Blessedness

I just read the greatest thing in my Bible study for Hearts at Home. The lesson is on The Road to Blessedness. Even though I rarely go back and reread studies from the past or look at any notes I've ever taken in a sermon, I think this is a quote I will write down and read often. "We all should learn to notice, drink in, and appreciate moments of blessedness. Then, we should talk about them and celebrate them. In a world filled with bad news, let's learn to rejoice in the great moments of blessedness and delight that take many shapes and forms." I love it! It inspires me to ask my family at dinner, "When did you feel great today?" "Did you have a chance to help someone else today?" "Tell me about a really fun thing that happened at school!" I know I am blessed an insane amount in my life. There are even times when I realize the blessing in the moment. There are times that the kids are laughing their heads off with joy and I try to take a mental picture and say a quick, "Thank you God for putting this moment in my life!" But right at this moment, after reading these words this afternoon, I feel excited to take more notice of those blessings. I want to say, "Thanks God!" more often in my day. I want my kids to learn to recognize moments of blessedness too. In so doing, they will learn that GOD IS GOOD and HE LOVES US!

Giant Tomatoes Take Over Salem

The city is all in a frenzy over the giant tomatoes that have invaded. Eye witnesses in South Salem say the tomatoes are larger than a VW Bug. No one knows quite what has happened here, but everyone has their own theory. Elise M. says, "They just grew and they grew and they grew!" "Steroids," was one more neighbor's explanation. Another witness simply screamed, "Noooooo!" and ran away in fear. So far the tomatoes don't seem to be causing any chaos. Residents here say that if the tomatoes prove to be "just tomatoes," they will have a record breaking batch of salsa!

Elise's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Today was Elise's first day of kindergarten. I am way more excited than sad so it's a good day. On her first day of preschool I cried in the car a little bit on the way to drop her off. But this year I am just so excited to see her growing up and becoming more independent. I didn't cry at all when I dropped her off. She quickly busied herself with an activity soon after we got in to the classroom. She was totally fine without me. I'm sure she was thinking, "Gee Mom, would you hurry up and say hello to the teacher then LEAVE!" A funny side note . . . I asked her, "What would you like for lunch today since it's your first day of school? You get to choose." Out of the blue she replied with, "Raspberry pancakes!" Until today, I'm not sure I've ever made raspberry pancakes and if it ever did happen, I'm sure it wasn't for lunch.

He's Asleep!

Today was our trial run for our new fall schedule. After a lot of thought, we decided to put Elise in to afternoon kindergarten. My HOPE was that Shawn would be able to nap right after we get back from taking her to school and then I would be able to use that time to work. Well, over the past few weeks, Shawn has decided that taking regular naps is no longer fun. He would much rather terrorize the house and fly off furniture and build bouncy houses out of the couch cushions. Gone are the days where he would run in to his room and climb into bed on his own. Right when it was time to start adjusting his nap schedule to be a little earlier in order to fit the kindergarten schedule, he decided to not nap at all. After a long weekend with Mark home, I'm back on my own today and it's time to get serious!! So we took Elise to school this afternoon (not technically her first day of school. There is some sort of testing they do but it's the same time she would normally be in school.) After we got back home we grabbed the dog and went for a bit longer walk . . . you know . . . to get him nice and sleepy. . . . mmmmm . . . didn't work. So we came back home and I thought I'd lay down with him for just a little bit (you'd think I'd learn that I can't just lay down with him for a little bit. It's all or nothing.) But finally after two baby gates stacked on top of each other in his doorway, about 45 minutes of crying, and one trip to the bathroom, he finally fell asleep!!! Yeah! When he does manage to nap it's a good two hours. He's only got one hour today though before we need to turn around and go get Sister. But he's ASLEEP! I did it! I feel like I accomplished something great! Thank you Jamie D. for the extra baby gate! I feel like the parent again.

Guilt?

I recently received an e-mail from a dear family friend whom I have known for a long time. It was in response to my last blog entry. She really gave me something to think about. GUILT. What is it? What's the difference between guilt and conviction? I use the word guilt a lot in daily life. "I feel guilty for leaving my kids at Grama's all day." "I feel guilty like I should be getting something done right now." I probably am not using the word correctly even in those type of situations. Guilt in the spiritual realm is something I've always thought I did not have a problem with. Accepting Jesus' forgiveness has never been an issue for me. I've always known and believed that God loves me no matter what. But how well is God going to use me if I never open my mouth?


Here's a bit of my e-mail back to her, "'Guilt? I'm not feeling guilt.' I thought what I was feeling was a genuine desire to be on fire for God. I want to be passionate. I've never had trouble accepting that Jesus loves me. I've always been secure with that. What I'm not secure with is my own response to His love & forgiveness and the truth of the Good News. I know I am saved by faith and not works. I also know that we are called to be fishers of men and I am feeling that I need to be a little more bold with my 'lures.' So I don't know. Is that guilt? Is that conviction?"

Am I Living Out My Purpose?

This morning a friend of mine wrote on her blog (http://allthingshenderson.blogspot.com/) a bit about Senator Kennedy's memorial service. She included a portion of President Obama's speech:

"We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. We cannot know what God's plan is for us. What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and with love, and with joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we can know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of others."

"Live out our lives . . . with purpose . . ." " . . . we can know that we spent it well . . ." What does that mean? For so many it means being a good person, treating other like you'd like to be treated, maybe throwing in some volunteer work here and there. Yesterday, Pastor Steve Dangaran at our church here in Salem, gave an amazing message. I was in tears. I was convicted of how I am not living out my purpose as I should be. Yes, we should love. Yes, we should be generous to others. Yes, we should treat others as we would like them to treat us. But by far, the most important purpose in my life should be introducing others to the One who loves them more than anything they can imagine. The One who wants us to spend eternity with Him. The One who created the Universe; everything in it, the mountains, the sky, the trees, every hair on my head (even the ones going gray). While I'm loving, and giving, and spending time with people, I NEED to be showing them who Jesus is. I NEED to be telling them truth.

The truth is God loves us. He created us. The truth is we are ALL sinners. The truth is God is so Holy, so good, so unexplainable that we in no way deserve to be in His presence. The truth is God so desperately wants us to be in His presence. The truth is He is pursuing us. We mess up and mess up and mess up and God pursues us still. The truth is He provided a way to bring us from our lowly, sinful human existence in to his presence. The truth is He sent His Son, Jesus, to die a torturous death; to pay the penalty for us. Jesus, God in flesh, the One who was sinless, blameless, perfect . . . He suffered in your stead! There is a Heaven. There is a Hell. God wants us with Him. This is truth.

Oh God, please use my fleeting presence on this earth to have an everlasting impact in the life of someone.

Elise Loses Her First Tooth

Elise lost her first tooth this morning. She is out at Grama's for the day so I missed it, but they made sure to document it well. First, here is some sideways footage of her trying to pull it out this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOBRWtEKI9I


Around 1:45pm I was driving down the road (on my way to get a pedicure! I have the whole day to myself. A great early birthday present!) and I got a phone call from Grama & Elise. She had lost her tooth while eating mandarin oranges. How funny! After all the apple and crunchy cracker eating in an attempt to get it out, she loses it while eating mandarin oranges. Pudding or Jello might have been funnier.

I just received a notice from the Tooth Fairy council. It says, "I hear your child has lost a tooth. Congratulations! I know this is an exciting time for your family. However, new requirements are now in place which state that the 'parent or guardian of said child must be witness to said tooth and verify its authenticity prior to a visit by the Honorable Tooth Fairy.'" Great!!! That works out perfectly for me since I won't see her before tomorrow. I would have been so bummed to not be around when the Honorable Tooth Fairy made her very first visit to Elise. Being Mom is so cool!!

Camping Adventure Part II - The Wind's A Changin'

Drinking cocoa at Camp Side-of-Road


We fell asleep, and awoke to, the beautiful sound of a rushing river. In the daylight was realized we had pulled off in a beautiful area. There was a path that took us down to the river and we all took a little walk. Elise thought it was fantastic. It was "Fairy Land." With a full night's sleep and renewed enthusiasm, we set off to find a place to camp. The real Frog Lake? Some place else? We weren't quite sure.

We stopped at Timothy Lake so the kids could see this really cool reservoir where the water was pumped under the road and out in to the canyon on the other side. The water shot out like 15 fire hoses and the sun was hitting the spray just so to make a perfect rainbow. Spirits were definitely high at this point. We stopped in at a campground on Timothy Lake just to check out the availability. Of course there was none, but the camp host told us that since we had our reservation for Frog Lake for two days, they HAVE to hold it for at least 24 hours before they can give it up to someone else! Wahoo!!! "Let's go to Frog Lake! We've got plenty of time!"


We find Frog Lake. The kids are ready to get out of the truck!!! BUT, guess what? The camp host gave our spot away already! She said the policy is 12 hours. Check in is 2pm. So that meant that sometime between 2 AM and 9:30 AM she gave our site away. The middle of the night???Hmmmm!!! Very odd. And we are very disappointed. We drove back down the road to Clear Lake. Oh Clear Lake!!! We love you! The camp host there was totally cool. He confirmed that it is 24 hrs. that they have to wait and asked if we wanted to file a complaint. This guy told us that he too had a family that hadn't shown up and if we just waited three hours, the site could be ours. In addition, there were two other family's taking off early who's sites we could take. Wahoo!! Our luck had finally turned. We parked the truck, got the boats out, and got to the business of having a fun time. All was well from then on. We got our campsite and finally could relax.

We had a fantastic time at Clear Lake. It was beautiful there! The kids had a blast. Elise caught her first fish!! (she also caught a salamander and a piece of wood with someone else's old line attached to it.) Shawn practiced casting and is really good at it. See video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL2njN0dbhE
There were baby salamanders and newts all over the beach. We probably saw 100 of them! We had fire roasted brie with cherry tomatoes for dinner. (So gourmet!) We roasted marshmallows. The kids fell asleep that evening so quickly and slept well all night. I didn't hear a noise from any other campers in the whole place. Beautiful!!!!

Addition to Camping Adventure Part I

Granpa Jim reminded me of some other details that added to the excitement of the evening. Here is a written comment he sent to me, "not to mention the guy in the dark at the first Frog lake had had a few beers, had a pistol on his hip and warned us about cougars..." Seriously! The guy said, "Keep the little ones nearby. There are cougars in this area." Then he offered to show Jim what super, secret fishing lure he was tying on to catch fish there. That was funny. "I shouldn't be showing you this," he said as if Jim were going to head right down to the cougar-surrounded lake with his wife and grandchildren, in the dark, and catch every last fish in it.

Camping Adventure

*Some details may be a little exaggerated for added drama.



So Granpa Jim & Plain Grama asked if we could set aside a weekend to go camping with them before summer was over. We had already been out on two other camping trips this summer and with all the home remodeling projects to get to, we decided that Mark would stay at home and get lots of work done and I would take the kids. Because we were going with Granpa & Grama, I didn't have to do much planning at all. My responsibilities consisted of packing clothes, a tent and sleeping bags (and some chocolate chip cookies of course) and Granpa & Grama took care of the rest. I knew where we were going (at least I knew the name). I, however, didn't have to know how to get there. I didn't even have to drive. It was easy-peesy.





We got a late start on Friday because Granpa ended up having to work later than expected. But still, all was okay. We should have had time to make it there before it got too dark. So we set off toward a fun-filled happy weekend of camping. About two hours in to the trip it was starting to get dark and we were on a gravel road. "Are you sure there's a campground up here?" "Yes! We have reservations for Frog Lake. We followed the directions to Frog Lake." A couple of miles up this gravel road we stop to speak to the only human we've seen in about an hour. He's just setting up a pole to go fishing at dusk. Granpa pulls up and asks him, "Are we close to the campground?" His reply? "There's no campground on this lake. I've been coming up here for 20 years. There is no campground here." Fantastic!!! Where on Earth are we??



So with this man's help we learn that there are two Frog Lakes in the area . . . about an hour apart from each other if you know the back roads. Who's idea was it to name two different lakes the same thing within that close proximity?! Ridiculous! So off we drive to find another place in the vicinity to stay for the night. Yeah right! Like you could find a campsite without a reservation on a Friday night at 9pm. So we check a couple of places. No go. Keep in mind there is a 2 yr. old in the vehicle who has been sitting for nearly 3 hours!! At one point Granpa stops the truck in the middle of this nearly deserted road in the pitch dark so we can figure out whether or not to keep going or take a cut-off. We notice a car approaching from behind. So, Granpa starts to back up and pull of the road. Smash! Crunch! Bad noises! What was that noise?!? Fortunately, it was not us running in to the people behind us. The boat trailer had tipped over! The people behind us were totally lost too so we all sat in the middle of the road and commiserated for a few minutes. They easily got the boat trailer uprighted and we got going again. We drove about 500 feet and I said, "Stop! We're camping right here at this pull-out. I can drop a tent right there." And that's just what we did. We camped right there on the side of the road.



to be cont . . . .

Donuts & Purple Toenails

This morning on the way to church Elise asked, "When's it going to be Shawn's birthday?" "Well, honey, Shawn's birthday is a ways away, but my birthday is in just a couple of weeks. Whatcha gonna get me?!" was my reply. With hardly any hesitation she answers, "A doughnut!" A doughnut??? What a funny girl.

It's a beautiful day here today and the kids are playing out on the back porch. I just went out to check on them and see what they were up too. Here's the photo of what I found.

It's a lovely purple, shimmery shade Elise chose.

Cute Little Dessert

Thanks to my cute Demarle football shape tray, I just made the cutest dessert for my family. I coated the bottom of each shape with melted chocolate chips.

(Thanks for the great idea Carol! http://kerickcarol.blogspot.com/) Then I added vanilla ice cream that I had softened a bit. Next, I sprinkled the top with crumbled mint Oreo cookies. So cute! They came out looking like little boats. The kids thought they were fantastic. So did Mark and I, and we're very happy that we each get a second one after the kids go to bed. As I type Mark is wrangling the kids up, getting their jammies on etc. He's on a mission. I should make Demarle ice cream treats more often if he'll be so quick to jump-to and lend a hand at bedtime. For some reason 'Add Image' is not working. I'll have a cute picture to attach as soon as it decides it would like to respond.

Granola

I've been making homemade granola for my husband for years. He takes it to work every single day. Recently I went on a Girls Weekend and brought my granola along to share for breakfast. Several people asked where I got it from so I thought I'd share the recipe. You can of course put whatever you want in, but this is typically what goes in it at the Mullenbach house.

3c. rolled oats
1/4c. wheat germ
1/4c. powdered milk
1/4c. bran flakes
1/4c. rice krispies or cheerios
1/3c. oil
1/3c. honey
few Tbs. peanut butter

Bake rolled oats at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

While that's baking combine dry ingredients in a bowl.

Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. (I like to microwave the peanut butter a bit to soften in and make it easier to mix.)
Add dry ingredients to rolled oats. Mix thoroughly.
Add wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
Bake for 15 minutes. (You can stir it half-way through but I like some of it to be a little crispy, so I don't stir it.)
After it's cooled, transfer to an airtight container.
That's it.

Anything that could go wrong . . .

Yesterday the big "serious" part of our remodel for the half-bath/laundry room got underway. When they started digging up the floor with the jack hammer a water line got nicked and they immediately had to turn off the water to the house. This was before we had even brushed our teeth. Then as they started to repair that little problem, they discovered that the base of one of the walls in the laundry room is being eaten by ants. So they pulled out a piece of a 2x6 that was completely chewed up and will need to be replaced. Fortunately Mark can do that without too much trouble. Soon after they got the water turned on, they discovered the water pressure in the house was next to nothing. I went away for 2 1/2 hours at that point and came back to see that they were still working on it. Eventually, debris in the kitchen faucet was located and found to be the culprit. (A few days before, our hot water heater had been replaced and the thought is that rust and junk on some of those pipes was knocked loose and eventually got logged at the kitchen sink.) But shortly before that was figured out, I went to use the severely-reduced-pressure kitchen sink and found my feet getting wet. I thought the plumbers had forgot to hook the pipes back up under the sink but that wasn't the case. The pipes had completely worn out from old age and just by simply getting bumped they had come apart! So with a 5 gallon bucket paced under the sink, the one remaining plumber left for the day. I left a message on Mark's cell phone saying, "Um honey . . . I've got a project for you tonight."
These are all minor, fixable things and I am grateful for that. I am fully aware that things will not go smoothly all the way through this project so I am keeping a joyful attitude (so far). Hey, I wasn't even the one who had to fix all the problems. I just smile and say, "Let's go out for dinner tonight, Honey!" I respect the hard work and frustration the guys went through yesterday and I think my husband is just a stud muffin for how quickly he can fix just about anything. I often call him My Jimmy-Rig Super Hero, but not everything he does is Jimmy-Rigging . . . most things are done right. I think I need an additional nickname for him! Any ideas? (My friend Jen Henderson http://allthingshenderson.blogspot.com/ has run polls on her blog to name things like her new sewing machine. I believe Opal was the winning name but she doesn't really like Opal so I noticed her calling it Opal Francis the other day. Jen's blog is great. She updates it all the time with funny stories about life and she does a weekly "column" on Praying for your Kids.) Maybe I should run a poll too and get some great ideas from you all for Mark's new Mr. Fix-It nickname.

Potty Training!!

The Joys of Parenting
Shawn has been in big boy underwear for a whole week now! Wahoo! It is so exciting every time he gets on the potty. I assume the novelty will wear off eventually, but for now it's a very big deal around here. A friend of mine (Jen Roth thank you!!!!) passed on a great insight from her pediatrician about potty training kiddos. There's a window of opportunity when they're about 24 -26 months where they might show some interest, and if you really stick to it, they will potty train. If not, you might have another year in diapers, especially for boys. Well Shawn is 26 months and showing some interest. So two days later I said, "Okay, this is it!" and in to underwear he went. He has done fantastic! In the last couple of days he has reached the point where he will tell us he needs to go and we're not having to annoy him every 20 minutes, "You gotta go potty? You gotta go potty? Want to try and go potty?" Yesterday he was playing on the back porch and actually had the where-with-all to STOP PLAYING and COME INSIDE! He ran to me with great excitement, "Potty Mommy! Potty!" Oh! I was filled with such joy and pride in my son.

Trip to Cleveland

Cleveland rocks! We had a fantastic vacation and I can't believe how glitch-free the whole experience was. Easy flights and connections. Kids who did well on the airplanes and traveling in cars. A city where the drivers don't scare us and getting around is pretty easy. Lots of fun stuff to do with the kids. Hotel room with a kitchenette. A little boy who took naps and went to sleep at night without any major battles (in fact, he loved the little bed we made for him on the floor of the closet. He'd go in there voluntarily and cuddle up with his blankie.) Time to hang out with the bride in the days leading up to the wedding. Patient, very well-behaved kiddos who didn't get cranky when we kept them up late learning to do a Greek dance at the wedding rehearsal dinner. Our beautiful Little Bug dressed up in her beautiful flower girl dress with curls all in her hair. A gorgeous Greek Orthodox wedding and a fun, fun reception later with dancing! A roller coaster called Top Thrill Dragster that apparently reaches 300 mph!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPjN7zArwiI

On the way home, a minor glitch made me so aware of God's presence with us. We were in the air, maybe 15 minutes into the first flight, when Mark discovered that something in the duffel bag leaked ALL OVER. It was seeping out of the bag even and covered everything inside. Wet, slippery . . . a 16oz. unopened, plastic wrap covered bottle of bubbles had lost all of it's contents. Gross! Normally that would be disastrous in an airplane because what do you do? You don't even have room to grab the magazine in front of you. This flight we were on was the only leg of the journey that I hadn't been able to chose seats when I booked them. We got on the airplane and discovered we had a bulk head row. What a gift! So in this case, God was totally looking out for us. I had tons of room to lay everything out to dry. I had the kids' pajamas that they had changed out of in the airport still in the other pack and used them as towels. I know it's a minor thing but I felt rather blessed at that moment.

Moment in Time

Yesterday I had a small moment in time where I paused and thought to myself, "This [life] is good! God is good!" I wanted to share it. Last evening the kids were both getting cleaned up before bed. When Shawn was done in the tub he stood up and threw his arms out toward me. I lifted him out with the towel wrapped around him and as is his custom he sits down in my lap and snuggles in tight saying, "Brr! Brrr!" As I hugged by little boy, I looked down at the small carpet we were on and saw his still wet little foot print. I was struck for a moment at how awesome it is that this little boy has been entrusted to us to take care of. We are privileged to get to see these wet little foot prints, the wide, bright-eyed smiles, the dimples, the giggles, the noises of brother and sister playing happily in the sunshine on the back porch, watching the kids pick strawberries straight from our garden, laughing when Shawn eats one that is completely green . . . . God has given us these moments! God has given us these children! What a privilege! What an awesome God! If I am smiling at a wet footprint and find joy in that, imagine the amount of joy good feels too. The God who created us allows us to share with Him in this joy.

Longer Than Anticipated Time Out

This evening Shawn decided my shoulder looked like a tasty treat so he decided to take a little nibble. I immediately took him to his room and shut the door. His door fits pretty tight and he hasn't quite got the leverage to open it making it a fantastic place to separate him for a bit. Well, I went to get him out a few moments later and the door would not open. The handle on his door is unlike the others in the house. It doesn't even match in color. It works with a key but there is no key for it. It's a small eyesore; obviously someone got a really cheap deal on a new door knob at some point. So I got Mark and he immediately wanted to kick the door in. I was like, "Oh no. No. Let's just stay calm." So I tried my hardest to coax Shawn in to figuring out how to turn the little lock on the inside. He couldn't reach it well so I told him to push his plastic toy box over to the door. Well, he got hurt doing that and started to cry. But it didn't sound too bad and he recovered quickly. So then I got him to get the pillows off the bed and stack them at the door which he actually did and I proceeded to talk him through the parts of the door handle. Um. . . it didn't work so well. He could not figure out how to turn the little lock piece and I'm not sure he ever even understood what little knob I was talking about. I had just moments before shut his window blinds in preparation for bedtime so we couldn't even go outside and see what he was doing. He started to cry so we got him some snacks and fed him under the door. That helped a lot. Mark got the drill and tried to drill holes through the base of the doorknob. That worked, but the doorknob still wouldn't budge. He tried prying the base of the knob off. That didn't work. He tried pounding a screwdriver through the middle of the knob with a mallet and that didn't work. Every so often Shawn would quietly call, "Hep me! Hep me!" Oh! It was sad. Finally Mark just took the mallet and busted the handel off and we still could not get the lock to budge. In the end guess how the door was opened? We said, "Okay Shawn move away. Go jump in your crib!" and Mark kicked the door in ripping part of the moulding off all the way from the top of the door frame to the floor! This doorknob was ridiculously strong! (I later took it apart and removed it from the door. I'm pretty sure this doorknob was meant to be on the front door of a home . . . not a child's bedroom.) And the first thing I said to Shawn was, "Are you going to bite again?" He said, "No!" immediately.

By the way, we have no idea how the door got locked. We've never found it locked before today. Of course it is our fault that we didn't get it replaced before today, but then if we had already done it, we wouldn't have had any excitement this evening.

Elise's Pre-school Graduation

As I drove Elise to school this morning I realized that I felt much the same way I did when I drove her to school on the very first morning. That morning back in September I was crying and blubbery . . . this time I held it together a bit more. But it was this feeling of sadness mixed with happiness. Elise asked me why I was sad. How do you explain to a kid that you're sad because they're growing up? That could cause some psychological trauma. "Mom liked me better when I was a baby. Hmmm . . . " Well, her graduation ceremony went very well and this time, unlike at their Christmas program, I had a working video camera. Yeah!!

Our Anniversary

We had such a blast celebrating our anniversary. We decided months ago that we would just stay in Salem instead of driving to Portland or somewhere else. Well we made reservations to stay at the ritziest hotel in Salem and the rest of the day was up in the air. We ended up taking a walk downtown and crossed the newly opened pedestrian bridge to West Salem. There's an old train trestle that's been sitting unused for years and finally plans were made to turn it in to a pedestrian bridge. It's great! The weather was beautiful so there were a lot of people out doing the same thing as us and also hanging out by the river down below. When we got to the other side we went to McDonald's and ordered sweet tea. Sweet tea in Oregon! Fantastic! It was only a buck and the thing was huge. What a simple treat. Then we actually went to the mall and went shopping. Mark helped me pick out a new dress. He even held my purse for me while I tried things on and hung out in the women's section near the dressing rooms so I could come out and show him each dress. What a nice guy. He really needed a new baseball cap and we found one 90% off! It says Budweiser on the back. Ha! Ha! You'd have to pay Mark to drink a Budweiser or any other beer for that matter. We went to antique shops downtown, got free slices of bread at Great Harvest and just tootled around. It was a great afternoon. That evening we went to Morton's Bistro for dinner. The food was good. We even tried their special soup of the day . . . a chilled black bean soup. When Mark ordered I had to make sure he heard the waitress correctly. "Did you catch that it's cold hun?" He was so adventurous! Later we met at the ritzy bar in the ritzy hotel for a ritzy "blind date." We tried to stay up late and watch Saturday Night Live but it was Justin Timberlake hosting and some horrible singer so we went to sleep. Oh! I forgot to mention we managed to squeeze eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream in there too! Yum!!

Deer in Our Back Yard & Bike Riding

We were enjoying a quiet morning a few days ago when Shawn suddenly pointed out the sliding glass door. Sure enough, there was a deer in our backyard hanging out with the neighbor cat. We probably have about 5 minutes of footage of the deer just walking around the yard and eventually finding it's way back to the front yard and across the neighbor's yard. Ever since Shawn loves saying, "Dee-er! Dee-er!"

Here is the beginning of Elise's bike ride on Monday evening, May 18th. She rode 2 miles!! Fortunately there is no video footage of me asking Elise to "slow down," "stop," "Mommy needs to rest!"

Bike Rider

A few weeks ago we took Elise's training wheels off her bike to see how she'd do. Mark took her down to the elementary school the first time and described it as, "A good first effort. It wasn't amazing." Since teaching a kid to ride a bike can be painful on a parent's back, I, being the shorter of the two of us became the helper from then on. So I took her out a week later and she did okay. I actually let go a few times. She probably went about 20 feet at the most before I had to rescue her again. The next time she did a little better . . . maybe 30 feet or so. Then she had bike day at school and I figured it wouldn't be a cool thing to send her off with just two wheels and a pat on the back for good luck. So I put the training wheels back on. She had a great time just getting to ride without crashing every 20-30 feet. Then a couple of days later we went out for a walk as a family and she rode her bike with the training wheels still on. Another great time for her to just have fun riding and not worry so much. So what's the count now? Three attempts with no training wheels then two days with them back on. This evening we took them off again and headed back down to the track. I couldn't believe the improvement. Elise was all of a sudden a bike rider!! She was just off and going. It was amazing! Next time she's out I'll have Mark videotape a bit and I'll attempt to get it on the Blog. But this kid had me sweating. There were times I wasn't even at a casual jog to keep up . . . I was out and out running and occasionally calling out, "Slow down!" And when she comes to a stop, she doesn't just slow down and stop. She pedals and pedals, then slams on the brake and skids out. She turns to look at me like, "No big deal Mom. It's all good."

What We've Been Up To Lately

Well, I haven't written anything for awhile and I don't have a fantastic story to tell so I'll just tell you all what we've been up to recently. Today Elise has her last soccer class. She's been doing a Parent-Tot soccer class for six weeks. She's begged for months and months to do soccer because she thought it looked so fun. So we finally were able to sign her up for some classes. Mark took her out and bought her own ball. I think she would tell you that the hardest part of soccer is telling her ball apart from everyone else's. :) She actually did really well I think. I got to accompany her to the final two classes and I think she was definitely above average. :)

Shawn said his first "sentence" two days ago. Here's where I need my mother or my English brainiac friend, Jen H. The "sentence" consisted of three words! A subject (?), object (?) and verb. No pronouns or anything fancy like that, but I'm still calling it a sentence. We were outside doing yard work and Shawn was happily enjoying some grapes for a snack. One got away from him and rolled down the driveway and across the street. He was very distraught. "Uh oh! Uh oh!" he kept repeating. I said to him, "It's okay Honey. A bird will come along and eat it." Then he said, "Bowd eee bape?"

"Bye Bye Wum"

Spring is a fantastic time of year. It's so much fun to watch the kids seeing new things . . . flowers blooming, peas growing, strawberry plants blooming . . . it's great. Yesterday we had beautiful weather in Salem. In the afternoon I got to hang out outside with the kids. I got some wedding done and while I was weeding the flower bed I found a worm. I called the kids over to see and Shawn, being the boy of all boys that he is, was entranced. He loved it; thought it was the greatest little thing to play with. He'd touch it without any hesitation. It would crawl back down under the barkdust and he would push the barkdust away to find it again. He probably followed that worm for 15 minutes. When it was finally time to go back inside he waved to the flowerbed and out called, "Bye bye wum! Bye bye wum!" So cute!

Shawn's 2nd Birthday Cake

I think there were three children at Shawn's party that said this was the best cake they had ever had in their lives. Yeah!! Do I rock or what? I made layers of brownie and chocolate ice cream. On top I sprinkled chocolate covered peanuts and crushed up chocolate graham crackers. For a garnish, fresh chocolate mint whipped cream. Ohhhhh yes! Yum! Yum!

Out for Ice Cream

Shawn turned two today! Such a big boy but still my baby. Elise insisted we get him a little ribbon that says, "I'm 2 Today!" I told her, "He's 2! He won't want it on him." But silly me gave in to her and bought it. Guess what? He wore it for about 15 seconds. Long enough to get a couple of pictures this morning. After Hearts at Home this morning I took the kids to Toy R Us to get a birthday gift for Shawn. He was so busy pushing buttons on all the toys within reach that he didn't even notice the pack of extra train tracks for the train Grandpa & Grandma Mullenbach got for him. Then we went out for ice cream. Free birthday coupon for Shawn + a buy-one-get-one free coupon for Elise and me = Cheap outing.

Cutest Song Ever

Elise just taught me the cutest song ever. Here are the words, "The time to be happy is right now. And the place to be happy is here. And the way to be happy is to make others happy and have a little Heaven down here." I've been sworn to secrecy as to where she learned it. (Not sure why she wants it to be a secret but I promised her so I won't give it away.)

Potty Training?

Well, potty training Shawn is rather comical at times (as long as I have patience left). Yesterday Shawn pooped on the potty for the first time. Literally, he pooped ON the potty. Quite often when his diaper is changed that's when he'll ask to go potty. So he got up an ran off without any pants to the bathroom. I wen to check on him a few moments later and there he is in the bathroom saying, "Uh-oh!" and running toward me. I notice the "accident" on the potty chair (which has been relegated to a step-stool. He will not go in it. He insists on standing up high and using the big toilet.) Then this morning he was doing the cutest thing and I was thinking, "Oh, I'm going to blog about this later." Well, it went from cute to funny and obnoxious five minutes later. Here's the cute part: Shawn was running around without pants on because he of course is convinced that he needs to go potty every time you try to put pants on him. So I quit trying and let him play half-naked for awhile. He ran in to his room with a purpose and soon found his book all about potty training. He sat down to read it and I left him alone. As I'm helping Elise get ready I hear Shawn reading out loud, "Poo-poo . . . pee-pee . . . poo-poo . . . pee-pee . . . The End!" Cute huh? A few moments later I walk in to his room and as I begin to say, "Shawn, do you need to go . . . " he just starts going. I've never seen the kid pee this much! It was a waterfall. Fortunately, there was a towel right near him and I grabbed it as quickly as I could. But alas, the potty training book that he had just been reading, and hopefully learning from, got it good. Funny? Obnoxious? Hmmm . . .

Enchanted Forest Pictures

Probably the most exciting thing we did during Spring Break was go to Enchanted Forest. The kids had a great time, but the funny thing is, the best pictures I got the whole time we were there was of them having a snack afterward.

Spring Break

We actually had a really nice spring break. I was concerned in the beginning that I would go crazy, but it all went very well. Elise was sick and throwing up for a day and half, but she recovered just fine. We visited Mark at work one day for lunch. There were a couple of parties/family get-togethers. We were actually able to attend church service two Sundays in a row! We got to go to Enchanted Forest one day. We had lots of lazy, hanging-out-around-the-house mornings. We got our garden all tilled up with compost and manure. Awesome! And we even got the peas planted. Mark and I watched Fireproof (not Academy Award winning acting and writing, but a great movie!) Shawn slept through the night once. The furthest place we went was Woodburn. The sunniest day out of the whole bunch is today...the last day of vacation. No warm, sunny beaches or vacation trips, but it was good.

It doesn't look like Shawn is getting equal face time on the blog so here's a cute picture of him.

Serving?

My daughter did the sweetest thing this afternoon. We had just returned home after being out for a few hours and I felt drained. Shawn went down for a nap and I told Elise, "I am so tired. I feel like I need a nap. But first I need to get these blocks cleaned up that your brother and I were playing with earlier." She said to me, "Mom, you can go take your rest now. Don't worry about it. Go!" "What's wrong with my child!?" I thought to myself. But she kept shooing me away so I walked off down the hall and crawled into my bed. As I pulled the covers over me I could hear blocks being put away in the living room and I thought, "My daughter is serving me. Wow!" So sweet right? The truth though is that we had just had a conversation about how many points she's been earning for her chores. (We have a chore system where she earns points toward a goal of her choosing. Right now she's working toward a goal of a certain doll. 250 points she's got to earn for this one. So if she does all the things she's asked to do each day without complaining, procrastinating etc. she'll earn 10 points. If she does something extra, something not on her chart for the day, something for someone else, she can earn more points.) So I suppose the motivation to serve me this afternoon wasn't completely genuine. But it still felt so good! Perhaps I could foster this attitude in her a bit more. I think I'll bring it up tonight in our bedtime prayers and thank God for giving her a servant heart today. (I didn't have a picture of her dressed up like an angel so the snow queen had to do.)

Playing

I love when the kids are playing together happily. I love the sound of their little feet running around and their adorable giggling. Just now I was just taking a few minutes to check up on e-mail and stuff while the kids were having a good time together. They sound so joyful. The happiness Shawn can feel for the most insignificant situation compares to me going to Disneyland. His smile is from ear to ear. And I can hear Elise running behind him cheering him on. It's great! Then I look over for a moment to watch them and notice that the joy these two are gaining is from the helium balloon trailing behind Shawn. The end has a loop in it and the loop is around Shawn's neck! And Elise is holding the balloon. Wait! Stop! This joy fest must take a break.

The Unimaginable Happens

How do two crazy, laughing, wrestling kids manage to quiet down and fall asleep together? I don't know, but it happened at our house recently. The kids have this little routine now where Shawn will climb in to bed with Elise for a few minutes before he goes off to his crib. Well, this night Mark went back in to check on them and they both had fallen asleep!

2 Cute Kid Stories

Elise and Shawn are always great at providing us with cute kid stories. Here are two recent favorites of mine.



A couple weeks ago as Mark and I were heading to bed, and the kids had long been asleep, I heard Shawn making some noise. It sounded like he was calling, "Mama!" which isn't at all unsual for him. (The kid doesn't sleep so well at night.) So I quietly tiptoed in to his room to see what the problem was. I soon realized he was not calling, "Mama," he was saying, "Bah! Bah!" Now for those of you who know him well, you know the kid is OBSESSED with vacuum cleaners. His word for them is "Bah." He loves vacuum cleaners. He can find a vacuum in any home he walks in to and he has a skill at finding the vacuum isle in any store. It's scary! So, I looked at him in his crib and saw that his eyes were closed. Shawn was talking in his sleep about vacuum cleaners! Hilarious!



Elise often entertains us with the things she says. Sometimes it's just some silly phrase and other times it's the way she says a word incorrectly because she's just learning. I still have my old Fisher-Price people from when I was little. All the people, the camping trailer, the minibus, the playground equipment, etc. Elise loves playing with them. They stay up high on a shelf and she must have one of us get them down for her. The other day she came to me and asked if she could play with the Fishermen-Price toys. I haven't corrected her yet because it's so cute.

Watch Out Warren Buffet

Today was a big day for Elise! She opened up her first savings account at the bank. She has a "bank" at home for a couple of years now. From the get-go she's always had certain responsibilities with her money. A portion for God, a portion for saving, a portion for spending. A little while ago she asked when she could have a real bank account. I told her we could do that when her savings portion reached $20. Well, this morning she got out her bank and we started counting. After counting all the dollar bills, quarters, and dimes, nickels and pennies . . . the kids had $19.84! So close! But then Genius Mom remembered . . . today is allowance day! Woohoo! So off we went to the bank with $20.09 in a ziploc bag. It was fantastic! She was so proud.

No Free Lunch but 2 Big Bumps on the Head

We have a much healthier household today. We ventured out to do some errands and I scheduled our time so we could have a free lunch at Costco . . . you know . . . free samples. Well, turns out it was a bad day for samples. We only found three and they were all meat. Meatballs, chicken & rice, etc. Bummer! Before we checked out I remembered I forgot to get batteries. So I wheel the kids back across the store to grab batteries. Elise grabs the packs of 40-some AA and accidentally clocks Shawn in the back of the head. He starts screaming, as would I. Poor guy! We finally get through check-out and sit down in the food court to share a piece of pizza. Elise starts to knock her drink off the table. I grab for it and end up throwing Shawn off balance. He falls off the bench backward and into the cart . . .bings the back of his head again. Starts screaming! I felt horrible! Fortunately he now had sustenance to ease the pain.

Sick Little Girl

Mark and I had a lovely weekend at the coast without the kids. After getting back to town, we found out that Elise had come down with something and had a fever and was throwing up. Elise went right to sleep after we got the kids home and slept for a couple of hours probably. She woke up and was happy enough to start reading some books. We got 2 pages in and she goes, "I've gotta go potty!" So she jumped out of bed, ran to the bathroom, got to the bathroom door and threw up all over. Then stood there for a moment and threw up again and again. Shawn was over by the toilet crying out of fear. He had no idea what was going on. So picture this, I'm in the hallway, then there's Elise standing in a pool of vomit just inside the door and Shawn is on the other side of the vomit screaming. I was totally stuck. What do I do?! Mark was outside and I had to call him to come help. Poor kids!