Intermission is on Intermission

We're only hours away from hitting the road!

This blog will be taking a short break, but I hope to get back at it mid-July. You know you can't rid of me too easily.

Happy Summer, Ya'll

Are You Talkin' To Me?!

The things I've heard lately...

Well, when you live your life around children, it gets interesting. But sometimes you are around their "language" so much that you forget to laugh and just enjoy it.

So, there's some attempts around here to potty-train the almost-3 year-old. (July 1st is his big day) He's got number 2 down pat, it's number 1 that gives the boy trouble. And his parents thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to potty-train him before a huge road trip??"

Yes, we have lost our minds. If found, there's a huge reward.

But getting back to the language thing, (see, I can't even stay on subject...) Jonny's sitting there on the throne today and I come in to see how he's doing. He eloquently tells me, "I can't get dat big poop outta dere!" Then he looks down at his progress and says,

"HEY, GET OUTTA M' BUTT!"

I mean, you just can't make this stuff up.

Then there's the church nursery, another place to hear lots of fun interactions. Daniel was with us this past Sunday in the 2's and 3's until time for Children's Church. One dear child decided to inform him, "You haf a big face!" Thankfully, I don't think Daniel understood him. But I still wanted to give that kid a piece of my mind.

And lastly, there's our buddy, Ryan. He constantly amazes me with his grown-up language and master of vocabulary. (Ah, those first-born verbal virtuousos) He has been diligently planning an overnight at his house with my first two sons. And he decided to create a list with everything on it that Greg and Daniel would need to bring. Apparently, he perused the house for magazines and books with the words he needed, in order to spell them correctly. (He's only 5!!)

Professional List-Maker, Ryan, and Daniel

(Did they discuss how to smile before I took this shot?)

Anyway, he gave this list to his Dad to give to Aaron at work, and Aaron likes it so much he has it on his wall by his desk. It has things like, "3 DVDs, 1 Tent, Snacks, etc..." But what I love is that everytime I see Ryan now, he asks me with all the seriousness he can muster, "Miss Jeannie, do you have THE LIST?" And I answer very business-like, "Yes, I have THE LIST." It feels like an FBI operation. And I love it.

But Seriously...

Little sister has been building her "expressions" repertoire. I like the serious look, and then when she explodes into a smile, her whole face changes.

I hate to put bibs over her cute little outfits all the time, but she's such a spitter, it's the only way to keep from changing clothes all day!

We are getting VERY excited about our upcoming trip to Ohio and Michigan! We haven't brought Hope to Ohio yet, and we haven't been back to Kalamazoo in about 4 years! We will be there over the week of the 4th.

The road trip part will be tense, but Mama has some tricks up her sleeve...

Summertime, and the living is...not always that easy with 4 children

Thank you, Lord, for my niece! She and her little brother came over on bikes today (a 40 minute ride!) and then played outside with my 3 little guys - water plus a slide is so entertaining!

And here's the house. I say it's creamy tan, Aaron says yellow. Feel free to vote on that one. Can you see G-man pouting on the front step? Nothing new there. It's hard trying to control the world...

This playset in the backyard was a big selling point for us!


And one of my favorite things about where we live...this sign.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Church

Apparently, Aaron had his prayer notebook on top of the van, and it fell off into a yard on our way to church last week. It was found by a woman in our neighborhood and returned, and here is part of the email she sent,

Yes - it sounds like yours! I am thrilled to know that we have more people in the neighborhood who truly love Jesus, I would love to meet you! I have prayer-walked thru our neighborhood for years, praying for people in the homes. The story is interesting about my neighbor who found it, because we pray for her a lot, to want to know the Lord, she is a great neighbor and we love her alot, but she has always been clear that she is not interested in things of God. Her daughter used to come to church with us, and both her kids went to our youth group for awhile. Anyway, maybe God planted some more seeds by having her pick it up and glance thru it. :)


You never know how God will choose to work!

Scooter's Party

Why do we call her Scooter? Because instead of crawling, she scoots on her bum all over the place. It's very entertaining.

Little MaryLou had a Pirate Party which was a big hit with my boys. We all met at a park, because, frankly, we don't fit anywhere else.

Aunt Patty with Hope and Beth's Mom from KentuckyGreg really pulls off the pirate look with two missing front teeth! Cousin Brett to the right

Bold and Saucy

That would describe my first-born.

From the moment he entered the world, he was intense and, well, just totally himself.

At the end of the school year, they hand out character awards, and my boy received the character BOLDNESS. I wasn't overjoyed about that, but realized that it could be a positive thing in the right situation and let it go.

But since then, God has been encouraging me that He has great plans for Greg's boldness. I need to trust that more. And then...

This morning, I happened to overhear Greg and Daniel outside playing with our new next-door neighbor who is 6 years old. I had noticed that he seemed to pronounce Daniel "Danielle" and it was really buggin' me, but I hadn't said anything.

But my first-born couldn't stand it anymore. I heard Greg say loudly, "His name's not DANIELLE, it's DAN-IEL!!"

And from inside the house, I lifted my fist in a silent YES.

Be bold, boy, be bold.

take a big whiff...

Those are cookies you smell, and it's officially our home.

The Gang's All Here

I've been meaning to put these pictures up for awhile now. I don't think I officially blogged about Aaron's younger brother Nick and his family moving to town!

If you had told me that these 3 brothers and their families would live within five miles of each other, I would have fallen over laughing. But, here we are! God is good.

These pics were taken a few weeks ago, on Greggie's birthday. I just love his toothless look, don't you? As if the freckles and red hair weren't mischeivious looking enough...

Nick and Beth have 3 little girls, and this is MaryLou, the youngest

MMMmmmm - more cousins means more birthday parties, which means more cake! Lucy (the middle daughter) with KayKay :)

Catching a shot of little brother - he is still working for Heritage, but was allowed to move to the midwest, where he travels a lot anyway.

Beth with her oldest daughter, Susan, and baby girl

I have seen some cool things from my boys when they are with these little girls. Daniel loves to push MaryLou on the baby swings, and I even caught Greggie helping Lucy with her coat. They show some sweet sides I don't get to see all that often...