a few thoughts...

So hat's off to Heidi and Erin K. How in the world you keep up your blog with 3 kids is beyond me, as you can see from the lack of posts.





Ethan is doing much better and has now surpassed his birth weight, which is wonderful! Not that he was too little to begin with. Daphne brought up a good point: both her twins together weighed less than Ethan! So I guess it was all right if you all thought I was carrying twins! =)





I'm getting sleep in 3 hour increments. It's been so wonderful to have Aaron's mom here with me so I can sleep in with the baby in the mornings.



I will try and get some more pictures up this week. Ethan is getting cuter by the day! He is even trying to smile at me!

We're Home!

Just wanted to let you all know that we got home Wednesday from the hospital. Ethan is doing much better. Thank you all for your prayers!

He hasn't gained any weight yet after losing some from being on glucose only. He's been eating well so I'm not too worried about that, but the doctor wants to see him again to make sure he is gaining weight.

Last night Joel woke up with some tummy troubles. Now we are sanitizing everything!!

Baby is Here!

We are so happy to have baby Ethan with us!

His name is Ethan Richard. Ethan means "firm or strong". In the Bible, Ethan the Ezrahite wrote Psalm 89. The Ezrahites were known for being wise men.

Psalm 89:1 I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.

The middle name, Richard, is named after my grandfather and brother.

10.1 lbs

22 inches long

12/2/07 10:43 am

So Micah was sort of right. If you remember, Micah asked God when the baby was coming and God told him (repeatedly) that the baby was coming Saturday. Well, he started to come on Saturday night. I started contractions Saturday night, but when I went to bed they went away. (Aaron meanwhile had started praying the baby waited until after the Big 12 Football Championship game!)

On Sunday I woke up about 4 am with contractions, then slept on and off until about 7am. I called the midwife at 8am when they were about 3-5 minutes apart. We headed off to the hospital about 9:00 and shortly thereafter the midwife broke my water. Ethan was born at 10:45 am. It was very fast, which was an answer to prayer.

However, since he was born so quickly, that didn't give him much time to squeeze out the fluid from his lungs when he was born. He had to be taken to NICU Sunday night because his breathing rate was so fast. I came home today (Monday) but Ethan has to stay in the NICU. We're hoping we can bring him home Tuesday. I haven't been able to feed him since Sunday night because they are afraid that he might aspirate the food into his lungs. Fortunately I was able to feed him before we left today because his breathing has improved.

We aren't worried about him; the doctor said that the fluid would just be absorbed into his body and we just have to wait 1-2 days. It's just very hard to leave the hospital without your baby!

Please pray that his breathing would continue to improve and we can bring him home tomorrow!

First Snow

The calendar flipped to December and look what we saw when we woke up!

This morning it was just a light dusting. This afternoon it started snowing again and now its been snowing hard for a few hours. Fortunately its not too cold so the roads are not icy. However that will change by tonight, I'm sure. Makes me VERY thankful we decided to get the Sequoia with 4WD. Especially with the possibility of making a 1am trip to the hospital any day now.

Humble Faith

So the morning began with a bang, so to speak. (see post below about vortex.) But by the middle of the day I was humbled by my 4 almost 5 year old.

We have been praying with Micah that God would heal his eyes (he has strabismus, a form of lazy eye) and that God would heal his milk allergy. Today at the grocery store he looked worried and in thought. I asked him what he was thinking about. He said, "Mama, when God heals my milk allergy, can I eat things with milk in them?" (emphasis mine) Not if, but when. To him it is a reality, not wishful thinking, that God will heal him. My son can teach me a thing or two about faith.

***************
Yesterday Micah asked me what day the baby was coming. I told him only God knows, so he should pray and ask him. He did, then I asked him what God said. Micah said God told him the baby was coming on Saturday. Now, I didn't ask him to specify WHICH Saturday.

The Vortex

We have reached a vortex in our house here because of 3 things:

1. New baby coming
2. Birthday
3. Christmas

... all happening within a 30 day period. Not good. Not that I had any planning in the matter. God knew what he was doing when he set #1 and 2 in motion for our family, but I'm still getting a headache. I'm enjoying a moment of silence while they watch Curious George upstairs. Away from me.

ahhhhh
its beautiful.

Indoor Camp-Out

On Saturday night, Micah, Joel and Daddy had their own indoor campout. We made soy hot chocolate and Dad pitched the tent in the living room.

It was quite a big tent for the 3 of them! They read a chapter from Prince Caspian and Aaron told stories to the kids. Right now he is making up stories at bedtime from "The Forest of Aberkazan". Which strangely sounds like "Lord of the Rings". Micah gets really into it.

Even with camping inside they got cold! Thank goodnes for electric blankets!

Update on baby

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so thankful that soon we will have a new baby!

Due date is a week from tommorow. Too bad babies don't come with a set time and timer like a turkey. For all the trouble of a c-section, that would be nice to be able to plan. I was having a lot of contractions on Monday night and they were regular. But, they went away. My midwife says that 3rd pregnancies tend to have more "false labor".

I love my midwife practice. I see a group of about 3-4 midwives that work in a office with a group of OB doctors at the hospital. They are all Certified Nurse Midwives, meaning they have taken extra training in Midwifery. If you face any kind of complication they can consult with the MDs in the office. I have been so very fortunate to not have any kind of problem. I am VERY thankful for this. I will have the baby at the hospital. This makes me much more secure than a birthing center just for the fact of the baby's health. When Micah was born his lungs had to be suctioned quite a bit.

The difference with having a midwife is she is with you the entire time you are at the hospital. She reads and follows your birth plan, and is with you the whole time as a buffer with the hospital staff. The midwife that delivered Joel (her name is Deb) is very encouraging. I saw her on Tuesday and she was just so positive saying I'd have a quick, easy delivery with no problems. You just go away feeling great. She told me to not have the baby over Thanksgiving because she'd be out of town and she wanted to deliver the baby again! She's delivered something like 4000 babies in her career. When it was time to push Joel out, she told Aaron that baby would be born in 15 minutes. We looked at the camera and I think it was 14:58.

So now we are praying that Deb can deliver this baby too. Thinking about having the baby without my mom to see it brings back lots of sad feelings. Having Deb there would be nice since I am already familiar with her in the delivery room.

Have a great day of thanks!

Non Dairy Pumpkin Pie

From Whole Foods:

Pumpkin Pie

1 unbaked pie crust (9 inch)
2 cups cooked pumpkin (about 1 can)
2 eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup, honey or rice syrup
pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 package silken tofu

Preheat oven to 425 F. Blend all filling ingredients in a blender. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake an additional 45 minute or until set.

I have also seen recipes where you make this vegan by deleting the eggs and adding more tofu.

We have made this for a few years now and I honestly cannot tell the difference. We have had both: traditional made with milk and the tofu version. I have tasted both and you can't tell.

It has about 100 calories less per slice than traditional pie and about 7 g less fat.

249 calories, 9 g fat, 6 g protein (doesn't list the fiber)

Keep the guesses coming below for baby! I can't wait to see who is right!

The Contest

Today marks 38 weeks. And every time I call anyone I get "oh I thought you were going to tell me you were in labor!" No, I don't think I would be calling you with such a cheerful demeanor if that was the case. So, if I call you please don't make that comment. Why? Because my babies have a habit of being late.

So... in the spirit of filling time before baby... because everyone knows I have absolutely nothing to do except wait for baby.. . (except find the carseat, bouncy seat, the swing, pack bags for the kids and for myself, register at the hospital and oh, yah there's Thanksgiving too!).....I'm decided to have a little contest.

Leave a comment if you want to play along with the following information:
1. Your guess as to the birthdate.
2. Your guess as to the sex.
3. Tie breaker: time of day baby is born.

Some of you may or may not know this info that could help you out:
My official due date is nov 30
Both my boys were about a week late.

Micah's 5th birthday party

This past weekend we had Micah's birthday party at the Children's Museum. He calls it "my favorite museum". Micah's real birthday isn't until early December, but I wanted to have his party early before baby comes. He had been talking about having his birthday party here for about a year. He was so very excited to have all his friends with him to play at his favorite place.



We then had lunch in the jungle party room. The chairs were all animals.



Erin made the cake. What a great job she did! It was wonderful to have such a great cake for Micah--that was dairy free! THANK YOU!

Micah's favorite spot; the Mexican restaraunt. "Welcome to Taco Time, can I take your order?"

37 weeks!

37 weeks, 4 weeks to go. Both boys were about a week late.

White board tip

I have lots of pictures to post from Micah's birthday party which I will try to get up today. I've been busy cleaning out Joel's old clothes and getting out baby clothes. Makes it seem more real! I'm getting excited for baby!


In the meantime I wanted to share a tip I learned yesterday.

If you have a white board and little people in your house this will happen to you eventually. Permanent marker on it. All you have to do to get it off is take a dry erase marker and trace over the permanent marks on the white board. Let it sit for awhile. Then erase it. Magically the marks will come off!

What would I do with out the web for information??

Halloween 2007

This year we had two cowboys. I tried to get them to be Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. Micah had decided early on that he wanted to be a cowboy. Like last year. And the year before that. He has a costume and its a cowboy. End of discussion. Last year he had a cowboy birthday party where he wore his cowboy costume. Now he thinks every year for his birthday he has to wear his cowboy costume. Wow, talk about a boy set in his ways! Since there would be no talking Micah out of a cowboy, I thought Joel could be Buzz.

My plan did not work because Joel decided that he wanted to be Woody too. "Micah be Buzz Wightyear and I be Woody", is the refrain that I heard over and over. Mostly in the car, which is always lovely. With Micah arguing back that he lay claim to Woody as he wanted to be a cowboy. So I ended the argument by saying they could both be Woody. But I was NOT going to be buying a Woody costume. We have enough cowboy gear around the house. So when I got Joel up from his nap on Halloween and started putting on his "costume", he argued that his cowboy hat: "That not Woody hat, that horsey hat!" Somehow I talked him into it and hence you see the two happy cowboys.

Here are some pictures of Micah as a cowboy over the years:

Age 3 1/2







Age 22 months

I forgot that when Micah was 2 1/2 he was a pumpkin. You can see how that turned out:



This picture is as good as it got. I'm surprised to see Micah with a happy face. I remember lots of negotiation to get him into this costume. The thing was he said he wanted to be a pumpkin since Joel was going to be a pumpkin. Ahhh, 2 year olds. I also don't think the stem on his head didn't stay on very long.


Maybe next year we will be able to branch out a bit in the costume department. Joel has a train conductor hat that he likes to wear around the house. Maybe Sir Topham Hat will make an appearance next year. But if he does at least he'll have a cowboy for a brother to protect him.

Judson

A while back a posted about 2 1/2 year old Judson. It seems as though his battle is near an end unless God chooses to heal him here instead of Heaven.

Please keep the family in your prayers as I can only imagine what they are going through now as well as the next weeks, months and years.

Freecycle

I wanted to let you know about one of my favorite websites/online groups: Freecycle.

It is an online group based on geographic location a la Craig's List. The only difference is that everything offered is free. The purpose of the group is to find new uses for things that might otherwise hit the landfill. I hate to throw things away. And sometimes I just don't make it to the thrift store very often. So usually if I only have 1 or 2 items to get rid of, or I don't think Goodwill will take it, I post it on freecycle. If someone is interested in it, they will email you and you can set up a pickup time. I have also found some great things to use around the house off of freecycle. For example I've received a couple of trikes to use outside.

When you go to freecycle, it will direct you to your local group. I think most of them are yahoo groups. You will need a yahoo id first (which is free and easy to get).

You never know what you have sitting around that someone else might need or want. Especially if you just want to get rid of it and don't want to pay to drop it off at the dump.

What is your favorite?

On this day of candy... what is your favorite candy to raid from the kid's stash?

I can't resist snickers, kit kat, twix, m&ms and skittles. I detest anything with coconut or "nougat". Whatever that is. You can see I have too many favorites. All the more reason not to allow candy into the house!

------------------------

Okay rant: I don't think I'll be able to handle this. Our Christian music radio station, The Fish, I mean Spirit has now become Christmas Spirit. On Oct 31. If I have to listen to Felice Navidad from now until Dec 25 I think I will go crazy. I have enough things that drive me crazy. Time for a new station.

Shower for Baby

This weekend, some friends hosted a shower for Baby. Its such a blessing to be able to welcome baby #3 with friends. An extra blessing is that everyone brought us a pack of diapers!

They made all the yummy scones, tea sandwiches and treats. Doesn't the spread look so beautiful?

My sweet friends who hosted, Sarah, Ruth and Traci.

scone vs. biscuit

So we had a little discussion around here about a scone vs. biscuit. Certain members of our family claim that a scone is just a biscuit. To me they are distinctly different, but similar.


Scone: made with cream, sweet, usually with bits of dried fruit.


Biscuit: not sweet, flaky and buttery.


What do you think?

"Carving" Pumpkins

This year we found "Mr. Potato Head" pieces for our pumpkins. Micah made a Pirate.
And Joel made a clown. They are both very proud of their creations.

Notice the look on Joel's face? That is such a "Joel" face. He does this when we pray too. He folds his hands and bows his head. But he then knits his eyebrows and looks up and around at everyone to see if he is doing everything right. We need to get a picture of this.

Seahawks Game

Last Sunday 10/14, Aaron received some Seahawks tickets from work, so we got to go to the game. It was the first Hawks game for us both. They were great seats too! Ten rows back on the 5 yard line.

Even thought they lost to an 0-5 team, it was still fun. Quest Field is L-O-U-D. The announcers always mention how loud it is there. I think visiting teams playing at Quest have the highest amount of false starts in the league. I now can see why. All the fans were so into the game which made it tons of fun. I think everyone stood for almost the whole game, even though they were losing.

Can you tell what happened here? See the black thing hanging in the middle of the picture? That is a TV camera that fell and missed Hasselback (the quarterback) by inches. Its one of the cameras that hovers over the field and is suspended by cables. The tension system some how came loose. Needless to say they didn't use it for the rest of the game.

Death in the Family ***updated***

Yesterday our first family pet passed away to fish heaven. Sota was a beta and lived a long beta life. Three years! I think most betas live only 1 year. We bought him when Micah was about 2 years old.

I was expecting some sad tears when Aaron told Micah, "Micah I have some sad news. Sota our fish has died."

"Dad, we should have ate him before he died!"

Hmmmm...

A few minutes later we hear from Micah, " Joel, I have some sad news...."

So we had a little fish funeral in the bathroom. Daddy read the story of Jonah and the whale. Then Micah said a little prayer. Micah did the honors. Mommy had a tear in her eye.

Joel said "Sota died, we flushed him in the potty."

Yup, pretty much sums it up.

***
Okay, lest you think that my boys have no compassion and were not attached to their fish... Micah did have a few sad moments throughout the day.

more easy recipes

I PROMISE this is not going to turn into a recipe blog. BUT I just had to to tell you about 2 recipes.

1st: Pumpkin Spice Muffins.

This is the *most* difficult recipe you will ever see. They are very yummy!
Mix one box of spice cake mix with one small can of pumpkin. Spoon into muffin tin and bake according to cake mix directions.

These muffins are so great for this time of year. I keep the spice mix and pumpkin can in the pantry for those "oh my gosh I forgot I signed up for snacks for Bible study" moments.

2nd: Chicken with Roasted Pears and Wild Rice.
From Jennifer. Susan wrote about it on her blog. If you haven't tried it yet, I'm seconding Susan's opinion. It is just awesome! Aaron said it tasted like something he would eat at a restaurant. Very tasty and pretty easy to boot. Now if anyone needs to start a recipe blog, its Jennifer.

Missions Fest Seattle

This weekend we attended Missions Fest Seattle. The key verse for the weekend was Micah 6:8-

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of
you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God.

The speakers spoke alot about social justice and what the church is doing about it (or not doing about it) in the world. Unfortunately I didn't get to hear alot of what the speakers said because
there wasn't a nursery and Joel was with us. I really enjoyed what I heard. I hope to buy the DVD of the sessions to watch at home without a toddler throwing airplanes and cars down the
auditorium floor. Go to Aaron's blog to read more about the weekend. He wrote a few posts about it.

One of the unique things I liked about the conference was the children's program. Starting at age 3 they had a program for kids to learn about non-judeo religions like: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and tribal religions. Micah came home telling us about the 10-40 window. I think making young children aware that there are people out there that think differently than us is a good thing!

EASY Chicken Tortilla Soup

Awhile back Susan asked for recipe suggestions for when company comes over. Tonight I made Chicken Tortilla Soup for us and 2 other families that just had babies. Super duper easy recipe, its yummy and the kids love it.



Chicken Tortilla Soup

serves 8-10



1-30 oz can of refried beans (large can)

4 cans of chicken broth or one of the super large cans (50 oz)

4-10 oz cans of Ro-tel diced tomatoes and chiles--undrained

(note: I only use one can of Ro-tel because it is too spicy for kids and me! I make up the other 30 oz with plain diced tomatoes. You can also buy other brands of tomatoes and chiles that might not be as spicy as Ro-tel)

1 can of corn, drained

4 cups shredded cooked chicken (I used 2 chicken breasts)

shredded cheese

tortilla chips

sour cream



In a large stock pot, combine tomatoes and chicken broth. Heat through. Add refried beans and stir until it gets mixed in. Add corn and chicken and heat throughout. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve in bowls and top with cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.





This is a good recipe for left-over chicken. Or you can just steam some chicken breasts or thighs on the stove top. What I also like is the cheese and sour cream is entirely optional and easy to leave out for our kids. You can make this pretty healthy if you use the fat-free refried beans and non-fat sour cream. I, however, very rarely get to eat sour cream, so I indulge on the real stuff.



I made a double recipe and it was more than enough for us and the two other families. In fact there was lots of leftovers for us to use for another meal.... or two.



I happened to glance at the clock while I was making it and start to finish (including cooking chicken breasts ) took 30 minutes.

Cash for your opinion?

On Thursday I got to be a part of a marketing focus group. The company doing the study called me out of the blue and asked me if I wanted to come in and talk about hair salons for 2 hours and they would give me $100 cash. Ummm, yes?

I was worried that I wouldn't have much to say, but the group leader moved the discussion along nicely and asked good questions. I was the only mom there with young kids, so hopefully I represented us well! I stopped short of telling them they should offer in-salon childcare.

It turned out the client was the Gene Juarez salon which is a Northwest chain. I started going there when we moved here because I didn't know where else to go and they've been around forever.

So I think I might have a new job. They called and asked if I would come give my opinion on grocery stores for $75. Wow! And to think I've been giving out my opinion it for free all this time!

New York Trip

So I'm sloooowwwly catching up on the past month. It seems as if September FLEW by for me. Aaron was gone the beginning of September to Europe for a business trip where he got to see Susan and Chris. Aaron's mom came to help me out, then I got to go with Aaron to NYC. I've never been there before. Being in NYC was a surreal experience for me. Even though I had not been there before everything looked familiar since I had seen so many of the sites in TV and movies. I was also surprised at how clean everything was and how safe I felt there. I really enjoyed our time there, although very short. I was there Tuesday to Thursday. Somehow we managed to pack alot of fun in!

Above is me at Belvedere Castle in Central Park. Behind me is the big lawn where they hold all the concerts. Some of you have been asking for a belly shot. This is as good as it gets.
Thanks to Microsoft we got to stay at the W in Times Square. The lobby felt like it was under water. The hotel was very nice with a modern decor.

We got to see the Broadway production of Wicked and we really enjoyed it! It had some interesting themes about good vs. evil. It is the backstory to the Wizard of Oz. Sort of like seeing episode 1, 2 and 3 of Star Wars.
While Aaron was working I figured out the subway system and went sightseeing. Here I am at the lobby of the Empire State Building. Wow! That place has a line like Disneyland! They are definitely prepared for visitors! Fortunately in the morning the line wasn't too long for me. At the top they take a tourist picture of you. At the end of the tour you look to see if you want to buy it (a la Disney). The guy had a hard time finding my picture because he said "you don't look pregnant in this picture". I almost shelled out the 20 bucks right there! From then on I became a huge believer in wearing black (see above pic).

Aaron and I visited Ground Zero. There are still piles of rubble 6 years later.
They have set up a temporary visitors center on Liberty Street, right next to the fire station that responded first. Very moving experience... something to do once. It was hard to be in there, especially with pregnancy hormones--very emotional.

In the 2 1/2 days I was there I saw : Central Park, Empire State Building, WTC site, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty (from afar), Battery Park, NYSE, Federal Building (where George Washington was inaugurated!), Rockefeller Center, Sak's Fifth Avenue, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and Wicked. Whew!

Now, what a more fitting way to close than with a picture of a toilet! The first night we went to an incredible Korean BBQ restaraunt called Bann. We even had ostrich! But what intrigued us was the toilet. The only other place we've seen this is at the Oklahoma City Airport. You push a button and it moves the plastic over to a fresh one. We joked that it was just going around and around in a big circle.

Have you ever seen this?

A New Toy

We have a new toy here and I hope it doesn't lose interest very quickly. It wasn't a birthday toy, in fact it was sitting in the closet all along.

A Dust Buster. I didn't think a 4 year old could find so much fun from a cleaning tool AND be effective at the clean up. I was getting ready yesterday and I heard the whirl of the dust buster. Coming downstairs I saw him busily cleaning up after himself. He was playing with play-do and while putting it away noticed some "crumbs". I didn't even know he *could* notice any crumbs. Then later after eating a bagel I heard the sound again. Wow.

He even knows how to plug it into the charger.

Happy Birthday, Joel!

Joel's 2nd birthday was September 23rd. We had a baseball-themed party on the 23rd at the park. It was a gamble to plan an outside party in late September, but decided to chance-it. Clean up is so much easier! (That's suppose to be a baseball cake!)

As you can see the weather cleared and we had a sunny afternoon at the park.

This is a partial picture of the Snack Bar. The kids played a T-Ball game and a bean bag game to win tickets. They got to spend the tickets at the snack bar to buy candy, peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jacks. The fruit was free. Unfortunately not many kids fell for the "free" fruit.

This is the baseball bean bag game.

Yummy Red Vines!!

Joel's new scooter. He calls it "My Thomas bicycle."

New dump truck from Great Grandma Exie

Couldn't resist this one!

Happy Birthday to our big boy!!

My favorite marketer...

Away!

So right now I am writing this from Times Square. I had the chance to get away with Aaron for a few days while he is here on a business trip.

Today I went down to Central Park, then we both went down to Ground Zero, Battery Park and Wall Street. Tonight we went to see the Broadway Show, Wicked. Its the story of the witches from the Wizard of Oz. We both enjoyed the story and the music. If you have a chance to see this show it is a good one!

Tomorrow I hope to see Rockefeller Center,Fifth Avenue and the Empire State Building. We'll see how long that all takes.

Reading

So, question for those of you with more education/experience in this area than me.



Yesterday at farm class, some moms were talking about preschool/kindergarten. One mom was distressed because her 3 1/2 year old was not doing his piano homework from piano lessons. Let me repeat that, her 3 year old has piano "homework". Apparently she started him on lessons at age 2. She also says that he is reading. The other mom said her 4 year old is reading. Wow. Am I behind the curve, or what?



Micah can sound some words out, but I would definitely NOT classify him as "reading". Micah is in a piano class, but if he wants to play at home, great, if he doesn't then that's great too. I want him to like music and frequently he makes up his own songs on the piano, ukulele or the tamborine. I see this as more beneficial than piano "homework".



So I asked these moms, "Does it really matter if a kid learns to read at age 2 or at age 6, as long as they eventually learn to read and they like to read?" They didn't really have an answer for me. What say you? Is there an advantage to someone reading early, say age 2 1/2??

Co-Op

Friday was the start of our new-to-us homeschool co-op which meets at a church nearby. Micah is taking a 2 hour kindergarten class and I am teaching a Hands-On Equations class to 3rd-6th graders. I loved it! It was so much fun to be teaching again! I have 5 students; including one 2nd grader, two 3rd graders and two 6th graders. Quite a difference between the 2nd and 6th grader, but it will be fine since there are only 5 kids. I've never taught students that young, so it will be a transition for me to remember how many instructions to give at one time.

(Not my student, but here you can see what the hands on equations looks like--there are game pieces you use to solve problems. Very fun!)

Micah liked his teacher and had fun in class. We are continuing the curriculum at home, hopefully daily. Today we did patterns with unifix cubes. Boy did he eat that up. He is very good at it too, making and figuring out some complex patterns.

Joel is taking a "mom and me" farm class through the city. (We actually have a working farm in the middle of our city!) Its been fun for him because Micah's taken programs at the farm (by himself, not with me) and Joel always wanted to stay and participate. Now he has a chance and we've had fun learning about cows and goats, so far. At bedtime he talked about feeding cowboy the cow and the goat parade.

Today Joel heard me talking about his birthday party and he was all over that one.

Joel: "I want to go to my potty"

Me: "What?" You want to go potty??"

Joel: " No, my potty"

Me: I don't know how, but I figured out he was saying party, not potty.

"OHHH, your party, well its not until next week. It hasn't started yet"

Joel: "My potty not open yet."

So several times throughout the day I heard him say "I have a birthday potty. My potty not open yet."

So I asked him about his party to find out if he really knew what a "birthday potty" was. I asked him what will be at his party.

Joel: "Toys"

Yup, he has the idea!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Daphne and Dave!!

Remember this?

Well, they are here! A little early at 34 weeks, so they will be in the NICU for at least a few weeks. Please pray that they will be out soon with no complications.

Twin A is 4 lbs, 4 oz.

Twin B is 5 lbs, 2 oz

So that makes 9 lbs, 6 oz of baby that was in Daphne. Wow, no wonder they came early. There couldn't have been much room left!

Would you Rather?

Would you rather clean up a kid's potty accident (not in a diaper) or throw-up mess??

Does your answer change if this is done at 2 am??

Happy Birthday! ***edited***

Happy Birthday to my baby brother!

************
Edited:
So I guess I would be remiss to say happy birthday to Rich and not tell any funny stories about him. His comment about the motorcycle got me thinking about this. =)

My brother and I had problems (Aaron would say I HAVE, present tense) with accidentally dropping food on our shirts during meals. We inherited this from our mom. Well, back in 1980-something there was this story in Japan about some earthquake where people were trapped for days. This guy survived by eating his shirt because he had spilled food on it. Okay, maybe it wasn't an earthquake, but somehow a guy was trapped. ANYWAY, anytime my mom saw my brother with food on his shirt, she had to ask him "are you saving that for when you get trapped under a building?" This was funny hmm, about maybe the first time, but it was EVERY TIME for the past 20 years! My mom had a way of running a joke into the ground like that.

Well, I hope that made you laugh Richard.

I have no idea where that motorcycle picture went!

The Fair

Friday was the first day of The Fair. Micah, Joel, my Dad, Betty and I went for the day. Very fun. Except I forgot the camera and had to use my phone which I don't know how to get the pictures off of and onto the blog.

Since it was opening day it was free admission, yay! This gave me the chance to use all the money I saved on admission on rides. Wow, I have not ridden rides at the fair, since...hmmm, can't remember. Put it this way, all the kiddie rides were 4 tickets each, 1 ticket=85 cents. So, for $15, both kids got to go on a whopping 2 rides. Fortunately, we found the John Deere tent where they had all the construction and tractor vehicles on display. They had just as much fun climbing around on those. I'm so glad we can get away with that for now.

We saw the petting zoo, horses, chickens, sheep and goats. Steered clear of the cats. Yikes, no way in heck was I going in there with my allergies! 2 barns full of cats spells disaster for me. I can't think of anything worse. Even the smell of the cow barn is better to me than the thought of being around 200 cats. (Can you tell I'm not a cat-lover???)

Micah loved the vegetables, bees and the pumpkins. Advil had a contest where you could throw the ball into the hole and win a prize. Cool! Free midway game! We lost, but got free samples! (and I needed it!)

The best discovery of the day is that Micah can eat the Elephant Ears as long as you tell them not to put the butter on it at the end. Yay! Too bad I didn't ask until AFTER the butter was on it. That was nice because all he saw was aisle after aisle of things he couldn't eat--we'll know for next time. Betty bought him and Joel one of those giant fair lollipops, and all was made better!

The Krusty Pup (ie corn dog) stand that I worked at is still there, moved down the aisle somewhat. I got to tell Micah "back in the day..mommy worked here" . Wow, makes me feel my age!

A post about nothing...

Wow where does the time go? In my head I think that I just posted, then I look at the date of the last post and it says last Wednesday! What? Could it already be Saturday? Next thing I know Micah will be in college.

Yikes!

Brand loyalty? **edited**

There is a blog I read called Rocks in My Dryer. It is a very amusing mommy blog. This week she posted "what brands are you loyal to?"

I thought that would be an interesting discussion.

Those of you who know me now I am a cheapster when it comes to grocery shopping. I really could care less for brands. Its what's on sale or cheapest that I usually buy. Over the years I have changed my tune. Usually its driven by my husband and Consumer Reports. I go between loving and hating that magazine.

Aaron: "But you have to buy xyz product brand because CONSUMER REPORTS says it is the best performer." Yes, and this is how we ended up with a power flush toilet that scares the beejeesus out of every preschooler that sets foot in our house. (and it requires double flushing most of the time!)

*This is how we started on our Tide habit. Now I don't really mind because I think it does work better, and Jodi has used it for as long as I've known about her laundry habits. We have a front load washer which requires about 1/8th of the regular detergent, so the box lasts a LONG time.

*Crest toothpaste is a favorite, but I don't HAVE to have it.
*Aaron likes KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce the best. I can't tell the difference.
*Le Soeur peas are the BEST canned peas. Unfortunately they are hard to find around here .
*Aloha Shoyu is the best soy sauce. I used to bring it back from Hawaii, but now I can find it here.
*Peet's has the best coffee, hands down.
*In n Out has the only burger and fries worth its calories.

Some brands we are loyal too b/c that is what they sell at Costco. I used to be a Pampers mom, but I have since become a big fan of Costco diapers.

Another reason is because of Micah's allergy, some brands are default. Orowheat bread and Nukoa margarine are two examples. Not to mention tofutti "better than cream cheese" and tofutti "sour cream" and the ever popular tofutti "cuties" (its a soy ice cream sandwich).

Kid's products: I really think Stride Rite shoes are worth the money... at least at the outlet store prices. Especially since they will be going through at least two kids.

Anyway...that's enough of my buying habits. How about yours?

Edited:
**How could I forget? Consumer Reports also told us to use Electrosol Powerball tabs***
and oxyclean is my best friend.**

Culture

We have recently met some neighbors on the next street over with kids near the same age. It has been very fun to have friends in the neighborhood for the boys to play with.

So this leads me to whenever I meet someone new inevitably a question is "so, where are you from?". Understandable question and one that I ask as well when I meet someone new. Its just a hard one for me to answer as I don't feel like I'm "from" anywhere. I'm "from" my family, not a place. I don't have a strong identity as to where I lived. I guess the strongest attachment would be to Hawaii, but I don't really feel like I'm "from" there, so to speak. I don't feel like I'm from Puyallup, although my Dad still lives there and I went to high school there. I only lived there for 3 years. So an innocent question gives me inner turmoil when the asker was just asking a simple thing! Geesh!

Susan just did a great post about Third Culture Kids. Although I wouldn't consider Hawaii to be a totally different culture, it is different living there as opposed to the mainland. (Just ask Jodi, she has lived both places as well!) Here are two funny stories to illustrate:

1. We moved to Puyallup when I was 15 and entering 10th grade. All growing up, all I heard about from my mom was how Washington was "home" and how much she wanted to go there and how great it was here. Both my parents grew up here. We visited family every few years, but I didn't have the attachment that they did. So in my brain I felt like I should have this affinity, but I didn't.

Anyway, back to high school. If you don't know anything about Puyallup, well at that time it was very, well, hmm.... white. We had just moved from Hawaii where I lived since I was 7. If you are haole, you are a minority. I don't think I had any haole friends. (Jodi would remember) Maybe 1 or 2. I also had attended a small Christian school. Now I was going to a very large public high school. I remember clearly walking into school the first day in a sea of people. I looked around and panic overtook me because everyone around me was white. I felt more comfortable around people that were Japanese, Chinese or even American Indian. It was a strange feeling because I knew that I was white, and that I should feel like I fit in, but I didn't. Its a very strange disconnected feeling.

2. I remember meeting some people during college and being astounded that they had lived their ENTIRE LIFE in the same house. My mind just could not get around this statement at all. Growing up, no one I knew lived longer that a few years in a house. It was like telling me that you have a pet pig that flies. It was that mind-boggling!

3. During college I lived in England for one semester. Even after that short of a time coming back was an adjustment. I remember standing at the Atlanta airport trying to buy frozen yogurt. I stared at the American coins in my hand thinking I should know which ones to give her, but my brain just couldn't figure it out. I think I finally gave her some bills that would take care of it. I'm sure she thought I was a complete idiot.

Sharing a room: Update!

A couple of you asked for an update on how the room sharing is going, and now Karen is comtemplating it as well.

The first 4-5 days it took about an hour for them to settle down and go to sleep. Since then it's been about 15 minutes of giggling and talking and then quiet. Micah is a pretty heavy sleeper, so that helps alot if Joel makes some noise during the night. (like when he ran a 105 fever for 3 days while getting his molars!) In the morning Micah always wakes first. Sometimes Micah wakes him up, sometimes not.

The giggling and talking at night doesn't bother me as long as they are settled. Sharing a room has actually solved some other bedtime problems we would have. Micah is very social, so he would get out of bed 2-3 times to "get a drink" or "go potty" just because he didn't want to be alone. Or Micah's imagination would go into over-time and monsters would be under his bed. All of that has completely stopped. I think it reassures him to have his brother in his room with him.

Before the switch Joel would complain/fuss/whine/cry if he heard Micah because he was sure that he was missing something. We would have to take him out of his room and show him that Micah was in bed too. Now that has stopped too.

They still nap in separate rooms because Micah doesn't nap everyday, but has "rest time".

Overall I think it has been easier than I thought.

I talked with my aunt about sharing rooms because her and my mom shared a room until college. She said she thought it made them close because when you are older you share things you wouldn't during the day. She said the main thing they fought about was sharing clothes. I remember my mom also said they drew a line down the middle of the room. But I know in the end they were very close friends.

It the next baby is a boy, then I think we might rotate who gets their own room. Every few years switch up who is sharing. We'll see. Immature because if its a girl, then its all mute, right?

If you're contemplating putting your kids together someone told me its best to wait until the baby is 8 months old. That way if big sister/brother wants to "help" put a blanket on baby (or baby's face!) then its not much of a risk as when the baby is 2 months old.

Mom lets out frustration on ebay listing

Have you heard about the infamous pokemon cards yet? A mom of 6 hit her limit when one of her kids snuck a pack of pokemon cards into the grocery basket. She listed them on ebay with a diatribe about how in the world this happened. Very entertaining. The ebay listing is gone now, but here it is in a news article.

Here is her blog. She went from 5-10 hits a day to 94,000!! Crazy! Her writing is very funny, reminds me of Jodi's stories. If you still haven't read this post of Jodi's you are missing out on some serious laughter.

Thanks to Erin who posted the original ebay listing.

Music choices of a 4 year old

Today I put on a cd of Toddler Bible Songs. Micah does not like kid's songs on a whole. I think his exact words were: NO! I DO NOT WANT TO LISTEN TO THIS!

I said, too bad, then proceeded to put in the computer some mystery cd/dvd that we had burned ourselves. I thought they were pictures. No. Music. Out blared "Jesus Freak" from the computer and BOTH Micah and Joel perked up and started singing along and dancing. Yes, my 1 year old can sing the chorus to Jesus Freak. Micah THINKS he can sing the rap. Its pretty funny what he thinks its saying--it makes no sense. I will have to record him doing this at some point.

So I relent and turn off Toddler Bible songs and we rock out.

Its pretty cute to hear him later on his trike singing "JESUS ON THE RA-DI-O"

At one point 3-4 months ago every time we got in the car Joel would demand to hear Jesus Freak. So needless to say, if I didn't know the lyrics in college, now I do. We went through a phase like this with Micah at age 2, but the song was.... Tiki Room. Yes. Every car trip consisted of "all de birds sing words and da flowers croon". This was nice when it was rainy and cloudy outside but VERY annoying after about 10,000 times. Fortunately our car was broken into and that cd was stolen.

Just got back from a fun long weekend to the East Bay to visit my aunt. Oh, and did I mention the kids stayed home with Dad? Yes, first the surprise party, and then a weekend away! I am definitely getting spoiled!

It was very restful and nice to not have to think about any one's schedule or needs but my own, but I definitely missed my boys (all 3 of them!).

We had a good time shopping and more shopping. I even was able to see friends, including Daphne and Julie. We had a great time going to tea, something I love to do but... well you know how it is with little ones. We had a good time chatting and having adult conversations. I can't believe that Daphne and I have seen each other 3 times this year. That's after not seeing each other for about 6 years! I hope it doesn't take another 6 years!

Aaron took the kids fishing at a local trout farm. They (I mean Aaron) caught 4 fish! They loved it and even Joel was talking about it. Although all I got out of the conversation was the word "fish".

Now I'm looking at our calendar for the next month and noticing the busy schedule coming up! I am going to be teaching a math class at a homeschool co-op on Friday mornings. Micah will be taking a beginning kindergarten class while I'm teaching and they have a nursery for Joel. I'm looking forward to it!

***************
Have you ever heard of parkour? This is something I always put in the category of "something they do in crime dramas and movies but doesn't happen in real life". Think James Bond or Jason Bourne chase scenes on top of buildings. Little did I know that it is a "discipline" like marshal arts.

Dreaded Places

Places I dread going:



1. The Dentist

2. Endodontist

3. Post Office.

I used to not mind going to the post office. Until I had small children. Even when it was just Micah (as a baby) it was okay. But 2 kids, one preschooler and one toddler, eeee gads. It is like pure torture to go to the post office. I'd *almost* prefer the dentist. What normal business would stay in business that made you wait in line for 45 minutes on a Tuesday, during the middle of the day? I only go to the post office unless it is absolutely necessary, but sometimes you just have to. So what do said small children do for 45 minutes in a government facility? Fortunately I found 2 bags of semi-stale cheerios in the bottom of the diaper bag. That occupied some time. Then Micah discovered the postal scale. He had fun weighing all of the beany babies.

Why are there beany babies in the post office? To tempt said rascally monkey children? When I go to the PO I'm just trying to get out of there as fast as possible. Not to make toy purchases.

Where do you dislike taking your kids?

Appreciative part deux

I wanted to add to the last post:

Sometimes I lament about Micah's health problems because he seems to have more than the average child. At least we go to more specialists! Besides the milk allergy, and lazy eye, now he potentially has asthma to add to the mix. But wow, reading about Judson's struggle has made me realize how Micah is truly healthy. Yes, his milk allergy is life threateaning, but it is definitely avoidable and treatable.

We were telling a friend once about Micah's milk allergy. He said that he would pray for Micah that God would heal him of the allergy. That stopped me in my tracks. I'm embarrassed to admit that I, as his mother had not ever thought to pray for that! For me it was just a way of life and maybe he would "grow out of it". That was very humbling.

Appreciative

When I was about 19 weeks pregnancy I found about some Biola friends, Josh and Tina who are facing a birth defect in their daughter. Tina was still pregnant at the time. At their 20 week ultrasound the doctor discovered a hole in baby's diaphragm. This allows her organs to migrate to the chest cavity, making it hard for her lungs to develop fully. I had never heard of this and it made me so nervous for my upcoming ultrasound. (our baby is deveoping just fine!)

Babies with this defect born at regular hospitals have about a 20% survival rate. The hospital Josh and Tina are at has about a 75% survival rate.

I talked to Micah about baby Ella and we pray together for her. This brought up some good questions from him. "Why is she like this? I think God made a mistake."

Yesterday I found out about some other Biola friends, Drake and Christina whose son, Jud has a terminal illness. Imagine having a spunky 2 year old who talked early and was very active. Two months later he can't walk, is blind and speech is diminishing fast. Talk about making your head spin. I haven't talked to Micah about Jud.

I can only imagine what both parents are going through right now. Your world is turned upside down, and yet God does have a purpose in this somewhere.

Please pray for these two precious babies, as God leads. You can follow their stories via the above links.

New room!

With baby coming Micah and Joel will be sharing a room. Aaron thought it would be better for them to move in together now to get used to it before the baby comes. That way we wouldn't have to deal with those problems AND a newborn. So we moved the crib into Micah's room. Once the baby needs the crib, we'll get Joel a bed. Eventually we will move the boys to bunk beds.

First night was okay, once they got to sleep. It took an hour to settle down (10pm) then they were both up by 6am. Both were cranky the next day, especially Joel. I guess eventually they'll get used to it. When I told Joel yesterday he was going to sleep in Micah's room, he said, basically, that he slept with Micah at Grandma's house in Oklahoma. I couldn't believe he would make that connection to our trip, which was about a month ago.

Joel has grown up so much faster, it seems, than Micah did. If you ask him how old he is, he'll say 4, because that's what he hears Micah say. Its hard to believe he's still only 1!! (His birthday is late September.) I joke that he turned 2 about 6 months ago, because he looks and acts like a 2 1/2 year old, in alot of ways. Sometimes I'll make a remark in reference to Joel being 2 years old and Micah will correct me. It takes me by surprise because I do forget that he's NOT 2 yet!!

Wonderful hubby!

Have I told you what a wonderful husband I have?

Sunday evening a friend asked me to go to coffee with her. She was hesitant about where I wanted to meet so she offered to come pick me up. Okay! She had to meet her mom at 8, so she came over at 5:30. When I told Aaron the time I expected some resistance since that is when we usually eat dinner. Nope, not this time!

So, unsuspecting, we went to starbucks, talked and had a good time. When we got back to the house, my friend came in with me to use the bathroom, or so I thought. When we walked into the house, (have you guess what happened next ?) all I heard was SURPRISE! There were 8 of my friends! Aaron had organized a suprise chocolate fondue party for me!

It was very fun to be able to talk and eat without kids! What a fun party, thanks honey!

With all the excitement, I forgot to take pictures. But I did take one the next morning of all the beautiful flowers I received!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yup, its the big 3-3 for me! (hey that rhymes!)

So if you would like a big laugh today, go visit Jodi's blog and read about "stupid guy syndrome".

Restaurant-Style Chinese Chicken

A while back Susan asked about dishes you like to serve to company. I made this dish last week for our family and Joel and Micah devoured it. Joel said "Its yummy!" And it really does taste like a dish from a Chinese Restaurant!



If you wanted to make it for company, you could do all the prep work ahead of time, then just cook it up right before you serve. Cooking time is about 15-20 minutes.



Restaurant-Style Chinese Chicken

from Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely



Marinade for chicken:

6 T soy sauce

6 T dry sherry, optional

3 cloves garlic, pressed

3 t ginger root, grated (or the powdered stuff is okay too)

(last time I added 1-2 T of oyster sauce and that was good!)


-------------------
1 lb chicken breast halves, skinless, boneless and cut into cubes

3 t vegetable oil (Add some sesame oil too if you have it)

4 oz unsalted roasted peanuts (or any other nut you have on hand, I use salted anyway)

1 red bell pepper

3/4 cup green onions, sliced

3/4 cup chicken broth

3 t cornstarch



(Now you can add or subtract pretty much any of the vegetables. I've used yellow onion instead of green onions. I've added tofu, mushrooms, broccoli, whatever you like)



In a large zipper-topped plastic bag, combine soy sauce, sherry, garlic and ginger root. Mush the bag to blend well, then add chicken (and tofu, if you want), turning several times to coat. Place bag of chicken in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.



In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add peanuts and cook, stirring frequently, until nuts are lightly browned, about 1 minute. Transfer nuts to a plate and set aside.



Now cook chicken in the skillet (reserving marinade) until cooked through. Transfer chicken to same plate with peanuts; set aside.



Add bell pepper and green onions to skillet and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender, 1-2 minutes. Mix broth, cornstarch and reserved marinade, then add to the skillet. Add chicken and peanuts. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, 2-3 minutes.



This is a good recipe b/c once you have it down then you can experiment with different flavors and veggies.

Impending Congratulations!

Congratulations to Tim and Wendy who are about to become foster parents to two adorable little girls!

Follow their story via their podcast!

Blueberry Farm

Today we went to pick blueberries at the blueberry farm in our town. You would never expect to see this blueberry farm, because its in the middle of a residential area. The trees are about 100 years old, so it is leftover from when our area were all farms. Its nice that the city has preserved it.

Micah started out by putting berries in the bucket. That lasted about 20 min, then most of them ended up in his mouth. I think Joel only put about 3 in the bucket the whole time. He liked running through the bushes like a madman, and playing hide and seek from us. Mostly hiding from us.

Then tragedy struck. Micah dropped his bucket and spilled his berries. We tried picking them up, but we lost probably half the berries. Then joel sat in the ones that fell, to make matters worse!

Here is Micah and Joel "picking" blueberries.

We ended up with 6 pounds of blueberries!

7 year old midget

I just applied for passports for the kids and myself since soon "they" will require passports to drive into Canada or Mexico. Given the proximity of ourselves and the border, and the frequency with which we "talk" about going to Whistler, I thought it best to start the process now.



The thing that cracks me up is on the application you are required to give your height, even if you are 22 months old. What? So it can change in about 5 minutes? Passports for kids are good for 5 years, so when Joel is 7, it will say on his passport that he is 2 foot 11 inches. By the time I apply and finally recieve his passport (which the website says is 3 months!) it will no longer be correct!



Ha!

Picnic at the Beach

Tuesday evening we had a fun picnic on the at the lake for dinner. This lake park is about 3-4 miles from our house and just down the hill from where Aaron works. Great location for us!



The boys had a great time playing in the water and sand. Joel is becoming quite the little swimmer! He likes to float on his tummy and puts his hands down on the ground to hold him up. Then he says "I swimming, I swimming, mommy!" The funny thing is he calls this a back float. Micah is also getting more brave, going in the water up to his neck! Tonight he laid down in the water on his back (about 3 inches of water) to do a (real) back float.



Some kids had dug holes in the sand next to the water and had filled them in with water. Micah said "Look! Tide pools! But, where are the fish?" The kids had fun, none-the-less in the little "pools". Joel was dirty, head to toe. Then they started jumping into the little pool. Very fun.



Here are some pictures from the picnic: