Summer is here!
May 23, 2008
We’ve spent the last week welcoming summer, with an end-of-the-year choir program, our last day at BSF and school, and the purchase of Christopher’s first bike! Noel took him to a couple of bicycle shops last weekend, and they picked out a fabulous blue bike. We picked it up on Tuesday, and Christopher is doing a great job learning to ride it. These pictures and videos are from right after we picked it up, so things were still a little slow. (We were staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house while some painting was being done at our house.)
Christopher has been making great progress on his reading and writing! When he made a card for his teacher, he did a great job of writing “Thank you from Christopher”! If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you might be able to see his hard work! He also read his first book with absolutely no help from me (and one that he doesn’t have memorized)–Ten Men from the Bob books. I was SO proud of him!!
At Christopher’s school picnic on the last day of school, we were sitting there with his classmates and their moms and siblings, and all of a sudden, Christopher got up and came to give me a kiss. So Will stood up to give me a hug. And back and forth they went, giving me hugs and kisses for a few minutes. Then Christopher said to his friend’s mom, “Hey, Dawson’s mom? My mommy is really nice.” It was so unexpected and out of the blue, a sincere encouragement from my kids that I haven’t experienced before. I’ve always hoped that someday my children would “arise and call her blessed” (Proverbs 31:28), but I didn’t expect it to be so soon! Such a blessing!
Will continues to be a little jabbermouth–he is becoming even more talkative than his big brother! He also loves to sing. He sings all day long, even in his crib before I get him up in the morning! He only knows the first couple of lines to various songs, so he sings those lines over and over. “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, twinkle twinkle twinkle twinkle. Twinkle, twinkle, little star . . . ” His repertoire of songs includes: Jesus Loves Me; Twinkle, Twinkle; Holy, Holy, Holy; the theme song from Bob the Builder, and the Red Robin jingle that his Aunt Laura taught him. It is hard to catch him in action with the camera, because he is eager to see the picture on the digital camera. But here is a quick preview of Jesus Loves Me, and I’ll try to get more video soon.
Our “Dream” Vacation
May 17, 2008
This weekend we had a small family getaway planned with some friends to Silver Dollar City in Branson. The kids and I (Marissa) were supposed to leave with our friends Friday morning, but on Thursday I came down with what I hoped was food poisining. I couldn’t even keep down water Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, so we decided to leave with Noel Friday afternoon and hope I was better by then. Not to sound like a martyr, but I struggled Friday morning, taking advantage of the 20 minutes or so after throwing up, when I would feel relatively good, to pack our overnight bags. By lunchtime, I was starting to feel better, and so we were able to leave that afternoon and drive to Branson.
We didn’t get there in time to really enjoy Silver Dollar City, so we decided to wait until Saturday to go. We met up with our friends for dinner and enjoyed swimming in the indoor pool at our hotel. The kids were over-the-top excited about spending the night in a hotel, and Christopher was beside himself that he could swim at the hotel! I don’t think Will remembers swimming last summer, because he kept looking around the pool saying, “Whoa! I’m swimming! Big pool!”
The boys were so excited about sleeping in the same room that we didn’t argue when Will happily climbed into bed with Christopher rather than going in his pack’n'play. It was his first time sleeping in a big bed, and he did great! The two boys curled up next to each other and went to sleep. We couldn’t resist snapping this photo:
It was about 11:30 p.m. when we learned the answer to the question of what had caused my vomiting: it was a stomach virus. The brotherly snuggling turned disgusting when Christopher started puking all over poor Will’s head. They were both screaming as Noel hauled Will off to the bathroom and I tried to clean up Christopher with towels as he continued to upchuck the contents of his last two meals. (Don’t ask me how I know that, you don’t want to know.) After stripping the bed and cleaning up the boys, we got everyone back to sleep (Will in the pack’n'play this time), and Noel and I tried to get some sleep in spite of jumping every time Will coughed or Christopher moved. It was a long night.
In the morning, Christopher woke up feeling great and not even remembering the traumatic events of the night before. He didn’t have a stomachache and insisted he was hungry. Being the responsible parents that we are, we reluctantly decided it would not be wise to take a sick child to Silver Dollar City. We packed our bags, loaded up the kids, put a towel over Christopher’s lap and headed home. It has now been 14 hours since the nighttime puking incident, and we’ve had no more vomiting so far. I guess I should be thankful, but it makes it even more disappointing that we didn’t stay at Silver Dollar City!
As my friend Lynette pointed out, it was like one of those dreams where you are trying to get somewhere and can’t seem to get there. And also, your hotel room reeks of vomit, and you have a headache and didn’t pack any ibuprofen. But hopefully we’ll make it back again next month and turn this “dream” vacation into a distant memory.
Mother’s Day 2008
May 13, 2008
We had a great Mother’s Day, and it was nice to be able to celebrate with both of our moms! The kids were busy all week at school making me lovely gifts. Christopher ’s class had a Mother’s Day Luau, with yummy snacks, a performance of a song about how much they love their mommies, flowers that they grew from seeds in little pots they painted, and cards. I convinced Noel to let me have my gifts one day early, since I had two desserts to make, and one of my gifts looked suspiciously like the stand mixer I’ve been wanting for 10 years. I’m thrilled to have it, and so impressed that Noel actually wrapped it!
Christopher helped me with my baking, and as we were mixing the batter for a peanut butter cake, he noticed my excitement and asked, “Mommy, why are you so excited?” “Well, because I’ve been waiting for this for 10 years,” I answered. He thought for a minute and said, “You’ve been waiting for a peanut butter cake?!?”
On Sunday, we took some family photos (most of which you will never see because the angle was a little weird and made my face look about the size and shape of a beach ball in most of them). After worship, we enjoyed lunch with Noel’s extended family and dinner with mine. It was a wonderful day!
Last night we learned the answer to the question, “Can Will walk up stairs without holding on to something?” Answer:
Poor Will was imitating his brother (of course) and walking around with his hands in his pockets, and when he tried to go up the stairs to the deck, he busted his lip. I sure am glad Daddy was outside with him, because there was much blood involved. But he’s fine now!
The Little Things
May 9, 2008
I love the little things that I get to experience with my kids every day. On days like today, I think the terrible two’s have an unfair reputation. It is amazing to watch Will’s inquisitiveness, hear his new vocabulary, and enjoy the adorable things he does. This morning, he called his allergy medicine “alligator medicine.” And when I grilled the kids about what is inside a mystery Mother’s Day gift, Will proclaimed confidently, “a tie!” His attempts at counting are always good for a chuckle: “two, one, five seven!” He knows a lot of numbers and a lot of letters, but he has no idea what order any of them go in.
This morning I asked Christopher to make his bed . . . we’d done some training on this before, but usually I just end up doing most of it myself. When left all on his own, I was impressed with the job he did! He worked hard on it for several minutes. I especially liked how he tucked in his little purple bunny that Grandma gave him at Easter.
Here’s a couple of videos I took the other night when Christopher wanted to “read” Will his bedtime stories. Will is asking “what’s that?” on each page, but Christopher isn’t interested in stopping to answer. I love seeing the two of them together!
Last Monday, the kids and I went to the Tulsa Zoo with our usual gang of friends–three Mommys and six kids altogether. Let me tell you, that was an adventure! At least we had gorgeous weather, and the kids had a blast seeing all the animals. Will remembered the zoo in Wichita, so for two days before we went, all I heard was, “Zoo . . . giraffe, long neck! monkeys, oo-oo-oo! elephant, water, long trunk!”
Christopher learned a song recently at Bible Study Fellowship that I think is so cute. I make him sing it for me multiple times a day. One time, he sang it in the car, and when he finished, Will said, “Great job!” It is so sweet to see their friendship growing and to hear them encouraging each other.
Another fun thing we did this week is something Mommy has been waiting for years to do with the kids. When I was growing up, we had a special May Day tradition. Every year on May 1, we would make a paper basket and cut some flowers and hang them on the door of our neighbor and friend, Katherine. She is one of my mom’s closest friends, and her birthday is May 2. I remember taking the May Day basket over, ringing the doorbell, and hiding behind a tree. Katherine would come out and wonder aloud who could have brought these lovely flowers, and I could come running out, yelling “it’s me!” and get a big hug from Katherine. I’ve always hoped that when we moved back home, I could continue the tradition with my kids. So on Thursday afternoon, we went to Katherine’s house, put the basket on her doorknob, rang the bell and ran to hide. As soon as Katherine found them and wondered who they were from, Christopher came running, “It’s me!” with Will trying hard to keep up. The kids really enjoyed it, and I loved having a visit with Katherine!
A small thing that cracked us up the other day–Will is constantly hurting himself and tells us, “I hurt head” or “I hurt foot”, etc. The other day, he fell and said: “I hurt . . . (looking puzzled and touching his wrist) . . . What is this?!? I hurt it.”
Christopher has decided that we need a new baby in our family. At first, he told me that I should choose Caroline (their one-year-old cousin) to be our baby. I explained that Caroline already has a family, but that we can ask God to make a new baby for our family. Christopher has been faithfully asking God for a new baby, and it has prompted several interesting conversations and questions. He wanted to know how I will know when God puts the new baby in my tummy (well, the constant vomiting is usually a good clue!). When I talked with him about God’s perfect timing and tried to prepare him to wait for this for awhile, he said, “Yes, Mommy, God knows the day and the hour.” (Yes, they recently studied Matthew 24:36 at Bible Study Fellowship.) Christopher has decided that we need a girl baby, and yesterday he declared that he plans to name his new baby “Sarah.” (They were watching The Land Before Time at the gym, and Christopher also mentioned that there is a Sarah in the Bible. Oddly enough, I really like the name Sarah!)
This is what Christopher prayed last night at bedtime–I thought it was so sweet: “Dear God, Thank you for this room and for these toys, but we want a new baby for our family, so will you make one for us please? Great. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.” I hope God says “yes” someday . . . but for now, Mommy thinks God has given us plenty to play with. 
