What joy. What pride. All because of an iPod.
Josh went to Walmart today. He bought himself the new super-de-duper mega iPod. He was (and is) very excited about having it.
He came home and GAVE his old iPod to Matthew. Matthew was ecstatic! He thinks Josh pretty much rocks and is the coolest brother ever.
Matthew immediately went up to his room and came back into the kitchen and handed Alec his MP3 player. Alec was ecstatic! He thinks Matthew pretty much rocks and is the coolest brother ever.
I love my boys. They are good ones. Not perfect. Just really good. And really happy.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Kaffy's Peanut Butter Cookies
Me and the little ones. We go hand and hand. I enjoyed spending the day yesterday with my very good friend Janelle's youngest daughter Kathryn. She's a cutie, that one. Four and a half years old going on, well, much older. After making two beaded necklaces (one for her and the other for her dad), then having some grilled cheese sandwiches together, we went to the store to load up on some items for baking. Our plan was to make some cookies and maybe some banana bread. Once she declared that she did not like banana bread, I scratched that off of our to do list.
After making the dough, I showed her how to scoop it out by the spoonful and roll it into a little ball. Her precious little hands squished the dough as she tried to figure out exactly how to do it without squishing it! Once she got the hang of it she asked me after each one, "is this one good?", and of course I told her, "that's a great one!" Of course.
It was a swell time.
Fast forward to me at work this afternoon. The phone rings and after I answer it, a noticeable pause is on the other end and then a little squeaky voice asks, "what's your address?" I laugh, knowing its Kathryn and ask her, "you want my address?" She corrects herself and asks, "what's the recipe?" She is calling to get the yummy cookie recipe from me so that her and her mom can make them again. So I gave it to her, and here it is for anyone else who is interested:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
That's it. Mix it together, form into balls...you know the rest. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.
"Yumm-o" as Rachel Ray would say.
Thanks Kaffy, for a fun day!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Reminiscing
Last week at church, reminiscing the past was discussed. Basically just how mostly all of us like to reminisce. At my my stage in life I find myself reminiscing the younger days of my four children. The good ole days. Until Josh turned three we lived in a mobile home in Clarkston. What fun, simple times those were. Just the three of us. Josh was such a easy child. Go with the flow type of kid. I was always doing something with him. Taking him to the lake so he could walk just along the shoreline because he was a little frightened of the water, walking to the park where I would push him endlessly on the swing, sitting out in our small front yard under a shade tree watching him play in the small blow up pool with Cody, the little boy who I babysat for and was the same age as Josh, watching him dance around to "Barney" on television...
Add one more child to the equation, Matthew Jacob, who came along in the summer of 1992. We lived with John's parents for a few months when we moved from the trailer park to build a small house north of Lapeer. I can almost feel Matthew's chubby six month old body in his terry sleeper pajamas. He was such a good little baby. Give him a few toys to play with on the floor and he was a happy camper. I watched a video not too long ago showing him walking around the backyard at our then new house when he was a little over a year old. He was stumbling around in the back yard, playing in the dirt (think dirt magnet) and sometimes reaching into the small pool that I had set up for the boys. At one point he leaned into the pool and the side of it gave way. I was laughing and feeling bad for him at the same time as I was catching all of this on video. He was sobbing because it scared him and the water was so cold. Flash forward a couple of years and I catch both Josh and Matthew playing in their shared room together. Both are in their warm, cozy, footed pajamas and I find Josh reading a book to Matthew. Awwww! Josh is probably six years old, which would make Matthew around three. A little while later when I check on them again, I peek in through the barely-cracked-open door, to find, at that very moment, Josh 'whamming' his brother. A startled look comes across his face when he makes eye contact with me and realizes that I just caught him. I can't even remember why, but what perfect timing.
Being pregnant for the third time I was wishing of course for a little girl. By this time not only did we have two boys but John's brother also had two boys. A girl was what everyone wished for! We did not find out what the sex of the baby, I kind of wanted to but John was adamant that he wanted to keep it a surprise. On Friday, September 1, 1995 at 7:22 p.m. little miss Rachel Lynn was born. We were so estatic. I kept saying (its on video), "I can't believe its a girl!" What a joy adding her to our family. The boys just adored her. They were always wanting to help me with her. Josh was in first grade, so he was at school all day. That left all of the mauling up to Matthew, and that is just what he did. I have some great video of Rachel and the boys when she was probably about a year and a half. She had a little beauty set, which consisted of the makeup table with mirror, chair and all the plastic hair and makeup accessories. As she sat in the chair, both of the boys pretended to apply makeup, blow dry her hair and also put the play curlers in her hair! At one point they are actually arguing over who gets to do what. Rachel didn't talk until she was probably two. Even then her vocabulary was limited to just a few words. So she was very expressive through actions. When she would fall or hurt herself some way and cry, she would then later replay everything that happened to her to someone. You would ask her what happened and she would act the whole thing out, rolling around, pointing and then fake crying. It was so halarious. She caught on that everyone loved it and would do it on command knowing that we all got a laugh out of it.
When Rachel was just a year old, in fact it was the weekend of her first birthday, we found out unexpectedly that I was pregnant. The first three were planned and even took us a few months before we actually got pregnant. So this was a big surprise. Not unwanted by any means. Shortly after I had Rachel I had wondered to myself if I actually thought I was finished with having children. I wasn't so sure. I loved being pregnant and having that sweet little baby. So, even though the timing was off, I was excited to have another little one. I was sure that I was carrying another girl. When we went to the ultrasound that December it was proven to be another boy! No mistake about it. We had really like the name Alec with my third pregnancy and decided to go with that for him. John toyed with the idea of naming him John, but I did not want a junior. Funny thing, Alec is a carbon copy of his dad. Shortly after Alec was born we sold our house and again moved in with John's parents to build our home that we now have lived in for almost ten years. John's mom was a great help with the kids. John was hardly around that summer, literally going to work as usual and then working on the house until late at night, so I needed an extra hand or two with my large brood. All in all I think that John and I did a terrific job handling the stress of building a new house and adding a fourth child all in the same year. Alec had a sweet disposition (really all four of them did) and quickly found his place in the family. He had such blonde hair until he was about three or four when it turned into the dirty blonde that he now has. Unlike his sister, he had quite a large vocabulary at a young age. Typical of any young child he would often repeat things that were said. Most common with him though was when he was talking, he would end each sentence with, "right mom?" demanding a reply from me. Precious.
As I sit here and type this, I remember such wonderful times we have had together. They now are growing at lightening speed. My firstborn is such a young man now with Matthew not far behind. Rachel has begun to wear a little eye makeup and looks so grown up and Alec is that older elementary child now, torn between being momma's baby and the rough and tough independent boy that he wants to be. Thank God for memories ingrained in our minds, pictures (scrapbooks!) and videos.
I would LOVE to go back, but of course, I cannot.
Add one more child to the equation, Matthew Jacob, who came along in the summer of 1992. We lived with John's parents for a few months when we moved from the trailer park to build a small house north of Lapeer. I can almost feel Matthew's chubby six month old body in his terry sleeper pajamas. He was such a good little baby. Give him a few toys to play with on the floor and he was a happy camper. I watched a video not too long ago showing him walking around the backyard at our then new house when he was a little over a year old. He was stumbling around in the back yard, playing in the dirt (think dirt magnet) and sometimes reaching into the small pool that I had set up for the boys. At one point he leaned into the pool and the side of it gave way. I was laughing and feeling bad for him at the same time as I was catching all of this on video. He was sobbing because it scared him and the water was so cold. Flash forward a couple of years and I catch both Josh and Matthew playing in their shared room together. Both are in their warm, cozy, footed pajamas and I find Josh reading a book to Matthew. Awwww! Josh is probably six years old, which would make Matthew around three. A little while later when I check on them again, I peek in through the barely-cracked-open door, to find, at that very moment, Josh 'whamming' his brother. A startled look comes across his face when he makes eye contact with me and realizes that I just caught him. I can't even remember why, but what perfect timing.
Being pregnant for the third time I was wishing of course for a little girl. By this time not only did we have two boys but John's brother also had two boys. A girl was what everyone wished for! We did not find out what the sex of the baby, I kind of wanted to but John was adamant that he wanted to keep it a surprise. On Friday, September 1, 1995 at 7:22 p.m. little miss Rachel Lynn was born. We were so estatic. I kept saying (its on video), "I can't believe its a girl!" What a joy adding her to our family. The boys just adored her. They were always wanting to help me with her. Josh was in first grade, so he was at school all day. That left all of the mauling up to Matthew, and that is just what he did. I have some great video of Rachel and the boys when she was probably about a year and a half. She had a little beauty set, which consisted of the makeup table with mirror, chair and all the plastic hair and makeup accessories. As she sat in the chair, both of the boys pretended to apply makeup, blow dry her hair and also put the play curlers in her hair! At one point they are actually arguing over who gets to do what. Rachel didn't talk until she was probably two. Even then her vocabulary was limited to just a few words. So she was very expressive through actions. When she would fall or hurt herself some way and cry, she would then later replay everything that happened to her to someone. You would ask her what happened and she would act the whole thing out, rolling around, pointing and then fake crying. It was so halarious. She caught on that everyone loved it and would do it on command knowing that we all got a laugh out of it.
When Rachel was just a year old, in fact it was the weekend of her first birthday, we found out unexpectedly that I was pregnant. The first three were planned and even took us a few months before we actually got pregnant. So this was a big surprise. Not unwanted by any means. Shortly after I had Rachel I had wondered to myself if I actually thought I was finished with having children. I wasn't so sure. I loved being pregnant and having that sweet little baby. So, even though the timing was off, I was excited to have another little one. I was sure that I was carrying another girl. When we went to the ultrasound that December it was proven to be another boy! No mistake about it. We had really like the name Alec with my third pregnancy and decided to go with that for him. John toyed with the idea of naming him John, but I did not want a junior. Funny thing, Alec is a carbon copy of his dad. Shortly after Alec was born we sold our house and again moved in with John's parents to build our home that we now have lived in for almost ten years. John's mom was a great help with the kids. John was hardly around that summer, literally going to work as usual and then working on the house until late at night, so I needed an extra hand or two with my large brood. All in all I think that John and I did a terrific job handling the stress of building a new house and adding a fourth child all in the same year. Alec had a sweet disposition (really all four of them did) and quickly found his place in the family. He had such blonde hair until he was about three or four when it turned into the dirty blonde that he now has. Unlike his sister, he had quite a large vocabulary at a young age. Typical of any young child he would often repeat things that were said. Most common with him though was when he was talking, he would end each sentence with, "right mom?" demanding a reply from me. Precious.
As I sit here and type this, I remember such wonderful times we have had together. They now are growing at lightening speed. My firstborn is such a young man now with Matthew not far behind. Rachel has begun to wear a little eye makeup and looks so grown up and Alec is that older elementary child now, torn between being momma's baby and the rough and tough independent boy that he wants to be. Thank God for memories ingrained in our minds, pictures (scrapbooks!) and videos.
I would LOVE to go back, but of course, I cannot.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
My Micah Fix
Micah, for those of you who do not know, is a baby boy that I just adore. He is the second son of our youth pastors, Paul and Denise. He is the type of baby that you just cannot walk past without wanting to love on him. He has always been such a happy guy and his smile lights up a whole room. Rachel and I got the privilege of watching him and his three year old brother Mason last Sunday afternoon between morning and evening service. Having the two of them around reminds me so much of the days of Joshua and Matthew. Mason was completely entertained with cars and trucks and Alec. After crawling around, playing and eatting some lunch, Micah ended up falling asleep on the couch next to Rachel. She loved every minute of it. She has to have her Micah fix too now.
Little Micah James will be one year old next week!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Goodbye Summer
You can tell that I'm back to scrapbooking. John and I took Rachel and Alec to Lakeport State Park in Port Huron recently. While the kids played on the beach, John and I played cards. At one point while he shuffled the cards, I snapped this picture knowing that it would most likely be a great photo for my "at the lake page".
This was a trip that was planned on the way to church that morning. We knew that we weren't going to have evening service and thought about possibly doing something fun later on. I am the one who said, "lets just take a road trip somewhere...how about Lexington or Port Huron? How about going to one of the beaches?" Perfect. When over in that area, as we were driving around looking for a beach, we went through an old cottages-on-the-lake style neighborhood and seen two couples sitting at a card table under a shade tree playing cards together. John thought that would be fun and so we stopped at a gas station and picked up two decks of cards. We ended up only needing one. We played two player euchre for about 2+ hours.
The kids did typical kids on the beach things....
Farewell summer.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Little Rachie
I came across this picture of Rachel the other day. You just simply forget how little your kids were until you see a photo or watch a home video. This was taken on our deck at our old house. My sister Kristie had gotten her those oh-so-cute girly pj's, which included oh-so-cute bloomers with them! My heart melts looking at that sweet baby girl of mine. Those were the days when Josh went to school all day, leaving Matthew and Rachel to play all day together. Life was so simple.
I want to pick her up out of the picture and smell her. And smooch her. And pinch her (lovingly). And maybe even give her a little bite (lovingly, of course).
My Rachie girl.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Church Stuff
Check out my church's new website. Look for me and some of my family in the photos that are on the top of the page. Pretty sweet! My church is awesome (not just because they used my picture....ha ha).
gatewayassembly.com
gatewayassembly.com
Saturday, September 8, 2007
This Time, This Year
Thank GOD that things are all new! New job, new school year, new carpet! Life couldn't be better...
This time last year I was very miserable. My job was horrible. Too much drama and some queer mind games. The one very rewarding thing that stemed from that job was my friendship with Janelle, which I cherish very much. What fun we have together (which is mostly by tele-phone). She is in the position that I was a few years ago. Four children under the age of 10. I agree, it is a very busy time, but short lived. I mourn those times that are now just memories. Anyhow, I work three days a week at a job that I enjoy very much. Between her schedule and mine, we don't get together too often. But we are trying! We are rekindling our love of scrapbooking. Both of us enjoy it (she has been scrapbooking for years with her friends and I was spending one weekend a year away from home with a friend to scrapbook -- hi Kim!) and figured, "why not?". We have just begun carving out time to scrapbook together. Super duper!
Another school year. I have four kids in four different levels of school. Josh, who will be 18 next week, just graduated from high school last June and is taking two classes at the local community college. Matt is in 9th grade at the high school, Rachel is in 7th grade at the junior high and Alec is in 5th grade at the elementary. Whew! The kids had mixed feelings about going back (what kid doesn't) but now are all pretty much happy about a new year (except Matthew...more on that later).
New carpet! Not that its that big a deal. Just sounded good. But it IS nice to have new carpet after almost ten high-traffic years. Plus, I moved my furniture around the other day and it looks fantastic in my family room.
This time last year I was very miserable. My job was horrible. Too much drama and some queer mind games. The one very rewarding thing that stemed from that job was my friendship with Janelle, which I cherish very much. What fun we have together (which is mostly by tele-phone). She is in the position that I was a few years ago. Four children under the age of 10. I agree, it is a very busy time, but short lived. I mourn those times that are now just memories. Anyhow, I work three days a week at a job that I enjoy very much. Between her schedule and mine, we don't get together too often. But we are trying! We are rekindling our love of scrapbooking. Both of us enjoy it (she has been scrapbooking for years with her friends and I was spending one weekend a year away from home with a friend to scrapbook -- hi Kim!) and figured, "why not?". We have just begun carving out time to scrapbook together. Super duper!
Another school year. I have four kids in four different levels of school. Josh, who will be 18 next week, just graduated from high school last June and is taking two classes at the local community college. Matt is in 9th grade at the high school, Rachel is in 7th grade at the junior high and Alec is in 5th grade at the elementary. Whew! The kids had mixed feelings about going back (what kid doesn't) but now are all pretty much happy about a new year (except Matthew...more on that later).
New carpet! Not that its that big a deal. Just sounded good. But it IS nice to have new carpet after almost ten high-traffic years. Plus, I moved my furniture around the other day and it looks fantastic in my family room.
Miserable Matthew
The photo shown is Happy Matt. Most of the time he is. But when he is not, you know it. Well, I guess that is true for just about everyone. Matthew is one track minded. All the way. Fer sure. He is either geeked about something (getting a highly anticipated package delivered that contains some kool goods that he ordered online, biking with his friend, getting a new PSP game, new cell phone, knowing that I am making him something delicious that he loves...stuff like that) or down about something that isn't going well.
Like most kids he was sad to let go of the lazy days of summer. No schedules. Sleep till whenever. The only "work" that needed to be done was small tasks around the house. No brain work involved. He likes school for one reason: socializing. Its a BIG part of his life. So imagine this: you are a ninth grader and pretty much very well liked in your social network of friends. On the first day of school you quickly come to the realization that you do not have one single friend that you know in your lunch. He told me this after school on day one. He said, "school sucks!". He said that he went to the library to escape and that he wondered if he could do that everyday! I think the third day he told me that he "stole one of his teacher's passes" to use for permission to use the library during lunch. Oh my. This isn't good. I feel like he is my 1st grader and that I need to go and make it all better. :(
I know that he will overcome this hatred of his lunch time. He will either figure out that he knows a soul or two after all or just deal with it. I don't know.
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