I Wish There Was No Such Thing As Fish.

Calvin can't pronounce "f" very well. It comes out sounding like "b". He also has a hard time saying the "sh" sound, it sounds more like "ch". So having a conversation about fish with him is extremely painful, as you can imagine. The conversations usually consist of him excitedly telling me all he knows about the fish we are looking at, their color, what they are doing, etc. And the only responses he gets from me are the correct pronunciation of the word, and it becoming more and more emphatic as the conversation progresses.

The pain only increases in more public settings. I just want to shoot myself when we take him to the aquarium at the zoo. Maybe the shocked glances I get from people sitting nearby are just figments of my imagination, I tell myself. Maybe they realize, having children of their own perhaps, that it is just a mispronunciation. None of this lessens the pain as I try, unsuccessfully, to get my son to talk of something else while in front of a vast aquarium full of "biches".

Just Don't Eat the Yellow Snow...

Merry Christmas Eve! Cookie rolling, baking, dipping and decorating are what we are doing ALL day! Then the Christmas celebrations begin!

Miss Evelynn and Snow

Miss Evelynn was not as excited to be out in the snow as her brother. I couldn't get her off of the porch for the first 15 minutes that we were out there. She was perfectly happy watching. Well, not perfectly.

When I did get her off, all she did was whine...the whole time. She treated the snow like it was an alien, or some disgusting matter. She whined and flapped her arms if some touched her cheek. She whined and tried to brush it off of her gloves. When she walked around, she whined and said "stuck" over and over. Sigh.

Evelynn fell down once and didn't try to get up on her own. No, she whined and yelled "stuck"! I walked over to help her, but not before I snapped a few pictures of the damsel in distress.

Evelynn + Snow = Whining. Well, at least she looks cute while doing it!

Calvin's First Snow Angel!

With the recent snowfall in Columbus, I bundled up my babies and took them outside. Calvin was thrilled to finally be let outside to play in the snow. He had been asking to go out even when there was only an 1/8 inch on the ground.

He isn't usually enthusiastic about trying new things, so up until this point I hadn't suggested trying to make a snow angel to him. But this time I did. After seeing me lay down in the snow, I half expected him to ask to go back inside. I was surprised when I got up and showed him my snow angel. He squealed, ran over to a clear area, laid down and start working his arms. "You gotta use your legs too", I said. He giggled.

In fact, Calvin giggled the whole time. Then he got up to survey his work. He was pleased. So pleased, he insisted on Evelynn making one too. It didn't happen.


My study has been about Nehemiah. Two of the concepts that have had an impact on me are:

God is always faithful to His Word. He blesses faithfulness, and punishes unfaithfulness. If we are in a state of discipline, God is still being faithful. Nehemiah praised God while Israel was in exile by the Persians because God was being faithful to His Word.

The Lord's judgment always starts in His house. If we are of a people who do not follow God, He will not excuse us for fitting in, even when it seems as though He is excusing the rest of the world. If He is unhappy, we will be the first to be disciplined.

Bird's Nest Ornament

It is considered good luck to find a bird's nest in your Christmas tree. (We don't believe in "luck", but it is fun to play along.) We didn't find a nest in our tree this year, so we made our own. My younger sisters made this ornament at a function a few years ago and I have been saving the idea and waiting for the year that I could make one with Calvin. I think it is adorable.



Materials: Clothes pin, acorn cap, three Navy beans, glue, ribbon and scissors (optional)

1. Glue (we used low temp. hot glue) the acorn cap (stem down) to the top of the clip end of the clothes pin.

2. Glue the three Navy beans to the inside of the acorn cap.

3. Tie a bow with the ribbon, and glue it onto the clothes pin wherever you desire.

4. Write your name and date on the back, hold up your ornament and look cute so your mommy can take another picture! ;)

Calvin loved making this ornament. Using the low temp. hot glue was a good choice, in my opinion, because it doesn't burn if the little ones touch it. Calvin was also able to handle the ornament and clip it on the tree as soon as it was assembled.

A word on my Bible studies: I have been continuing to study every day (praises to God). The studies have been about the promises the Lord gave to punish (particularly with exile) Israel for disobeying Him. Israel did fall into grievous sin later in the Old Testament and the Lord fulfilled His promise by allowing them to be taken by numerous other kingdoms, the last and most extensive exile being the Babylonian exile. I have found it interesting that even with His promises to punish them, and after many incidences when that happens, the Lord keeps telling them that if they repent and return to Him, He will not abandon them. It reminds me that God desires us to be close to Him, but our repentance is required for that to happen.

The Craft Show

The craft show was this past weekend, up near Lake Erie, at German's Villa. It didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it helped me to realize that I need to diversify my product.

I enjoyed being there though. I was there sitting alongside the veterans. Some of the vendors had been doing this for 30 years or so and it was fun being called a "vendor"with them. The remaining clips/bows from the show will be put up in my etsy shop soon.

Fall Playing

I've wanted to share pictures and tell you about taking my babies to Boo at the Zoo.

I've also wanted to tell you about and share the pictures from the recent trip to the pumpkin patch.

But Craig said there is very little space on my computer, so I am not allowed to download any more pictures until I get rid of some old ones. It is taking a while to go through all the pictures on my computer and it is hard to delete them. I agree with Craig, I do not need all 15 pictures of Calvin's first smile, but it is so hard to choose which ones I am willing never to see again. In some ways the conveniences of today make life difficult. My mother never had to make these decisions! =)

I am posting my readings for earlier this week, I have not done my reading yet today, and I am hoping to go through pictures today so Craig will let me download and post some from trick or treating tonight, so I will post my reading for today then. That's a run-on. No, its a comma splice. Whatever.

10/25- The Everlasting Reign, 1 Corinthians 15:20-28: Although even righteous kings of Israel could not keep the law perfectly, the last King is the fulfillment of the law. King Jesus has come to conquer all His enemies. Death will be conquered and we will be set free from it's chains. He will set up an everlasting kingdom. All things will acknowledges His rule (He will have a visible reign).

10/27- God Chooses Israel's King, 1 Samuel 16:1-13: Saul failed to be a godly king for the Israelites, so God brought forward David, the man of His choosing. Samuel was surprised at God's choice. But we all know what God said, "For the Lord does not see as a man sees: for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." The Bible says David was a man after God's own heart. David was "sensitive to the work of the Holy Spirit and knew when to repent if he had sinned" (Tabletalk). Am I a woman after God's own heart? No. It seems that more often than not I quench the Spirit by trying to justify my sin instead of repenting from it.

Hop On Pop

We spent the whole day with Craig today. He was off for Columbus Day. So we celebrated by going to the zoo. It was wonderful. This isn't a picture from today, but the series is funny. It shows our babies sitting peacefully on top of their Daddy, and then all of a sudden they turn into monsters!

Poor Craig.

Thomas the Tank Engine Rolling Along!

We bought tickets for Calvin (and the rest of us) to ride Thomas the Tank Engine for his birthday.

It was hot and dusty and not exactly very exciting in my opinion. Calvin liked looking at all the overpriced Thomas stuff (none of which we bought). And Evie tried eating overpriced smashed popcorn off the ground (we did not buy the food either). By the time the day was over we were all hot, tired, hungry, and cranky. Calvin and I were the crankiest, but he's 3...

This was the only picture I could get with Calvin's face (sort of) and Thomas in view at the same time. Whenever Thomas was around Calvin wanted to be looking at him. He was afraid to miss anything. It was cute how all the kids thought it was the real Thomas. Calvin was very excited to get to ride on him, in the train car he kept saying, "I'm riding Thomas!"

Although the passage I read yesterday was very pertinent to my life right now, I was thinking that I needed a little more direction in my study, so I picked up an old Tabletalk. I had just been reading whatever sounded good, or sometimes where ever the pages happened to fall open. It isn't the best way to study, in my opinion. But God will use whatever means He wants to get you to hear the message you need because the passage for today was Genesis 12:1-9 (the call of Abram). And the corresponding study about how God called Abram, and kept him, and blessed him. Not because of anything Abram did, but because He chose him. All Abram had to do was trust God. I think God is trying to tell me something. And when I realized this, how the tears began to fall.

Un Bobby

"Un Bobby" bravely loading the rubber band gun for Calvin to go shoot in other people's direction.

Memories of Calvin

Calvin has a rough and tumble personality. Sometimes he is a little too rough for my liking. He likes to climb all over me, tug my hair, pinch my cheeks, and press his face (really hard) into mine. He was doing his regular thing one evening this week and my nerves were wearing thin. I told him to quit a few times, then I started to get angry. Right when I was about to lose my temper, something inside told me to pause and pay a little attention to him. So I stopped and let him bring his face up to mine. He stayed there for about 30 seconds or so. I breathed in deep and smelled him. He smelled like a dirty little boy, but under that was a faint sweet smell and...Craig. Hhmm. I just got a glimpse of Craig as a child I thought. It's funny to learn of the things we share with our parents, even things we can't see. Things like a smell. What are some interesting traits that children in your lives have inherited?

Chubby Pink Face

After dinner, I pulled the bench from the dining room table over to the window so I could read by natural light. I don't know why I wanted to read there, just an urge for some reason. Craig and our babies were in the other room watching some strange kids movie that Craig had found on Netflix. Normally, I would've sat in with them, wanting to just spend time with them, but this time I wanted to read. I was grateful to Craig for letting me spend a while with myself. Completely absorbed in the story, I didn't notice Evelynn waddle up. By the time I did realize she was there she was already smacking my arm and yelling "Ma!" I looked down at her and my heart melted.
Her chubby little face was still covered in sauce and grease from the pizza we had for dinner. The light from the setting sun shone in the window and illuminated her shiny face in pink light. When she moved the shine showed every little curve on her face. She looked beautiful... young... dependent. I was overcome by the feeling of my responsibility to guide this little one in life, to be an example to her of what a Godly woman should be.
I know you're thinking, "Whoa, all this from a little grease and sunshine?" But it's true. I put down my book and cradled her. Does God really think I can do this?

Alum Creek

Yesterday, I took my babies to Alum Creek Reservoir. I didn't think we would be there long. I thought my babies would both hate the water and be bored with the sand. Just had a feeling. It turned out to be wrong. Calvin LOVED the water, and Evie even warmed up to it after a while. And we had fun building "Sand Castles in the Sand". =)

After a few hours Calvin was still going strong. Evie however, decided she had had enough fun and climbed up into the stroller and sat there for a good 20 minutes just watching Calvin and I run around.

The reservoir even had a little playground, so we took a break from the beach and played up there for a while.

Oh Happy Day!

BOBBY IS HOME!

It Is a Soldier

They read this over the loud speakers at the air show, I thought of both my younger brothers.

IT IS THE SOLDIER

It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Dayton Air Show

Craig and I took our babies to the Dayton Air Show on the 17th. We didn't think about it being loud. So when we arrived and there was a fighter jet flying through the air, Calvin started freaking out. We tried to tell him it was just an airplane but it didn't work. Craig ended up buying ear plugs at the nearest booth. It was a good thing they had them or we would've probably left. Even with the ear plugs in it took Calvin a while to settle down. But by the end of the day he was watching the jets fly through the air with no problem.

Evie and I did some kissin' while the boys looked at boy stuff.

The boys were lookin' cute!

Creekin'

You get a line, I'll get a pole, honey.

You get a line, I'll get a pole, babe.

You get a line, I'll get a pole, and we'll go down to the crawdad hole.

Honey, oh baby, mine!

Memphis Kiddie Park Pictures cont.

The Little Dipper

Calvin rode his first roller coaster at the Memphis Kiddie Park. He had so much fun.



I am showing you the fun he had at the expense of poor little Emmarose. She didn't like it.

Not even when Mommy rode it with her. Calvin and his Daddy had a blast however.