Still here...

My apologies for the lack of blogging. Here are some highlights from the last month or so...


Sprinkling
M: Mom, is it still raining?
Me: It's just sprinkling honey.
M: What?
Me: It's just sprinkling. (a little louder)
M: What???
Me: (getting totally annoyed) I said, it's just sprinkling.
M: What is sprinkling?
Me: When it's just raining a little bit. Like when you put sprinkles on something, only a few come out at a time.
M: Oh.
A few minutes later.
M: Is it because it's spring and the rain cleans everything?
Me: No, honey.
Later
M: Mom, look. It's spring-cleaning again.


The Paper airplane
Scene: We were at our vacation home (Ryan's parents' house that we look after while they are in CA for the winter) and I had made a couple of paper airplanes for Micah. Ryan had made one too, but Ryan doesn't know how to make paper airplanes, so it was just folded paper.
M: What's this? (picking up the seudo-airplane and looking at it quizzically)
Ryan: It's the paper airplane I made
M: Oh. (pause) It's really good, Dad. I really like it. You did a good job, Dad.
Micah continued to reassure Ryan two or three more times throughout the day that he really liked the paper airplane.

Micah, Amelia and Drake having a picnic at our "vacation home."

Amelia in her laundry basket bed

Sentimental Micah

On Sunday we had dinner at my parents' house and then Ryan went up to stay at his folks' house because he had an early dentist appointment in Gresham (I know, we've been in Salem for 5 years. Its time to change dentists). We all packed up the cars, said good-byes and I had the kids in the van heading home when Micah said this: "Sometimes I cry a little bit when I say goodbye to Daddy because I love him so much."

Lets see, what else has been going on? Micah and Amelia were both sick for a week. I'm finally succumbing to "the cold." I got a sub for the afternoon yesterday and slept from 12:45 to 4:45 when Ryan called to see if I could pick up the kids. But that's probably because I'm pregnant. Oops. Did I say that? Yes, baby #3 should be joining us around the end of October. Its funny listening to Micah try to explain to Amelia that there is a baby growing in my tummy. His first comment was, "I see your tummy growing already." Then Amelia said, "Mommy, I want to see the baby in your tummy." Fun times here.

Oh, and why am I up at 3:00AM? Partly because I'm on sleep overload, but also Micah just threw up and we just finished changing his sheets and putting him back to bed.

Pastor John

For those of you who remember, I wrote a while back about our pastor who had "come as close to death as you can without dying." I think that's how the doctor put it. He is recovering at home finally and has his own blog. I've added it to my blog roll. It is incredible how someone can be so encouraging while dealing with his own issues. I encourage you to read it and be encouraged.

Santa and God

Place: Micah's room. He's stalling as I'm starting to close the door.
M: Mom, is Santa real?... or do you just put stuff in there (the stockings)?
Me: What do you think?
M: I think he's real. Because I've heard him say Ho Ho Ho! in my heart before.
Me: He's in your heart?
M: Yeah. Right next to God.

No excuses...

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. A month hiatus from blogging? That is uncalled for. Let me give you a sampling of the last month in a nutshell.

Snow Week: That snow day in my last blog turned out to last the whole week before winter break. Fun but crazy at the same time. For the second snow storm we decided to get snowed in at my parents' house in Wilsonville. I brought my sewing machine and decided to take up quilting.

These first two quilts came from a kit. It came with all the necessary fabric and I just had to cut and sew. Then I took the left over pieces and made this third quilt.

Then I took more left over pieces and made this fourth quilt.

(don't ask... I really don't have an answer)

I liked the quilts enough, but they weren't quite what I wanted for my friends' baby shower coming up, so I decided to start over. I took my mom's log cabin quilting book and started from scratch. These are the results:

This past weekend I flew down to Texas to see Joy and Andrea (good friends from College) and to celebrate their upcoming arrivals.

Here is a picture of us with their quilts.

We had a great time reminiscing about college pranks and updating each other with post-college stuff.

Christmas was great. We spent lots of time with family. Good Times.

I think we were all excited to get back to school last week. Holidays are fun, but there is something comforting in having routine and schedule.

Snow Day!

"Where the woman sits"

Today Micah was asking Ryan where his artwork from school was and Ryan said, "It's in the passenger seat. You know, not the driver's seat, but the other front seat." Micah responded with, "Oh, you mean where the woman sits?"