Christmas Morning

What an exciting day we had yesterday! Micah actually slept until 5:45. Around 6:00 we opened stockings and played with Micah's gift from Santa, then at 7:00 my parents came down and we had breakfast. After that we opened the rest of the gifts and then lounged around until more family came over at 1:00. It was a very exciting day. I think all of us were in bed by 8:00.

I can't believe we made it through the day without a picture of Micah in his spiderman costume. It was one of his favorite gifts... muscles and all.

Letters to Santa

Micah wrote three notes to Santa and placed them on the bricks by our fireplace where Santa would see them.

This is where he put them:

"This one says that I want Elefun for christmas"

"This one shows how I can draw straight lines."

"This one shows how sharp my teeth are."

I never thought about telling Santa so many details. Amelia loves to play the piano when Mom or Dad play. Here she is playing with Dad.

Welcome, Wests!

My in-laws have embraced the world of blogging. Welcome, Tim and Diane! Check out their blog if you are interested in traveling in an RV.

Mamma's been busy

Yesterday I got to indulge my obsessive-compulsive side for a bit. We went over to a friend's house and decorated gingerbread houses. I got to do it all by myself and be as detail-oriented as I wanted. My friend's husband even took Amelia out to run errands, so I didn't have her tugging at my ankles the whole time. It was HEAVENLY! Here is the final result:

Micah keeps asking when we get to eat it. I told him Christmas day.

Babies are like dishes...

let me explain:
You know when a dish has had food on it for a period of hours and you try to wash it off, it doesn't come off so easily? You start by scrubbing, realizing that you would have to use your finger nails to get all of the stuck-on stuff off, you decide to soak it in soapy water instead. Babies are the same way. When they have diarrhea sometime during the night and you don't know it until the next morning when it has climbed all the way up the back and down the legs, a swipe of the wet-wipe is not going to do the job. I put Amelia in the bath about 5:45 this morning and started to wipe with a washcloth and soon realized that it was not working. I decided to lather her up with soap and just let her soak. It worked much better. I did have to cover her body in diaper-rash cream, though. It looked almost like a burn all over her bottom and up her back. I felt so sorry for her. She spent the day snuggled up with somebody. Clearly, she's not feeling well.

Midnight Baths

are apparently not as much fun as they seem, especially when you have to get throw-up washed out of your hair. Here is how it all went down: Yesterday, Amelia ate nothing for breakfast, nothing for lunch, and one chicken nugget from McDonalds for dinner. We didn't think much of it, she probably had crackers during hearts at home and I know she had some at Jessie's. She went to bed fine last night and about 1AM she screamed, so Ryan went down and yes, she had thrown up all over her hair and her pajamas. There was hardly any in the crib. So, I whisked her up to the bathtub. Here is how the conversation went:
me: Do you want to take a bath?
A: yeah. (in a pathetic, whiny, tired voice)
me: Should we start the water?
A: yeah.
I lift her up over and into the tub.
me: Is it too hot?
A: yeah.
I feel the water, its perfectly luke-warm.
me: No its not, its fine.
A: yeah.
me: Should we get the toys?
A: yeah.
me: Here they are, do you want to play with the pandas?
A: yeah.
I put them on the side of the tub, she doesn't touch them.
me: Are you a tired girl?
A: yeah.
I wash her up, clean her off and she never touches the toys.
me: Are you ready to get out?
A: yeah. (she's NEVER ready to get out of the tub)
me: Should we dry you off?
A: yeah.
me: Should we get some warm jammies on?
A: yeah.
Then finally, the sheets were changed, Ryan had started laundry and we were almost ready to put her back to bed. She grabs her blanket and binkie and says, "nigh-night." We pick her up and pray again.
me: It's time to go nigh-night.
A: no.

Wipe Yourself...

...is what I told Micah after lifting him out of the tub to go poop for the third time in 5 minutes. Oh yes, he went each time. Each time he flushed and I put him back in the tub. Each time he said, "Mom, I changed my mind. I have to go poop some more." Luckily he is healthy again, so his bowel control is back to normal. Okay, I know, too much information. Just thought I'd give you a glimpse of our evening.

Those crazy kids...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1132722081

Amelia

I haven't written about her in a while. She is talking (and repeating) so much more these days. She answers yah or no to everything (she used to just shake her head). For example: She'll take some bowls out of the drawer and I'll say, "Oh, go put them back." and she'll say, "no."

Elmo:
The other day I was getting ready to change her diaper and she was holding one, so I said, "Who's on your diaper?" Clear as day she said, "Elmo." I said, "Yeah! That's right. Good job honey!" Then she brought it to me to put on her and I looked and it was cookie monster.

Boxes:
Amelia loves to climb into any boxes. The other day, she was climbing into the top of a puzzle box (4in. x 4 in.). She got both feet in and then tried to sit down (like an elephant sitting on a folding chair). She lost her balance and took a face-plant onto the kitchen floor. She had a big goose-egg on her head the rest of the day.

Yesterday, we were at some friends' house who have two cats. Amelia LOVES the cats. She'll lay down on the floor with her hands on her cheeks and just stare at them. Well, she picked one of the cats up and put it into a box that was there.

Growling:
Somehow, Amelia picked up growling. She growls at everything. If she sees an animal, she growls. If she's wrestling, she growls. If she's excited that we're going to McDonalds, she growls and screams at the same time.

Baby:
She loves her baby. Her baby does everything Amelia does. Baby needs her diaper changed. Baby has a binkie. Baby goes to bed many times a day. Baby even drinks Amelia's milk and eats the granola bars that Amelia gets out of the cupboard.

Just a little update on Amelia.

We were in the car on the way to the babysitter's this morning when the following conversation happened:

micah: There's the cows mom. Look they are real little, but some are real big. Look! Those are far away. Dad... I mean Mom, When I'm a horse-rider, I mean cow-rider, I'm going to get the milk out of the cows too.

me: oh.

micah: Does it hurt when we squeeze the milk out of their bottoms?

me: No, it doesn't hurt if you do it right.

micah: But I don't know how to do it. Who will teach me? You can teach me.

me: I can't teach you because I don't know how to do it. You know our friends Ray and Di Ann that we visited a long time ago? They could probably teach you. They live on a farm.

micah: Or Emily Yeung could teach me.

4:30...

...is the time Micah woke up on Wednesday (my day off).
...is the time Micah woke up on Thursday (both of us had the day off)
...is the time Micah woke up on Friday (again, day off). We spent the night at Ryan's folks house after Thanksgiving but Micah still opted for his inhumane early wake-up. Luckily there was something we could do. SHOPPING!!! So Micah and I got dressed and braved the elements and were at Fred Meyer by 5:15 this morning. People at the store would say, "Did your mom get you up early to go shopping this morning?" If only... I replied with a simple, "Finally, there's something to do when he gets up at 4:30." Today we are setting up Christmas. Its pretty fun. Amelia knew exactly which ornament was hers because it was the only thing pink on the tree. She's pretty excited about all the decorations. I'll post pictures soon.

Mom always said...

"If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."

-That's why I haven't blogged.

Here are some pictures that I tried to post earlier in the fall:

Amelia helping Daddy with the filesThe "Pumpkin Patch" we went to

Micah in "Hazel's Nut House" at the pumpkin patch

Amelia eating dinner with crazy hairAmelia "carving" her pumpkin
Micah and Amelia on a tractor at the pumpkin patch
Micah helping carve the pumpkin

Wow!

Tonight at church I got to pray with three kids to ask Jesus to be their forever friend!!! The second and third graders had a salvation message during Sunday School and then we went back to our small groups to talk about it more. While we were talking, one of the kids asked who the next person was after Adam and Eve. I reminded them about Cain and Abel and told them that it lists all the people in Genesis. One kid said, "Even our names." I reminded him that the Bible was written before we were born, so no, our names are not in the Bible, but there is a book that has all of our names in it. I told them about the "Book of Life" and how our names are written in it when we become forever friends with God. One kid said, "I wanna get my name in THAT book!" It was really fun and a great reminder of why I spend that time with those kids. I'm still amazed that God would use someone like me, but I'm glad he does.

Pain

So, a week ago Tuesday I woke up with a kink in my neck and shoulder. Yesterday I went to the doctor because its only gotten worse and now my left arm is throbbing too. She referred me to another doctor who can't get me in until Nov. 6. Argh! As annoying and painful as it is, I would take this anyday over not feeling good emotionally. So, I can happily deal with this for two more weeks when I'm feeling good inside.

Big Day!

Is it bad that we did baths, read books, put the kids to bed, came downstairs and looked at the clock to see 6:38??? It doesn't really matter. Micah will still come into our room between 5:00 and 5:30 tomorrow morning and ask if he can play in his room. If he stays up later like 8 or even 9, he comes in earlier in the morning. The other night he came in at 1:00AM and asked if he could play in his room. That time, I said no.

Today we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends Shondra and Ethan. Micah and Ethan have been friends since they were born a week apart 4 years ago. We had a blast. We went to Fir Point Farms in Aurora. We would highly recommend it if any of you haven't gone yet.

I'll load more pictures when blogger fixes its problem.

Superhero

I won't be able to do this justice, but I'll try. Minutes ago, Micah was sitting on the couch watching a new PBS show called "super-why." It does a lot with letters and sounds. Anyway, the "kids" on the show were going on a mission and they introduced themselves like superheros. Each one came out and said something like, "P is for Pig!" or "Little Red Ridinghood, to the Rescue!" They went through 4 or 5 of them and then the kid on the TV said, "What's your name?" Micah said, "Micah! With the power to breathe!!!"

...and then there is human nature

That last post was partially to encourage me that God is working in my kids even when I'm not aware of it. More often than not the scene is more like this: last night Micah stuck his tongue out at me while we were playing memory; Amelia slapped Micah on his face and hit him on his arms; Micah broke down in tears in the morning because he wanted to get dressed before Amelia and she "beat" him. Such is our sinful nature, I guess.

Our Boy

Lately Micah has been a bit... shall I say, annoying at times. But then we get little glimpses of what God is molding him to be and we stand amazed and in awe of what God can do.

Yesterday before Grandma and Grandpa got to our house I asked Micah to pick up his room so that the whole house would be clean (he has never done this on his own before and usually throws a big fit and cries about how hard it is). When G&G got here I went up to his room to see if he wanted to come down or if he wanted help. He said no, he'd come down when he was done and asked me to shut the door. So after a total of about 45 minutes in his room with his door closed, he came down. I didn't get to see his room until later, but it was spotless! He had everything put away. We were amazed and praised him a lot for it.

This morning he told me he wanted to write a note (yesterday he had Ryan write a note to Santa for him). I thought, great, I wish you would see how much more important Jesus is than Santa. Then he said, "No, I want to write a letter to Jesus." Here is what he told me to write... word for word:
Dear Jesus, I have two bibles. Thank you that you made the whole world. Thank you for making our house. Thank you for making our chairs and our table and our curtains. Thank you that you made my toys. Thank you that you listen to me when I pray. Thank you for our back yard. Thank you for watching the whole world. From, Micah.
I was almost in tears when he finished the note. He gets it. He knows that Jesus loves him and listens to him. That's all that really matters. Then he took it over to the fire place and put it on the bricks. I said, "You know what the cool thing about Jesus is? We can talk to him every day and don't have to wait for one day a year like Santa." Micah said, "Well, Santa will just bring it to God... or Jesus."

Last night after church we were putting Amelia to bed and Micah wanted to pray with her (because then he doesn't have to pray in his room). So he started praying and after he said one thing, Amelia said, "Amen!" We told her that we were still praying, so she folded her hands again and then a moment later she said, "ni-night" and reached for her bed. Obviously, she's not one for long-winded prayers.

One more thing... Micah was in the garage with Ryan yesterday (Ryan was getting stuff ready to work in the yard). Micah said, "Dad, where is the lily pad?" Ryan was confused. Micah pointed to the cupboard where Ryan keeps the gardening tools. He said, "You know the thing that we use to look between the bushes." Ryan said, "Oh, you mean the kneeling pad?" Micah said, "Yeah."

a foot?

Grandma and Grandpa came down this morning to visit. Micah came down from his room and Grandma said, "Come here, let me look at you. I swear, each time I see you, you grow a foot." Micah looked down at his feet... puzzled.

baby snotter?

This morning Micah was digging through the drawer of kitchen utensils and said, "Where's the baby snotter?" I started laughing. I showed him the turkey baster and proceeded to pretend to get a whole lot of snot out of his nose.

concerned

Last night we had a new babysitter for the kids. Ryan and I had a church function to go to, so the daughter of a friend of mine babysat for us. I picked her up at 6:30, so by the time we left, Amelia was already in bed and Micah was getting ready for bed. Needless to say, they didn't get to spend much time together, but Micah said he had fun. This morning he got up and came into our room and said, "Where's the babysitter?" I said, "We took her home." He got a very concerned look on his face and said, "Did you both go?"

Row, row, row your boat

Yesterday we went to Hearts at home. This is the mom's group at our church. It was so good to be back. Our small group is pretty much the same, but we have one new mom. I had to hurry to get the kids from the childcare right at 11:00 because I had to meet Ryan, swap the kids, and get to work by noon. Anyway, I picked Micah up in his room and then went to get Amelia. Micah got to her room first and said, "Look Mom! She's row, row, row your boating!" Amelia was standing in a wooden boat that is meant to be used like a teeter-totter, crying because she saw that we were there for her and she couldn't get out quick enough.

The people of his passengers

This morning we had just finished breakfast and I was changing Amelia's diaper and putting her clothes on.
M: Mom, let's play camping
Me: okay.
M: Let's pretend we're Jesus's friends.
Me: ... You mean when we find the cave is empty? (Trying to remember stories that he knows about Jesus's friends)
M: (With a look of What are you, crazy?) No. We are the people of his passengers.
Me: (puzzled) Do you mean his pasture?
M: No. His PAS-SEN-GERS.
Me: (still puzzled) Do you mean the sheep of his pasture?
M: Yeah.
I didn't know he knew that verse. I know a song about it, but I didn't know he did. Interesting, but good for a morning laugh.

movies

Last night Amelia was sitting on my lap as we were watching TV. She really wanted to watch her baby einstein movie, so she crawled over my lap and grabbed the remote from the table. Then she put it in my hand. I said, "No movie, honey," and just held it there for a couple of seconds. Then she took it from my hand and held it up and pointed it at the TV like she was showing me what to do with it. Then she put it in my hand again. I said, "We're not watching your movie, honey." Then she starts singing her "Head, Shoulders, kees and toes" song (from the movie) and says her sign for please. She is a very persistent little girl.

Micah's Throat

Last night Micah was crying so I went into his room. He said (in his best half-asleep whiny voice, "I fink I have a sore froat."
Me: You probably do honey, I'm sorry. (He's been sniffling and having cold symptoms) Do you want a drink of water?
He got a drink
Me: Does it hurt when you swallow?
M: No
Me: (remembering a previous conversation) Where does it hurt?
M: Right here, on my tummy.

**Rewind** About six months ago Micah had been taking cold medicine and when he got better he still wanted some. We were explaining that this medicine was only for sore throats and headaches. Immediately he had a sore throat and was holding his hip. I said, "Micah, where is your throat?" He looks at me and points to his hip with a look of Am I right? No. He points to his tummy, then his head, then his elbow. We never did tell him where his throat was, I just assumed he knew by now.

My heart is heavy...

My heart is heavy tonight. On Saturday nights I volunteer in the 2nd and 3rd grade classes at church. There is a 3rd grade girl who attends our church that is very sick at OHSU. I got an update from our group leader and things don't look good. Her parents have some tough decisions to make. I read through her whole caringbridge site tonight and my heart just breaks at the thought of what these parents must be going through. Please keep her in your prayers. Here is a link to her caringbridge site and to the article that was in the Statesman Journal.

I fixed the link. The caring bridge site works now. (:

just one thing...

I just have one thing to say. I'm glad that the grout between the tiles in our bathroom is sort of a beige-yellow color... if you know what I mean.

Witches?

M: Mom, do you know why we call people witches?
Me: Why?
M: Because we don't know their names.
Me: (confused) Well, we don't call people witches just because we don't know their names.
M: What do we call them then?
Me: Well, we could just say "the lady in the red shirt."
M: (looking around) What lady in the red shirt?
Me: If there was a lady in a red shirt and you didn't know her name, you could just call her the lady with the red shirt.
M: But I don't call everybody witches, just people I don't know.
Me: We shouldn't call anybody witches, honey.

!?! HUH? !?!

Playing catch-up

A lot has happened since my last post. I'll start with Micah's birthday.

Micah spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa last Friday night and they took him to Build-a-Bear for his birthday. He picked out a monkey and got to put the heart in and all that. He had a blast. He knew he was going to do this for his birthday, so everytime we went to the mall he had to go in the store and look at all the choices he had. On Sunday we had his party at the other grandma and grandpa's house. It was very fun too. Micah loved opening his gifts. He especially loved the "previously loved" rescue heroes that he got from his cousins. I tell ya, that's the way to go. Give him gifts that have already been used and you know they are good toys! Amelia practiced walking some more and finally walks without prompting or bribing. Can you believe it? She's ONLY 17 months!

Here they are with the cousins on Ryan's side.

Sometime during the night on Sunday, Amelia got sick in her bed. When Ryan finally woke her up the next morning (7:30) it was crusted to her hair. I felt so bad that we didn't hear her. Ryan was home with them on Monday, I stayed home tuesday, Ryan stayed home today, and I'm taking my half-day tomorrow off as well. On Tuesday afternoon Amelia seemed like she was feeling a lot better and then it happened. It was one of those, "You know you're a parent when..." moments. We were at the table eating dinner when everything she had eaten during the day came back up. I took her upstairs to have a bath while Ryan cleaned up the kitchen. We came back down, got her jammies on and sat right back down to finish dinner. A couple of years ago, I wouldn't have been able to do that. We still ate it, eventhough the taco salad looked surprisingly similar to ... you know. No! the puke.

Amelia is communicating even more these days. She shakes her head and says no when she doesn't want something and gets really excited when she does. I caught this fun video of her tonight telling me what she likes.

Not to be outdone, Micah wanted to make a movie too. Can you say, craving attention?

A good busy

My mom called last night when I was at worship team practice and left a message with Ryan saying, "Make sure she's not too busy to update her blog." Okay, Mom. I'm trying...

We have been busy. Yesterday was my first day of school with kids and I had the best day of my life. I love my job! I know I wouldn't have believed it seven years ago if someone told me how much fun I would be having now. I already know 80% of the kids names, and thanks to a trick another music teacher taught me, I think I'll have the first graders down by next week! Its amazing how much easier classroom management is when you know the kids' names. (is that correct punctuation, mom?)

Micah and Amelia still love going to Jessie's and we've got a pretty good schedule worked out this year. I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world. I have the best husband that anyone could ever ask for (all he wants is for me to be happy). My kids are amazing and I love the time I spend with them. My job is challenging and SO fun. I get to drive to work by myself and have a little quiet time 4 days a week. I get to sing at church again (I've missed that for the last year and a half). And... medication is working great! What more could you ask for?

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1

Classroom ready? check!

For the last two days I've been working in my classroom to get it ready for the new year. I thought I would use a little creativity this year. I printed off some Curious George coloring sheets, copied them and made a few changes, put it on an overhead sheet, drew it onto tag board, colored it, cut it out and voila...

Here George is playing a large drum and the boomwhackers.

Here he's playing the recorder and looking really interested at whatever I'm going to write on the board.

Lastly, George is eating a banana by the exit sign.

Willamette Jet Boats

On Saturday Ryan's office had their annual "outing" and we went downtown to ride the Willamette Jet boats. We left the kids with my parents and had a blast. We've never seen downtown from that angle. It was just gorgeous. Here are some pictures:

Ebay auction

You have to check out this ebay auction here and read what she wrote about it. It is hilarious. I guess this mom has a blog at mom2my6pack.blogspot.com. I'm going to check it out next.

Tag... You're it

I've been tagged...here are the rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Let's see:
#1 I love word puzzles, number puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, anything like that.
#2 I can't stand cleaning peanut butter off of little fingers.
#3 I throw-up a little in my mouth when my daughter has one of those sneezes where her nose explodes and it runs down to her chin.
#4 I love to look at houses for sale and imagine where I would put things and what I would change if I bought the house.
#5 When I sleep I have to have my covers all the way up to my neck.
#6 When I'm holding somebody's hand, I can't stand it if they scratch the arm or wrist of the hand that I'm holding. It sends chills down my spine.
#7 I love reading people's blogs... especially when I actually know them.
#8 I hate getting my hair cut. I don't like having to make conversation with the hair stylist. Its very uncomfortable for me. Hence, that is why I do it maybe once a year... cut it short, let it grow, repeat.

I am tagging: Rosie and Ranae. I know I'm supposed to pick 8, but frankly I don't know that many bloggers and the ones I do know have already been tagged.

Where have I been?

I don't know why I haven't posted for over a week. I have plenty to share. I even brought my camera on most of our outings, however I often forget to use it. Here's some of what we've done and if I have pictures, I'll add them in.

1. We went to The Enchanted Forest with a good friend and her son who is Micah's age. Micah actually went on the log ride. I couldn't believe it. I thought he would be too scared. ( I left my camera in the car)

***I just changed a poopy diaper that got on the carpet. Ugh. Thank the Lord for Folex!***

2. We went up to my sister's and went to the movies with her 5 kids. Afterward we went to a fun park and ate lunch. Micah was hot so he took his shirt off. He looked like an Abercrombe add with his jeans rolled at the waist and hanging down lower than his boxer-briefs. Then he decided to roll in the grass (while showing us what to do in a fire) and complained that he was itching all the way home. (again, no pictures)

3. We went to a new park for a play date and had lots of fun. Amelia was fascinated with baby Elsa.

Micah likes the "woods" there. There is a little place with lots of trees that you can walk through.

4. We spent a day at my parents' house and Micah rode his bike around their cul-de-sac. He was very proud of himself.



5. On Sunday we visited Grandma and Grandpa in their motor home and then took a spontaneous trip to the beach for lunch at Moe's. Mmm.

6. Yesterday we went to the beach with the same friends that we went to The Enchanted Forest with and had lots of fun. The boys got to play on the beach, we had lunch at Moe's and then went to the outlets.

We've had lots of fun and I'm ready to get back to school next week. :)

Keep checking back. I was tagged and am still thinking of my answers.