Random Pictures

It's been a busy week but I feel good and productive. VBS in the evenings has worn Jeremiah out and so he has slept abit later in the morning (8am!) and takes a nice long nap in the afternoon. Here are just some random pictures (taken by Aaron) of the boys in our every day life.

One last shot from our Philly trip. Jeremiah sound asleep in the car while we drove through the night. I think I have a picture of my brother Will in a similar position from a family trip we took when we were kids!

Nathaniel's happy face. Which he makes almost all of the time!

Jeremiah being silly.

This picture cracks me up. What is so serious fellows? :-)

Nathaniel is our little explorer. There is at least one time a day where I panic because I can't find him! Here are some of the tight spots he has gotten himself into recently (don't worry, Aaron was supervising the dryer exploration!).

The clothes dryer.

The tight spot between the pantry and the stove. Let's just hope he doesn't figure out how to open the flour containers. :-)

The tight spot between the washer, the hamper & the wall.

On the other hand - If I can't find Jeremiah he is often sitting and reading a book. We are now onto chapter books like Frog & Toad, Sammy the Seal,and Danny & the Dinosaur.

Philly Visit - Pictures

It is finally quiet here at our house for a few minutes. A storm is gathering outside, the boys are finally napping, and I am fighting off the desire for a nap in order to finally get a post up about our trip last weekend. I am not quite ready to give a run down of our thoughts, perceptions, ideas for the future etc. so this post will just have some of the fun pictures. These were all taken with Ben's camera because I was so busy I didn't even get mine out of our bag. I think these are great but there are some that I wish I had thought to get like: Bob & Grace together with the boys, Will & Mariana together with the boys, the Haymes house, us with our cousins on Sunday afternoon....
Oh well, enjoy these.

Emily was such a gem and spent so much time playing with the boys. Jeremiah loved her and was calling her his best friend by the end of our weekend.

The doggie door was a source of play and amusement for Jeremiah.

Bob & Grace were awesome hosts! They showed such love and care for us and our children. It was so special to be in their home again chatting and hanging out. They were so gracious and let our whole family (us, my brothers & sisters-in-law, and my cousins) descend on their home. They were invaluable to us in terms of giving us information on the different areas and neighborhoods in Philly. Jeremiah especially seemed to build a special bond with Bob & Grace and enjoyed playing with and talking to them.

It was hot hot hot in Philly! We gave Nathaniel a bucket of water and some little measuring cups and stuff to play with. He loved it!

Ben helped grill hot dogs and wings on the grill. In this picture he is peeved with me because he thought I was picking up the camera to take a picture of him - but I took pictures of Nathaniel instead. :-)
Below: Nathaniel enjoyed playing with Abby.

My beautiful sisters enjoying the delicious dinner we had at the Haymes house.



Saturday we spent the day out at the Viss homestead (that is what I have decided to call the house that both my brothers and their wives now live in) in Collingswood, NJ just across the river. It was so great to see where they live.

Nathaniel meets Juno - Will & Mariana's husky.

Me & my bro.

Collingswood has an awesome farmers market every Saturday morning. They have produce, flowers, fresh baked goods, live music, a place to get fresh made crepe's, and all kinds of other goodies. I loved it.

This man is telling us about how he makes his fresh canolies. They looked so good! I still don't know why I didn't eat one.

Jeremiah enjoys a chocolate muffin that is almost as large as his head!


Collingswood has a very quaint main shopping street with cute shops and restaurants. We had fun walking and looking in the windows.

An alleyway was painted this bright, beautiful yellow! A great background for a fun picture.


Nathaniel enjoys pizza crust.


Jeremiah and Ramona smile (and make funny faces) for the camera.

I am not sure what they are looking at here but Nathaniel is really interested. I just love their 2 round heads together and that they have the exact same ears!

Papa fooling around with Nathaniel. He was a little water bug again, insisting on being out of the floaty I bought him so that he could kick and splash and play. What a silly boy he is.

Jeremiah loved swimming all over the pool. He did a great job. He still won't put his head under water though.

So, it was a good weekend and we now have a lot to process and pray about. The boys again were great travelers and we had no real problems during the drive. They even stayed on the same sleeping and napping schedule with no trouble while we were gone.

Simple Thoughts

FOR TODAY July 17, 2008...

Outside My Window...
bright sunlight, humid summer air, a clean car

I am thinking...
of our whirlwind trip to Philly this weekend and what it could mean for our family's future

I am thankful for...
a husband who works so hard, and that the end of his extra classes is in sight

From the kitchen...
we will be on the road tonight and are planning on stopping somewhere to let the kids play so they will sleep well in the car all night, so I am not cooking today!

I am wearing...
still in my pj's because I am cleaning the house. Once the chores are done I will shower and change.

I am creating...

lots of lists to make sure I don't forget anything. We are only going to be gone for 3 days but you wouldn't believe the stuff 2 little kiddo's need for that short amount of time!

I am going...
to Philadelphia for the weekend! I get to see my brothers and sisters and stay with our good friends!

I am reading...
The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman. It is really interesting.

I am hoping...

that things go smoothly this weekend and Aaron and I get an idea of what it would be like if we moved to Philly.

I am hearing...
Baby Einstein lullaby cd while Nathaniel naps. Jeremiah singing loudly to Thomas.

Around the house...
Surprising order! Laundry is done, floors have been vacuumed, kitchen is clean. Crazy! Suitcases and piles of things to bring are stacked in the office.

One of my favorite things...
a freshly cleaned car! It feels like we have a brand new car now that it is fixed and cleaned.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Um, you should know by now. We are headed to Philly for a quick weekend trip. On Monday we get right back into the swing of thing - VBS starts.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...
I love road trips. I must get it from my dad who also seemed to always love road trips when I was a kid. I like driving in the car, listening to music, talking, enjoying the scenery, and not feeling any of the normal day to day pressure and responsibility.

Strange things

Jeremiah has suddenly developed an attachment to a bear he named Corduroy. He now wants to sleep with Corduroy almost every nap and night time. It's just kinda funny because Jeremiah never really got into stuffed animals. We have a whole basket of stuffed animals that never ever get played with.

A few weeks ago Nathaniel found an old pacifier in the bottom of a toy box that I was cleaning out. He claimed it and ever since then has wanted the paci for sleep time. I am not about to argue because ever since he found the paci
- he sits still for story time (he used to be so hyper during story time, flinging his body around wanting to wrestle)
- lays down quietly in his bed after getting a kiss and goes to sleep without a peep or a cry (he used to cry hysterically for at least 10 minutes every single time it was time to sleep and we left the room, that just gets old...)
- sleeps for longer than 1 hour for naps (I used to count myself lucky to get 45 minutes of napping out of him), and all night!
Don't judge, we are keeping the paci!

Well Children

Today we had a double header well-child visit to the doctor's office. Jeremiah is 6 months late for his 3 year well-child check and Nathaniel is 2 months late for his 9 month well-child child check. I know, I know. Things just get busy around here and both boys always seem healthy so I kind of put that stuff off.
It was a hectic visit with both boys being measured, weighed, poked and prodded. They also both got their blood checked and a shot.
The consensus is that they are indeed healthy.
Jeremiah weighs 33lb 1/2 oz (50th percentile) and is 39 3/4 inches tall (90th percentile!). His blood levels are fine and all seems right on track developmentally. He was his usual talkative self and called the doctor, "green doctor" since she was wearing a green shirt. He watched intently as blood was drawn from his finger and didn't cry a bit when he got his shot. We have been playing with his doctor kit lately so he thought it was fun to watch the doctor check his blood pressure, look in his eyes & ears and all of that.
Nathaniel is 30 inches long (75th percentile) and weighs 19lb 5 oz (10th percentile!). There was a huge drop in his percentile weight since our last visit so it seems that we need to get more calories into him. But, he has also started crawling and walking in the last 3 months so that has probably led to the slow down in his weight gain. This little man can move! His iron count is also low which was a problem that Jeremiah had as an infant as well, so he will start getting an iron supplement once a day. Not really a big deal but something for a mother to keep an eye on.....
An interesting note about Nathaniel's vaccines, we are choosing to split up the regular MMR (measles, mumps & rubella) shot that most doctors give in combination at 1 year. But our doctor's office will not give the mumps shot on it's own so we will have to order it online and find someone to give it to Nathaniel. That should be interesting.
We are thankful to God for the health of our children. We do not want to take that gift for granted.

Berry Pickin'

We have been exploring out little community more and trying to find ways to support local farmers and have fresh fruit and veggies. I have passed this blueberry farm more times than I can count in the past 10 years (!) I've lived in LaFayette. I've always thought, "We should do that this summer." But time would fly by and we just wouldn't get to it. Finally on Friday we went berry picking with some friends. It was so fun! For $6 and 2 hours of outdoor family fun we filled a whole gallon with fresh sweet fruit. The boys had an absolute blast playing outside and generally getting dirty. It was a great way to spend a few hours together. Our friends told us about a "you pick" farm with veggies not far from here so we may try that soon too.

The farm operates on a good faith basis. You drive up. Put $6 for a gallon in the little bird house, grab a bucket and pick away.

The farm has blueberries and blackberries. Unfortunately the blackberries were already all gone...

Jeremiah sits in the shade to eat his stash.

Jeremiah tries to keep his berries away from Nathaniel.

Eating a pb&j in the shade of a blueberry bush.

Nathaniel gets great joy out of sliding down the slide. This kid was so dirty at the end of the day!

The berry pickers.

The haul. YUM!

About God

A big answer to prayer for us this week. Our Saturn was fixed with minimal expense! We now have one vehicle that comes close to being called reliable. (It is a bit of a stretch to consider our 10 year old cars completely reliable at this point.) Whoo-hoo! Philly here we come! I will admit that I did not exercise a lot of faith in this situation. I was nervous and fearful. That is precisely why we live in community and are part of the body of Christ. I know that some of my sisters-in-Christ were exercising faith for me.

Jeremiah has hit that 3 year old stage where constant questions are par for the course. My day is peppered with "Why, mama?" and "Tell me about that, mama." and "What is that, mama?" I think this stage of parenting is God's way of teaching humility. Just when you think you know so much you find your brain completely befuddled trying to explain things to a 3 year old. Here is my favorite question so far:
We are driving out of the car dealer parking lot after just having picked up the fixed car. Nathaniel is peacefully sucking his paci and gazing out the window while Jeremiah is singing along to the Veggie Tales cd of worship songs. I am enjoying a few minutes of peace, glad that for the moment there is nothing I have to do or think about other than just driving. Then Jeremiah's voice floats up to me from the back seat, "Mama, who is God?" :-)
So my question to you is, how would you answer that question in a way a 3 year old can understand?

Weekly Simple Thoughts

FOR TODAY 7/8/08...

Outside My Window...

humid Georgia summer air

I am thinking...
about our trip to Philly area in 9 days (!)

I am thankful for...
air conditioning, dish washers, Method mop & floor cleaner

From the kitchen...
left overs tonight, Aaron has class

I am wearing...
shorts, red shirt, not an ounce of make up but I did manage to fit in a shower this morning

I am creating...
still working on order and cleanliness

I am going...
to the library & the Dollar General -
Jeremiah needs new books to read, new Thomas movies to watch, and new sticker books to keep him occupied in church

I am reading...
the Bible

I am hoping...
that the Saturn dealership will tell us that the needed repairs are minor and cheap, otherwise we may have some big decisions to make about our vehicle situation

I am hearing...
Thomas the Tank Engine, spin cycle on the washing machine, worship music on computer

Around the house...
matchbox cars!
they were discovered this week by the boys and they are everywhere!

One of my favorite things...
sleeping in

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
toddler swimming hour at the pool tomorrow, hopefully pick up a fixed Saturn, maybe visit with a friend, finish cleaning and doing laundry so that I can pack next week without losing my mind, work this week (with 2 weeks off after that!)

Here is a picture thought I am sharing....
Nathaniel keeps showing us his adventurous spirit. His current favorite thing to do is to climb on top of the little table we have for the boys. This morning he figured out how to slide down our little slide - on his tummy! Crazy crazy kid.

Weekend Wrap-Up

A busy weekend is again behind us and we forge into another week. Even though we were on the run a lot this past weekend there were many enjoyable moments. Here are a few.

1. The pool
I took the boys to the pool again, this time armed with a floating thing that Nathaniel could sit in. He had a blast! The kiddie pool was shallow enough that his feet touched the bottom and since I was not afraid of him falling over (he was in the floating thing) he was able to cruise all around the pool. He was so excited. Jeremiah loves the pool too and his water wings have given him more confidence to try and float on his belly and back. I felt so contented sitting in the sun feeling my feet cool in the water and watching my boys joyfully splashing around the pool.
2. 4th of July
I was working that night so Aaron took the boys and met some other people from church at the park to watch our town's fireworks. From what I hear a fun time was had by all. The boys didn't get to bed until after 11! I was dreading work that night, but it really wasn't that bad, and I had the chance to have some interesting conversations with my co-workers (more thoughts on lessons learned at Sonic to come in another post).
3. A date
Aaron had to go to a play for one of his literature classes so Aunt Cherise came over on Saturday so that I could go with Aaron. We left around lunch time and were able to enjoy a nice afternoon together. We lingered over a delicious calzone at Pisa Pizza and just enjoyed each other's company. We talked about all kinds of things other than kids, our house, or our responsibilities. It was great! It was especially refreshing for me to spend that time with Aaron because the past 2 years have been so crazy. There was so much going on in our lives that was stressful and tiring that we never really had the energy to just chill out together. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but it's true. Maybe Saturday's date was so good because it was planned last minute and there were no expectations put on it - simply an afternoon in each other's company. Nice.
4. A restful Sunday
We all took naps on Sunday afternoon and got some much needed rest. Jeremiah helped me make potato salad and brownies for small group. He loves to help me in the kitchen and I even gave him the task of peeling the boiled eggs. The boys were well behaved during small group and it was good for Aaron and I to get a chance to actually participate in the discussion and prayer time without having to leave early.
--
So as I gear up for another busy week and my shoulders tense up as I start to feel the stresses and strains of life (2 broken cars! what to do?) I feel thankful for the life that I have been blessed with. I am grateful that even in the midst of this busy life of ours God grants moments to cherish and enjoy.

Nathaniel Walks!

Actually he's been taking wobbly steps now for about a week or so. The past few days he has been putting those steps together and we have now counted about 10 steps in a row! He loves to stand and walk and gets really proud of himself.
He will be 11 months old on July 13. Crazy. It is all going so fast.....
(By the way, I realized when I watched this that there is a popping sound that seems to occur every time he takes a step. That is Jeremiah riding back and forth on the popper behind me.)

Simple thoughts

Outside My Window...

Cool morning air, birds singing, a red tricycle & small slide

I am thinking...
That I feel a lot more peaceful and calm today then I did yesterday

I am thankful for...
Aaron's giving heart, Jeremiah's inquisitive mind, Nathaniel's happy smiles,
God's unconditional love

From the kitchen...

Nothing right now. I am in a bit of a funk this week with regards to meal planning and cooking. Tonight friends are coming over for pizza.

I am wearing...
Yellow shirt, cool linen pants with bright embroidered flowers around the bottom of the legs, flip-flops

I am creating...
Cleanliness & order in our home.
The past week has been kinda crazy with the installation of our windows and stuff so this week I am focused on cleaning and putting the house back in order. I always feel like I am chaotic when my environment is chaotic.

I am going...
Nowhere this week.
Both of our cars need fixing and I am a bit afraid to drive them in case I get stranded somewhere with the boys.

I am reading...
Before Green Gables
It isn't as good as the original Anne stories, but it is interesting and pretty mindless, which is what I need right now.

I am hoping...
To live this week in God's grace and peace, not focusing on my circumstances

I am hearing...
Thomas the Tank Engine DVD, birds singing, hammering from next door

Around the house...
Is still pretty messy, but starting to shape up. There is always some area of controlled chaos with toys & books on the floor. It is impossible to keep the house completely cleaned up with an adventurous 10 month old and active 3 year old.

One of my favorite things...
After nap snuggle time with Jeremiah

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Finish cleaning/organizing, monthly bills & budget, find out about fixing cars

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

Crazy Times

I'm back!
God answered a prayer of mine that I prayed in desperation this morning. After a number of days without our computer and the prospect of a week without really being able to drive (both of our cars are in need of repair) I was feeling slightly overwhelmed and so this is something how my conversation with God went this morning:
"God, I know that having a computer and access to the internet is not really a necessity, but please please answer my prayer and have this be something that can be fixed easily and inexpensively. I want to honor you in how we spend our money, but at this point I am willing to walk into the nearest electronics store and plunk down whatever they ask for a working computer. I don't think I can handle a whole week at home with out being able to drive anywhere or have contact with the outside world through the internet. Please God, either give me patience to deal with this, or provide some kind of fix!"
I'm not sure of all the details because I am not technically inclined at all, but Aaron fixed it with a part he got from Steve & Brenda.
I am so thankful for God's answer to this prayer. I will admit that while I am academically aware that having a computer and access to the internet is really a luxury I was starting to feel very isolated without it. There are lessons God is teaching me there.....
He also answered my prayer for peace in my heart. While our cars are still in need of repair as well as some other financial things I am learning again to trust God to provide for every thing we need.

FYI

Our computer is down at the house - so I'm making this post from Dalton's computer lab just to let you all know it may be a few days before things get straightened out.

Last night right as I was putting the boys to bed the power surged and everything shut off, except some of the lights were glowing really dim, and the box fan and ceiling fan were still spinning but just barely, and the microwave was on but made this weird humming noise, and the fridge lit was barely glowing but was not keeping things cool. Anyway it wasn't a breaker or anything that Mr. Rushing (our neighbor) and I could find so the city utility company had to come out after 9- they knew what it was just by looking (leave it to the professionals). Our ground had broken, still not sure why. But we lost the computer, the phone, a radio/alarm clock, and the baby monitor.

So it will be a few days before Sarah returns to the blogging world.

Playing the Harmonica

It's been awhile since Aunt Mariana had a video of her nephew to watch. :-)
Enjoy this one of Jeremiah playing his heart out on the harmonica.
It gets really loud at our house......

Our weekend

Was crazy.

Aaron and his dad spent all day Saturday, Sunday & Monday putting in our new windows. Well, they put in 6 of the 11 new windows. One day we are going to learn that in old houses projects like this always take longer then planned. They worked so hard!

Aaron called in reinforcements for this coming Saturday so hopefully with extra help they can get the rest of the windows in pretty quickly.

I spent those 3 days with Brenda playing with the boys.

I will post before and after pictures once the "after" is complete.

Today I am home alone with the boys. Jeremiah is a little off kilter after having so much attention for so many days. We are trying to clean up the house, do grocery shopping, and go to the library. Keeping busy!

Aaron and I woke up early Sunday morning to watch the Netherlands play Russia in the Euro 2008 quarter final that we had dvr-ed. They sucked! We watched in horror as they lost. We still can't believe it.....