a little disbelief

Tonight I said to Jeff, "I can't believe we're actually going to have a baby!!! Can you?"
"No, I can't either," he agreed. "It's totally unbelieveable."

P.S. I also cannot imagine how I could possibly get any bigger ...

a little modesty

One Foofie story I forgot about from this past week ...

She was playing outside and got her shirt wet. I took her shirt off and told her to hang on ... that I'd find something else for her to put on.

"I need a shirt right now!" she said. "Or the neighbors might call the police on me!"

a little drive

A few times in the past couple days I've asked my husband if he wants me to make him a sandwich or something ... and he has responded with, "Can you make me a burrito?"

Then, late this afternoon, as we were working in the garage ~ going through junk, consolidating, tossing in the trash (hopefully lots) ~ we came across two bags. In case you're wondering ... one had extra pillows and the other held a few small rugs. "If the pillows and the rugs want to go into boxes they could be stacked on the high shelf," I suggested (I know ... strange wording). "I'll ask 'em," said Jeff. "Well ... they said they'll go in boxes if we get burritos for supper." (It was funny at the time ... but it doesn't seem as funny now while I'm typing this.)

So ... guess where we went for supper?

After Chipotle, we went for a little drive.

Buddy's memorable statement from our evening was ... "If we have more kids we're going to have to buy a limosine."

Foofie saw her first convertible of the season ... and perhaps she can't remember ever seeing one before. So, when we pulled to a stop next to a convertible she said, "Look! They don't have a top!"

a little comparison

Halo decided it is harder to rake the yard than to eat carrots. (She informed us at supper that she used to consider the latter to be quite a task.)

a little charmer

My little Foofie, who is now 3 3/4, can be so darling. Here's how she woke me up this morning ...

"I like you," she said with a grin, as she playfully poked my cheek.
Then I laughed ...
"I made you laugh," she said with a smirk.

"You are cute!" she continued.
"You are beautiful!" she went on.
"You are delightful!" she exclaimed.
More laughing ...

"I LUUUUUUUV my Mama!" she finished and leaned in to kiss me.

I am blessed ...

a little entrepreneur

Halo started a new business venture today ~ "Helper Halo". As I said, this was a new endeavor as she has had several other entrepreneurial ideas in the past. For example, I think it was last year that she and Buddy collected all of the sticks in our yard ... then tied them in little bundles with colorful yarn ... and attempted (without success) to sell the bundles for 25 cents each. For their "store", they wrapped a few rows of yarn around three small trees in our front yard ... which created a nice triangle shape to work in.

Anyway, her current business is ... raking, walking small dogs, and watering gardens. She made a little flyer ~ which we helped her edit. It was a bit humorous before the editing ... she wrote "I will NOT accomplish work on Saturdays and Sundays! You can call me a few days ahead and I will have a calendar to keep track of jobs. I only work near our street." We pointed out that if someone was going away for the weekend and wanted her watering services ... she would miss out on the job. We also informed her that walking dogs might include gathering up their doo-doo. Anyway, after the flyer was completed, she and Foofie dropped one off with each of our neighbors.

To our amazement, a couple hours later, the gal right across from us came asking for Halo to walk her dog! So ... Halo (and her brother and sister too, of course) walked the little dog up and down our street a couple times. It maybe only lasted five minutes. Jeff said he was watching and the dog wasn't cooperating too well with the new dog walkers. Then, the neighbor lady called to them and said they could bring the dog back home. Halo was so excited and encouraged ~ thank you Mrs. B. :)

a little sniffing

Today, I was the lucky helper for Buddy's phy. ed. class. They were playing softball/tee-ball with a whiffleball. Would that be whiffleball??? Anyway, the teacher wanted the batting team to be lined up alternating boy-girl. So ... she was inserting boys into the line in between the girls.

When she put Buddy into the line ... the girl behind him grabbed him by the shoulders, kinda gave him a hug, and then she sniffed him.

"You smell like bugspray," she declared.
Then she waited for a reply ...
Buddy didn't respond though.
"I love it!" she said.
"I hate it." Buddy said.
"I love it."
"I hate it."

Kids are funny.

a little memory lane

Just kinda fun to look back and see how the kids have changed and grown since last Easter ...
My how time flies ...

He is risen!

I decided my blog was due for some photos ... so here we are :)
These first two are of Palm Sunday ... the childrens' choir is preparing to sing.Happy Easter! What a lovely day it was!
Foofie ...Christ is Risen ...
This one's a bit fuzzy ... but Foofie took it all by herself ...

We lunched at Rudy's ...
The kiddos got gift bags filled with snacks ... goldfish crackers, raisins, animal cookies. The sun in their eyes was a problem here ... but this is the best of the three pix I snapped.

a little dear

We saw four deer in the backyard this evening.

"If I was out there, there would be five deer." Foofie said.
"Huh?" I asked.
"if ... I was a deer."

a little update

Weeeeelll ... I can tell already that this post would probably get a "D" from an English teacher. I'm sure it will be totally random, unorganized, and lacking any theme to bind it all together. I've had several instances recently where the blog light went on but I haven't found time to do any blogging ... so I'm going to try and do a little catching up. We'll see if I can actually remember anything though ...

Speaking of remembering, I seem to be more scatter-brained than in previous pregnancies. And is it really true that pregnancy affects your memory? I've heard it a few times ... of course I can't recall where I ever heard about it. It seems weird that pregnancy would affect your memory ... but on the other hand, pregnancy seems to alter most everything about your body, so maybe the brain is affected too. I just don't know. Anyway, when I shower, for example, I can never remember if I washed my face or not. Or ... I'll wash a foot and then I can't remember which foot I washed ... so I think I end up washing most of myself at least a couple times. Similarly, it seems to take total concentration for me to simply make my morning cappuccino float ~ ten ounces of 2% milk, stir in a packet of Vanilla Cappuccino Cooler, add two ice cubes, and top with one scoop of Haagan-Daz. Sometimes I put in two packets by accident ... or I start putting the cappuccino mix in someone's orange juice. What else? Oh, when I leave the house sometimes, I find myself wondering if I shut the garage door. Just goofy stuff like this ...

I went to the doctor today. She was measuring me and she said, "How far along are you again?" "Twenty-nine and a half," I answered. "You're looking big," she responded. "Well, last time you said I was measuring about two weeks big." I reminded her. "Well, now you're measuring almost three weeks big!" I guess that's good to know since I've been feeling rather large and in charge ... okay, maybe not in charge ... but definitely large!

Buddy lost his first tooth tonight ... and I want to record it somewhere, so why not here?

As the snow was gradually melting last week, Foofie declared on a couple of days, "It's grassy today, Mommy!" Although the skies were dreary and gray ... she brightened the moment by focusing on the grass peeking through.

Foofie started doing word finds this week. The big kids were each doing one and Foofie wanted to do one too. I first told her she wasn't old enough ... but then I got the idea to make a simple one for her. She loved it ~ and did about four in rapid succession. The word searches were eight letters by eight letters and I would hide about ten words in each, mostly three or four letters long. When she would locate a word, she would ask what it was. It was fun for her to be challenged a bit and get to try something new.

Halo and Buddy always think there is some mystery to unravel or some crime to discover. This is because they read lots of mysteries ... Boxcar Children, Bobbsey Twins, and Encyclopedia Brown. (Further evidence that what we put into our mind affects us.) So ... Halo recently misplaced her diary and they immediately started squawking about who could have done it. Buddy suggested that someone lives in our attic and came down through his closet and took it! I pointed out that I can't locate my GPS right now but that doesn't mean someone stole it ~ I just can't remember where I left it ...

My children like to collect aluminum cans to make money. I'm not super wild about it because discarded pop and beer cans are usually quite dirty ... and most of the time there is still some of the beverage remaining inside that drips onto their hands or pants or whatever. Furthermore, the bags of cans require precious garage space. Nonetheless, there are some positives to can collecting. As previously mentioned, my kids are able to earn change for their piggy banks. Can collecting also helps reduce litter ~ which seems, in my unscientific opinion, to be increasing. Third, it's fun to be on the hunt for something while we're taking walks or bike rides. Finally, it makes my children use math. As we are going along, they'll keep figuring out how much money they've got. "I found eight cans ... that's twenty-four cents!"

So ... yesterday I was walking and the big kids were biking and Foofie was in the stroller ... and we were on the lookout for cans. Well, Buddy spotted a bunny in some bushes and was heading towards it for a closer look. He was walking his bike and wading through a good-sized puddle in the ditch ~ and wearing his winter boots for this purpose. All of a sudden, he slipped and fell into the puddle. He was wet from his mid-thighs down to his boots. He looked closely at the bunny and discovered that it was only a white, plastic bag. He started crying. "Someone put a bag there to look like a bunny ... and formed it with ears ... so someone would slip and fall and get wet and cry," he said. "And cry?" I asked, to make sure I heard right. "Yes, and I wanna go home right now," he finished. I couldn't help but chuckle. (Yet another example of thinking that there is a mystery crouching around every corner.)

And last, but certainly not least, I am so thankful that spring is finally winning the battle against winter. What a long, tight grip it had this year!

a little news

As I was tucking Foofie in for the night she said,
"I'm gonna smile all night long."
"Why?" I questioned.
"'Cause I want to."

Buddy received a new writing assignment today. Basically, you are to do a story similar to the well-known If You Give A Mouse A Cookie ... giving the mouse something else, of course. (Two years ago, Halo did this and hers was If You Give A Mouse An Apple. It's really cute ... maybe I'll dig it out sometime and blog it.) Anyway, Buddy told me he is going to do If You Give A Mouse A Rifle ... boys will be boys! Perhaps he'll have to change it though, if he can't get very far with the rifle idea.

And now ... to praise my sweet Halo ... on the dining room table, I discovered a pair of paper binoculars that she had crafted with a little note attached ... apparently for a classmate of hers at church who is moving. The note read ... "This is to remind you of me. It means: even if you can't see me with binoculars you know I am your friend always even if you are in Florida. My phone number is ... if you want to talk to me just call. I will be at home. Your loving friend Halo."

a little beach ball

I stayed home last night ... meaning I didn't bring the kids to church and then go grocery shopping. I have oodles of stuff to conquer before this baby arrives ... and we don't really need to eat, do we???

Anyway, a friend asked Foofie what I was doing ...

"Mommy couldn't come to Cubbies because she has a beach ball in her tummy," she replied very sincerely.

a little day in February

You know ... it's getting harder to title each of my blogs with "a little ..." Perhaps I need to stop restricting my titles ...

Anyway, this little sweetie woke me up this morning by saying, "Mommy, my love ... Mommy, my love." It was so cute :)


Here is a peek at what I've been eating for lunch lately ~ pregnancy, ya know ...

I helped Halo assemble this votive holder with her sweet drawings ... and then she gave it to me as an early baby gift :)

A couple nights ago, we were talking about how every Christian is called to be a missionary right where they are ... Buddy agreed and said he's a "missionary policeman" :) Later, I told him one of the exciting things ~ in my opinion ~ that happened when he was six is that he learned to like salads. (I like salads ... and I like when my kids will cheerfully eat whatever I fix.) Then, I asked him what was exciting for him when he was six ... and he said, "eating salads and getting lots of legos". (I doubt he would have mentioned the salads without my bringing it up though.)

Anyway, this little dude turned seven today and we were having entree salads and ciabatta rolls for supper ... spinach, cheddar, bacon, ham, hard-boiled eggs, sun-dried tomatoes, and croutons. Buddy's first comment while waiting for everyone to get seated was ... "It looks so delicious that I can't resist looking at it!" (I told him he didn't have to ...) We had cake and ice cream too, of course. I couldn't locate any birthday candles ... thus the little, stubby thing in front of the cake. It did the job though. Then I gave him a birthday haircut :) (It was at the end of the evening though, after this photo.)

a little parenting

I try to preview all of the books we get for Halo ... for crude language, boyfriend/girlfriend stuff, meanness toward siblings, disrespecting parents, minimizing deceitfulness, bad/selfish attitudes, and more. The principle here is G.I.G.O. ... Garbage IN = Garbage OUT. And it doesn't only apply for TV and movies ~ books can also be influential, either positively or negatively. In addition, just because a book comes from a "Christian" bookstore doesn't mean it's acceptable.

The old saying, you can't judge a book by its cover, is quite true. My mother-in-law had gotten Halo a set of four books about some twelve year-old girl and her horse, of course. She asked me to look them over before she gave them to Halo for her birthday. The covers were well done ... the summaries on the back seemed interesting and harmless ... but just as I was about to say the books looked okay, I decided to open one up. The page I happened to turn to had the girl and her friends doing drugs ... smoking pot if I recall! Insane!

Anyway, I've never told Halo exactly what I'm looking for when I'm previewing a book ... but somehow she figured out part of it. She was recently reading a novel to her brother over the course of a couple days. The main characters were two boys named Soup and Rob. I had only skimmed it, and hadn't read it entirely, so I asked her how she was liking the book. "It's good. I skipped over the part about g-i-r-l-f-r-i-e-n-d-s though," she replied by spelling out the word :)

I don't exactly know why I started writing this blog ... somehow it all evolved from the previous paragraph ... but I've just been shocked lately at what is going on with young people. I saw Bristol Palin's interview on FOX and she said something like ... abstinence is best, but it's not realistic, because everybody does "it". Parents, myself included, need to take parenting seriously and view it as their most important task. When you consider what things children are taking in from TV, movies, magazines in the checkout aisle, the internet, video games, books, school, friends ... it is any wonder so many kids today are so messed up? It sometimes feels impossible to raise godly children in this evil culture we live in ... where wrong has become right.

Is there any hope of avoiding the traps of sin that youth are so vulnerable to? I think so ...

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:9-11

I know my kids are sinners and that they will make mistakes along the way, but my prayer is that they will continue to seek God and that their strongest desire will be to obey Him.

a little critter ~ actually two!

When we arrived at the cabin last night, there were two dead little critters on our peanut butter glue trap! Last month, when I first spotted one of them, I thought it was a little mouse ~ but they were probably voles or shrews. They were so tiny that they were both stuck on the same trap. Anyway, we had been sharing our living quarters with them recently ... and it was a bit unnerving ... so we were relieved to have captured the interlopers.

Later on, after lots of unloading and getting settled and readying for bed, Jeff climbed into bed before I did and pretended there was a mouse in the bed! I'm on to his schemes though ... so I didn't fall for it! A couple minutes later, he tried again ... "AAAAhhhh! There's a mouse!" ... kicking his legs and kind of bouncing around. Anyway ...

Tonight, as Foofie was in the middle of her prayers, she said, "And thank you that we don't have a so crappy house with mice in the downstairs." (which is the main floor, as compared to the loft)

a little Florida

a little cookie

So ... last night as I'm laying in bed trying to fall asleep ... my husband says to me ...

"I stopped at SA (SuperAmerica) this afternoon and the cookies were way smaller than they used to be ... so I went up to the counter and I said (and he said it in a loud voice) ..."

"Hey! What happened to the cookies? They shrunk! They're noticably smaller!"
"And they're no longer 2 for 89 cents! What's the deal? What's going on?"
"Obama's the President! I thought the cookies were gonna get bigger ... not smaller."
"Oh ... did I say that out loud?"

I burst out laughing ...
"And what did the cashier say?" I asked.
"She chuckled a little bit."

a little peek

Here's a glimpse of what my husband has been up to lately ... with a couple of other things thrown in as well.

Removed fiberglass shower "insert" ... tiled the shower ... replaced the door ... re-tiled the floors ~ did this in another bathroom too. Also, replaced the toilets ... and has yet to put in new faucets and towel bars.


Rustic beam/log light he is constructing ...


Finished and lighted ...

New chandelier hung ... lots of light :)


Built this wall (behind the cupboards) and put cedar on it ... so the cupboards on the outside wall won't have to be hung on the logs anymore & makes it possible for a backsplash now.

Ripped out old floor and laid this floor ... hand-scraped hickory.

A portion of the trim he's varnishing and sanding ... for doorways, windows, baseboards

Extended this wall ... and is putting new cedar on ... wired it for three wall sconces ...

New ceiling boards ... not the beams ... but the cedar in between (is covering what was plywood).

Replaced this window and its trim ...

"Utility Room" ... new ceiling, floors, cedar walls ... cupboards of course too (they included installation though, thankfully!)

island and cute corner cupboard/hutch ...

new lights still to come for the kitchen ...








two smiling faces showing off the new island ... "It's looking nice in here, Daddy," said Foofie.

the remainder of Foofie's latest head injury ... it is healing nicely! (I love her smile here!)

The girls made gingerbread cookies ... I took this picture with Halo's new camera!