Sunday Rest

Jeremiah got this sweatsuit for his birthday. Aaron thought he should take a pic of Jeremiah wearing it this morning since Georgia pulled out a spectacular last quarter win against Colorado on Saturday. We are not really Georgia fans, but we do have some friends who attend there. And of course, we live here, so we root for them for lack of anyone else to root for.

These pictures aren't the greatest, but you get the idea. Jeremiah loves the drums (uncle ben should be proud). Sunday evening before our monthly Lord Supper Pot Luck service he got his hands on the drum sticks and was happily banging away. He also loves to clap his hands when we sing during worship.

You can see how exciting our Sunday afternoon was.... Although, I should say that there is no better time than Sunday afternoon to take a nap. Right?

On a more serious notes: we had a kick butt sermon on Sunday morning. All about the fruits of the Spirit and being doers of the Word (but not in a judgemental way). Here are some quotes that are giving me food for thought this week, maybe they will you too.

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefor that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. - Ettiene de Grellet

Live in the present.

Do the things that need to be done.

Do all the things you can each day.

The future will unfold.

Peace Pilgrim.

BIG mistakes...

Has anyone reading this ever done Pilates? Well, if you do, let me just warn you that the first workout will kick your butt. Let me clarify and illustrate. I got a Pilates tape because I really enjoy doing yoga but realized that I needed something a little more intense to help with my post-baby-belly. So the other day I blithely proceeded to breeze through the work out thinking "that's not so hard, I must be in better shape than I thought." BIG mistake! The next morning "my core", which is Pilates-speak for abs, was so sore I could hardly breath. It took two Aleve to get me feeling normal again and I was very careful in how I lifted Jeremiah. But, I have now done a total of 3 workouts and they are getting better and I am not as sore. And I think I can tell a difference, but it might be wishful thinking...

I ignored a comment in my earlier post about Jeremiah's Veggie Tales obsession and decided to check out some Christian conservative blogs. Again, BIG mistake! I am now so upset I can hardly stand it! Why are people so narrow minded?

According to some bloggers I am allowing replacing the real Bible (King James Version of course) with a dumbed down version of the Bible and selling out to the world. I didn't realize I was doing all that. (sarcastic tone implied) Seriously, do these people really think that the only Biblical instruction a child in a Christian home is going to get is going to be from the Veggie Tales? Can Christian children not watch cartoons that are fun and entertaining and imaginative and learn about the Bible too? I was disappointed (but not surprised) by the narrow and judgemental view.

The other discussion in the blogs had to do with the fact that NBC is now showing Veggie Tales on their Saturday morning cartoons. But apperantly any mention of God had to be edited out. This has some Christian bloggers up in arms. Come on folks? Did you really and truly think that the main stream media was going to let Bible Verses and references to God be prominent in their programing? I have not been able to see the Saturday morning version yet, but I am happy that there is a cartoon on Saturday morning that I don't have to screen first or be worried about what Jeremiah might see. And just think - seeing the Saturday morning Veggie Tales may lead to some kids asking their mom to buy them the DVDs that do have the Bible verses (although not in King James) and may lead them to think about God, and maybe read a Bible for themselves. How can that be negative?

I wish everyone out there in blog land would just relax abit.

Laughing!

Enjoy this video of Jeremiah doing what I call his "belly laugh" while I tickle his tummy. The photography isn't that great (try video-ing and tickling at the same time...) but the purpose of the video was for all his far away loved ones to hear his laugh. I LOVE IT! Mariana - you may watch it more than once! :-)

A new discovery

Ok folks - I am afraid that we have a full blown obsession on our hands. Seriously, is it normal for a 19 month old child to be able to name the 2 principle characters and point to many others when they are named? I'm not sure, refuse to feel guilty or ashamed!

Here's the latest discovery in our little one's Veggie Tales obsession:

The other day I picked up the cd pictured on the left. So far Jeremiah has listened to it 4 times completely through - either playing quietly or sitting in his chair. Totally engrossed! He likes to dance to the music and I am sure that soon he will be singing along. Of course I prefer him listening to the Veggie Tales than sitting around watching them all the time.

So we are going to support this obsession for the time being. I have found the Veggie Tales Store on line and will probably become a regular customer. They have great books too! And seriously, I have to hide Jeremiah's one Veggie Tales book or I have to read it over and over and over again. So more selection would be nice for all of us. The reason I don't feel guilty (even though Aaron continues to argue that we are teaching Jeremiah consumerism at such a young age) is that I would much rather he be obsessed with Veggie Tales than with something else. And I am willing to support almost anything positive that gives me a few minutes of time to get stuff done, or just sit down for a moment.

Plus, here comes another confession, I like the Veggie Tales myself.

So add them to your Christmas or birthday shopping list! Any books, cds, and yes even DVDs would be welcome! :-)

(Note: this is not a pay per post or anything!)

Fall IS here!

I choose to be positive this morning and believe that fall is here! The 7 day forecast this morning showed a consistent week of 70's during the day and 50's at night. I love it! The windows in the house are open. The outdoors beckons again. I am excited when I think about being able take afternoon walks instead of trying to get it over with in the morning in order to avoid the heat. We are hoping to get Jeremiah a wagon soon so that he can play around in the yard while I work. He loves picking up pine cones ("nine-nones") and sticks. I am eager to start walking to the grocery store again and to church on sundays. I also want to look at yard sales and try and find one of those plastic slide things (they are just too expensive brand new).

We are still adjusting to quiet, normal life again. Yesterday Jeremiah was pretty grouchy after his afternoon nap and kept asking for Bee and Nona. After his bath he kept asking for them also (it was traditionally the time when he gave them goodnight cuddles). But we have kept busy doing laundry and vaccuuming today (two of his favorite things to help with).

Jeremiah is starting to put 2 words together. So far his first combination was "I obey" (thats a good start right?) and his second combination is "no poopy." Yep - the boy is learning about his bodily functions and informs me when he has a "poopy" or when it is just a "pee-pee." His "no poopy" came when I went to change his diaper and was informed of what exactly to expect! Too funny! However, I do not think he is ready for potty training yet as he is still wet when he wakes up from naps. And I am not prepared to start potty training just when it is time to haul out the long pants and sweaters etc. I would much rather change diapers than to all that extra cleaning up and laundry.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Animal sounds

Here is Jeremiah showing off some of his animal sounds. He knows a lot more but the video on the camera ran out.

Last Day...

Posing with Ben & Ramona in the lion suit. ROAR!!!
Playing "Dance Dance Revolution" with uncle Caleb ("bleb-bleb" in Jeremiah language).
Taking a nap in the car on the way to Atlanta. Too sweet!
Our little lion running around the yard.
Playing with Aunt Ramona ("nona").

So, yesterday was a tough day on many levels. It was our official last day with Ben & Ramona. I woke up with a crummy cold and Jeremiah refused to take his morning nap before we left for Atlanta, not a good start to the day. But he did ok and even made it through a stop at the Old Navy Outlet before completely conking out in the car. So, he got a short nap in on the way to Uncle Caleb (Bleb-Bleb) and Aunt Moni's ("momi") house. Once there we just hung out, played a fun dancing video game, and tried not the think about the fact that we would be saying good-bye in just a few short hours. Moni made us a great meal (lasagne - yum!) and after a bath for Jeremiah it was finally time to go. Let me just say it was really hard. It is so hard to be so close emotionally and so far apart geographically. Ramona and I cried. Jeremiah got (and gave) lots of hugs and kisses. And then we were on the road again. Thankfully an exhausted Jeremiah slept the entire way home!

I am so thankful for Ben & Ramona's visit. It means so much to me that they took the time and effort to come and visit us here. I mean, they could have spent their vacation anywhere, so to choose our small town makes us feel special. I am so thankful that Jeremiah really bonded with them and had the opportunity at this age to start building his relationship with them. I can tell he misses them already. He has already gone into the guest room asking for Bee and Nona.... "They're on a trip baby, remember?" I am thankful that we got to continue building our relationship. I am thankful for the way I have seen God working in their lives. I am thankful that the next time we see them will be at their wedding!!!! I am thankful we have webcam.

Today is kinda cloudy and grey. My Bible study was cancelled (I can't say I wasn't a little relieved) and so I plan to spend the day in my sweats trying to clean the house a bit in between naps.

I will eventually put all the pics from the visit up on Katana.

More fountain pics

Ben & Ramona pose in front of the fountains. Don't they make a cute couple? :-)
Jeremiah abandons the fountains and drags Aaron along to explore the rest of the park.


Jeremiah sandwich!

Here are more pictures of our Friday outing, as promised. There are still more, so you will get them in small doses! Just a teaser to keep you coming back.

Our visit with Ben & Ramona is drawing to a close. Tomorrow I will drive them to Atlanta where they will spend the night with Caleb & Moni, then on Tuesday they will fly back to Amsterdam. We have enjoyed their visit so much and are really really going to miss them.

A couple of things to pray for in the next few weeks for us:

- Obviously safe travel for us all tomorrow and for Ben & Ramona on Tuesday.

- Mom & Dad are in South Africa.

- I am feeling the beginning signs of a cold - which is not good - I have a lot of work to catch up on the rest of this week. Please pray that God will heal this cold.

- I will be preparing the rest of this week to do a training for MCC next week. Pray that I will be disciplined and diligent in the responsibilities that I have.

- Pray that Jeremiah will make an easy adjustment back to "normal" life.

- We just have a busy few weeks ahead. Pray that Aaron and I will find time to communicate and spend time together despite all the crazyness.

As you can see we have a lot going on in the next few weeks and I feel abit overwhelmed thinking about it. But I know that God will give us what we need.

Fun in the fountains

As you saw in an earlier post on Friday we all went to Coolidge Park. Here are some pictures of Jeremiah playing in the fountains. This little guys loves water! He was not afraid at all and like when he was in the pool a few weeks ago, wanted to keep playing even though the water was abit cool. We have a lot more pictures of the day, but blogger is being difficult and not letting me download more, so I will try and do that later. So keep checking in for fun pictures. We have just a few more days with Ben & Ramona and are determined to enjoy every last minute. Jeremiah will be lonely when they are gone (as will I).

lion costume

Ben & Ramona bought Jeremiah a lion costume for Halloween. Ramona thought it was cute and wanted to get it for him. This video is of Jeremiah trying it on. Notice how he's not sure he really likes it or not. The laughing in the background is Ramona!

Carosel Ride

The carosel ride is over, Jeremiah was too busy looking at everything to look at the camera.
Ok - I know he looks a bit scared in these pictures while he was riding the carosel, but believe me, he was having a good time.
Papa and Jeremiah chose to ride the tiger! Jeremiah is checking out all the other animals.
Watching the carosel. He was engrossed and amazed. So many lights and colors!
Again, he looks scared, but he was having fun.
Relaxing.

Yesterday morning we went with Ben & Ramona to Coolidge Park downtown. I have been waiting and waiting to take Jeremiah on a carosel ride (but I have been good and waited until Aaron could come too). So yesterday we did! Jeremiah seemed to really like it, although he does appear concerned in the pictures. He is such a serious little fellow and there was so much to observe.

Fun Fun Fun!!!

OK - the only thing I have to blog about today is that Ramona did me the honor of allowing me to accompany her on her first trip to....here it comes....try on wedding dresses!!!!!!! I can't even tell you how much fun it was! After doing about 20 mintues of explaining to the sales lady that no, we were pretty sure we weren't going to buy anything today and no, the wedding was not going to be local and no, we were not sure how big the wedding party was going to be and no, the groom was not going to rent his tux from here, we got to the fun part. Trying on the actual dresses! So there we were, the 2 of us crammed into a small changing room laughing at ourselves as I tried to pull voluminous dresses over Ramona's head. It was really so much fun. And I will not give away any details but Ramona was beautiful in every single dress she tried on. To quote her, It's going to be a drama to pick just one.

We had a fun day together, just us girls (Jeremiah was a grandmom's house). And I am definitely going to be a wedding planner in my next life.

Aaron is off tomorrow (by the way, it is his 27th birthday!) so we should have a fun day all together. Jeremiah is going to spend the night at his grandparents again so that us 4 adults can party some more.

Quiet Days

Ben reads Jeremiah his favorite book "How Many Veggies." Jeremiah loves playing with his uncle "Bee" and especially had fun yesterday evening wrestling and playing.
It has become our tradition on Monday nights to meet various friends from our church for 50cent taco night at Los Rayos (sp?). Can't beat taco's for 50cents and the company is always great!

We finally got some rain on Tuesday! Unfortunately for Ben & Ramona that was their day in Chattanooga. But they decided to visit the aquarium and said they enjoyed that. I stayed home with Jeremiah to give him some much needed rest. He took 2 naps that were over 2 hours each! And I gave in and took a nap during one of those times too as I was completely wiped! Today will be quiet for us again as Ben & Ramona are headed to Nashville for the day.

Some snapshots of our past week

Here are all 4 of us on Friday night at the Infradig concert. We went there after the baseball game (which the Lookouts lost, oh well). We hung out and listened to music. But I have realized again that I just can't do late nights the way I used to. I am still trying to recover. :-)
One day last week (i forget which one) I took B&R up to Cloudland Canyon. There was a fun little playground there that Jeremiah absolutely loved. This slide was especially fun for him because he could climb up the steps himself and slide down. The bottom of the slide was on the same level as the wood chips so he had a soft landing and I wasn't afraid of him falling on his face so he was able to do everything himself! Obviously his face in this picture tells the whole story...
Ramona got her hands on a bb gun at Steve & Brenda's house on Sunday afternoon.

Watch out squirrels!

Ben has been having a blast riding on the back of Aaron's motorcycle. This was on the way to a yummy breakfast at IHOP.
Jeremiah has a new friend.

Larry the Cucumber has joined our household. He even sings "Oh where is my hairbrush" and dances. Ever since Jeremiah got him from a lady in my Bible study last Tuesday he has been carrying Larry around under his arm and asking for "rary" first thing in the morning. He also giggles uncontrolably when he accidently hits the place on Larry that starts him singing. According to Aaron we have started commercialism early...

We have been having a terrific time with Ben and Ramona. Jeremiah asks for "bee" and "nona" when he gets up in the morning and tries to go into their room to wake them up. He loves to give them squeezes and kisses. When he kisses someone he does the sound effects "mah!" It is the sweetest thing. And this little one really does give the strongest, best hugs ever with his little arms wrapped around the recipients neck.

We intend to completely enjoy every moment of this final week. It will be busy, and we will probably all be exhausted, but it will be worth it!

Bubble Bath

Here is Jeremiah taking his first bubble bath.

They're back!

Yesterday as I was making dinner and trying to deal with a very whiny and grouchy Jeremiah I heared a cheerful horn honking in the front yard and saw that Ben & Ramona had arrived! What a nice surprise. Jeremiah once again spent about 30 seconds viewing them with some concern and confusion (even though he had been saying "Beee" for Ben all week) but then went straight to Ramona. Again, I would just love to know what is going on in his little mind. Once Aaron got home from work we all sat down to a nice dinner. What a treat! We heard the whole engagement story and all about their time with Will & Mariana.

We are all going to a Chattanooga Lookouts Baseball game tonight (while the grandparents watch Jeremiah) and then to hear some music downtown. I am looking forward to it!

Below I have posted video of Jeremiah counting to 3. Ok - so I know that he probably doesn't understand the actual concept of counting and is just repeating what he has heard us say. But I still think it is pretty cool. Now that he has figured out how to do it he likes to count a lot. And, for some strange reason he still loves the number 8: can recognize it and likes to say it in dutch. What is up with that? Anyway, I love the look on his face at the end when he has decided he has had enough of my silly games.... :-)

Um, I had better hurry up and post, I hear a little boy playing with things in our bedroom. Better go check it out.....

Counting

Jeremiah can count to "3." Or at least close enough. Listen carefully and you will hear him say 2 and three. Of course most of his relatives believe his is a genious you know! :-) Don't worry, he is not eating pretzels off the floor, they are in a cup.

Stolen Picture

I stole this picture off of my dad's dutch blog. Just couldn't resist posting this picture of my handsome parents out enjoying a day on their boat. Can it get more idylic than that? There is even a windmill in the background for goodness sake! :-)

We have many great memories of times on dad's boat. In fact I am convinced that Jeremiah still remembers his latest adventures and I think that as he grows up he will have special times with opa and oma on their boat.

It's one of those pictures I want to close my eyes and transport myself into.

Video's

In an attempt to please my loyal readers (hee hee) I am going to try and post more little videos. Since it is so easy I figured, why not? So, scroll down and enjoy a video of Jeremiah doing the motions to his latest favorite song "My God is so big." He is usually more animated, but I interupted his snack. You get the idea though.

It seems like we have had an overnight change in weather. The past two nights have been cool and the days have been nice enough to keep the windows open all day! I love not having to turn on the air conditioners. I am starting to get itching to finally work on planting the garden in the front of the house. I have been meaning to do it ever since we moved in (like 4 1/2 years ago) but have just never gotten around to it. But I am determined to make a start on it this fall. I am scouring my old magazines and websites for good ideas. Although, I will admit that despite my best laid intentions to plan/design a garden I usually just end up planting whatever looks pretty to me. My goal for the front: low maintanence perennials, hopefully that are pretty for cutting in the spring and summer. We'll see what happens. I would welcome any ideas!

In other news:

Ben and Ramona got engaged while they were in NYC! We are so so excited for them. They are supposedly on their way back down here so hopefully we will see them soon and get to celebrate in person and hear all the details. Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely love weddings!!!!

Have a terrific day everyone!

My God is so big

This is Jeremiah doing the motions to one of his favorite songs; "My God is so big."

Fun in the pool!

Playing "with" Elizabeth


Having fun with Toby, Elizabeth, papa and Sofia
Let me back in that pool!

Notice how he is shivering with cold - but his only goal was to get back in.

Yesterday was a busy day. In an earlier post I posted pictures of our morning at the park. In the late afternoon we went over to friends house and Jeremiah swam in a pool again. It was abit on the cool side but he loved it. He loves playing with all the kids at our friends house and they love entertaining him. We made pizza and had ice cream for dinner. Yum yum! There is something so wonderful about having a nice evening of good conversation and simple food with good friends.

If you haven't caught my other posts of yesterday make sure you keep scrolling down. There is a cute video too! Enjoy!

At the park again

Crawling through the worm
You want me to do what?
I'm trying to figure this swing out.
Whee! Swinging with papa.
Climbing the slide all by myself.
Ready to go down the slide!
Sliding with papa.
Riding the horsey.
Believe it or not he climbed up the slide.

We spend an hour or so at the park this morning. It was a nice cool morning and Jeremiah had a ball running around and playing on everything!

Not wanting to leave

This is pretty funny. I guess it is pretty clear that he knows what he wants.

Sleeping boys

Couldn't resist stealing this picture from Ben & Ramona's blog.
Is there a family resemblance here or what?
I think Jeremiah misses his back seat buddy.

Scenes from the car seat

Check out the studious and concentrated facial expressions! Jeremiah is perusing a new book he got at McKay's.

I find it amusing that of all the literally hundreds of childrens books randomly stacked on the shelves Jeremiah picked out the one Veggie Tales book. He triumphantly held it up, "tus tus!" (or something like that, which is his word for Veggie Tales). I mean seriously, what are the chances? Maybe we should hire him out to pick lottery numbers or something. :-)

The idea behind the other picture was to get a cute picture of him sleeping in the back seat snuggling his teddy. But of course this time he didn't actually go to sleep.... I do love how he multi-tasks in his car seat though. Right before I took this he was also drinking his milk!

Usually after church he falls asleep holding his teddy under one arm and his phone up to his ear. When his head dropps is hits the buttons on his phone and the phone starts to sing, but Jeremiah sleeps on.

You know you're approaching 30 when...

In the past I have not really cared about age and numbers but as the big 3-oh approaches I have found that I am blocking the event from my mind, living in denial that I am really reaching this milestone.

The problem is that I don't really feel like I am 30. At least, I didn't think I did until I noticed the following:

- I keep to almost the same schedule every day. (I used to despise schedules.)

- I have to be in bed no later than 10pm or I will pay for it the next day. (As I have mentioned before, I used to be a night owl.)

- Saturday doesn't look very different from any other week day. (Saturday used to be my special day to sleep in, do what I wanted to do, have spontaneous outings.)

- I packed snacks and stuff for Ben & Ramona so that they wouldn't have to spend money eating out on the road. (This is something that I would always make fun of my mom for!)

- There are lines forming around my eyes and I am pretty sure that I have identified an age spot already.

- The current music that I hear on the radio gives me a headache.

-I cannot just eat what I want unless I want to work out harder the next day. (Actually this started happening around 25 but I have just been in denial....)

- If ever someone needs something I am pretty sure I have it in my bag. (My cute little purses that hold only a wallet, keys and lip gloss are retired to the back of the closet.)

- The other day when we were shopping Ramona found a pair of shoes for me that were really cute and on-sale. I decided not to get them because the heel was a bit high and I wasn't sure where I would wear them. (When have I ever passed up a pair of cute shoes in the past?)

- Before I went on vacation I would not leave until the house was squeeky clean. (Again something my mother always made us do that I despised.)

Ok - maybe the lesson here is that it doesn't have to do with turning 30 so much as the combination of becoming a mother and maturing.... And let's face it - I am turning into my mother! (Which I should note is a really good thing as she is a terrific woman and still looks great!) Yesterday I found myself in the kitchen talking to myself as I tried to figure out what to make for dinner. I guess I need to apologize to my mom......

But on a more serious note, the real reason that I am denial about turning 30 is that when I was a college student (and lets not even think about how many years ago that was) it seemed like the people in their 30's that I knew finally had their lives together and were mature and wise and smart. The women seemed like attentive wives, patient mothers, productive time managers, spiritually mature. And it is in those areas that I still feel immature in so many ways. Shouldn't I basically have things together by now? Shouldn't I feel like I have my life under control? Shouldn't I feel mature inside?

I will work on embracing turning 30 - but darn it, I still feel like I am 20!

Note: I know that those of you who read this who are over 30 are laughing at me. That's ok!