up so Sam was very disappointed when he woke up and asked where Daddy was and I had to tell him that he already went to work. He was walking down the hall with his head down and being generally "droopy" when Abby came running up to him and gave him a big hug! It totally made his morning (and mine too)! Now, if only I could remember that my heavenly Father is always ready to give me a big hug when I'm feeling down!

Brotherly Love Part 2

I managed to convince Ben that it's OK for brothers to love each other. The other night at dinner he was going around the table saying I love you to each of us. When he told Sam, Sam's response was, "That's embarassing." I don't even know where he learned that word, but we thought it was hysterical.

Brotherly Love

The other day, when it was nice and warm outside, I let the boys go out and play. Abby loves being outside too, so I went out with her. Ben came and sat on the porch swing with Abby and me and said, "I love Abby and I love you Mama." Ahhh...what a Norman Rockwell moment! That is, until I said, "I love you, Ben and I know that Abby does too. And you love Sam, right?" To which he replied, "I don't love Sam...we're brothers!" I have no idea where they got this notion in their heads (Sam had said something similar) that brothers don't love each other, but I thought it was humorous! I know that they do love each other, but I'm not sure why they can't admit it!

You never know what they'll come up with...

This morning I asked Sam & Ben to clean up some toys. Ben obeyed but Sam didn't so he had to go to his room. About 10 minutes later I went to talk to him and when I walked in he was "reading" his Bible. I asked him if he was ready to obey and he said, "Yes". Then I asked him if he wanted to come out of his room and he said, "No, I want to read my Bible". What's a mom supposed to do with something like that? It was so sweet, but I can't help but wonder if he wasn't trying to manipulate me in some way. Maybe I was just feeling guilty that I hadn't read my Bible in too long. Anyway, he and Ben sat and read the Bible for another 10-15 minutes. Abby was napping so it was a nice break!

Let it snow!

I know that everyone around these parts has been updating their blogs with snow pictures, so I kind of feel redundant in doing the same. However, this blog really is for me to help remember what happens around here so I'm going to do it anyway. The boys ask me about snow fairly regularly when it's cold out. I always tell them that it will probably never snow here in College Station, but that if it does, I promise they can go out and play in it. Well, it actually happend! We got about 2 inches of snow on Dec 10. The paper the next day said we haven't had more than 1 inch of accumulation in CS since 1973! Of course I had to let the boys go outside. The day started with some slushy snow on the ground and I figured it'd melt by noon so I let them go out in their footy PJs and cowboy boots. They were only out for a few minutes before they decided it was cold. Well, it started snowing for real around 4pm and it just kept coming! The best part was that Joe, who had been out of town and wasn't due back until 10pm, caught an earlier flight so he got home around 4:30. We were able to enjoy the snow as a family. Everyone went outside. This time the boys had their cowboy boots (the only boots they own) and both their jackets on since we don't have heavy coats. We could only find one pair of mittens so each boy had one and kept his other hand in his pocket. At first I was just going to carry Abby around, which is why she has bare feet in the picture below, but then she wanted to get down and play too, so we got her all bundled up as well. It didn't take her long to decide she didn't need to walk around on her own. Every time she fell down, she'd put her hands in the snow to stand up and then just sit back down and start crying. Of course snow balls were involved. Even Puki, our dog, was going nuts! It really was a blessing to all of us and the kids enjoyed warm baths and then sitting by the fire to warm up. It was a rare taste of the winter weather I grew up with. I have discovered, however, that living in Texas for 13 years had made me a cold-weater wimp! Oh, and yes, those red blobs on the table in the picture above are cherry tomotoes that Joe had just picked. After all, it was 80 the day before!

Magic School Bus

One of the boys' favorite shows is Magic School Bus. I'm amazed at what they learn by watching it. Not that I think TV can replace other learning, but here's an example. This morning I was reading the paper. The boys had already had breakfast and juice. Ben came and sat down at the table with me and said, "Do I smell apple juice molecules?" They had learned that we can smell things because molecules go into our noses. Amazing! I must admit, I don't know if I've ever really thought about why we can smell things.

I want to live on that street...

Today, as we drove out of our neighborhood, Sam said, "I want to live on that street" (pointing to another street in our neighborhood). At first I thought he was saying he wanted to move there, but I asked him when he wanted to live there. He replied, "When I'm big. When I get married." I told him I would love to have him live down the street from us when he was big and married. Then I asked him who he was going to marry. He said he didn't know yet. I said, "what about Paige", referring to a little girl in his Sunday School class. He said, "Yeah, Paige would be fine." I then suggested another little girl and he said, "No, Paige is OK". I got a hoot out of the conversation and wanted to write it down, so here it is. Ben said something really funny on the way home, but now I can't remember it. I need to start pulling over to the side of the road and writing these things down when they happen!

Cruisin'

Joe and I had a fabulous time on our cruise to the Bahamas. It was our first "real" vacation since our honeymoon 6-1/2 years ago. It was relaxing and we tried some new things. We participated in karokee night and learned to Salsa. Joe had the most incredible SCUBA dive of his life and got to swim with some sharks. We took a kayak trip from one island to another and then fell asleep on the beach.

Key West, however, is not a place we will visit again. We happened to be there during Fantasy Fest. I'm still not sure what the actual purpose of this festival is, but we saw several painted, naked, 60-year-old women and plenty of other weird costumes.

We would like to go on a cruise again some day. Maybe you can join us next time!

Where are the lines?

The other day I was driving along a stretch of road that had just been re-paved. The lane was wide because there is normally a shoulder to the road, but the lines weren't painted yet. There were little markers along where the yellow line would be, but the white line on the right was completely missing. I realized that I was having a hard time driving. I really had to focus on what I was doing and found myself thinking, "Am I too far to the right? to the left? I don't want to have an accident." It amazed me how much more effort it took to drive where there weren't any lines. And then I thought about what a good example this was of why my children need "lines" or boundaries that are clearly defined. They function so much better when and can move forward so much more easily when they don't have to wonder where the lines are...just like me in our van. If they don't have to spend time thinking about the lines and testing the boundaries, they can just focus on the task at hand, whether it's doing something for Mama or just playing well together. Of course, that also made me realize that God has given us some very clear lines to follow as well. It can hurt when we cross the line and He has to push us back in bounds, but I'm thankful that He does. The lines help me move forward each day when I don't have to wonder where they are.