L-C

After hearing a request for an update on Elsie, I decided she is cute enough to feature! Elsie is 16 1/2 months old, still not walking! :-) She is talking up a storm though and we tease her that she speaks French because she'll babble for paragraphs with lots of foreign sounds in her throat. It's hilarious. She is a delight to have around even as she is discovering her princess status and beginning to use her power. She learned to say "Daddy" perfectly and so innocently, the beginning of the end! We love this girl!

Of course her biggest news is that she is a BIG SISTER!!!!!!!!!

A Christmas Weekend

Christmas in Carney is always a fun time! I just love warm family traditions! A few highlights from going to see Jason's family include:

-ice skating up and down the creek! (Caed is getting some skating legs!)
-watching the boys follow the bigger girl cousins around
-cherry pie and ALL the huge platters of cookies!
-Elsie in her dress
-prayer time for the whole family
-the joy of children opening presents
-small meaningful conversations with individuals I love
-preaching on the prophecies of Christ from Isaiah
-watching the adult men spend hours playing legos
-being packed together in a small cabin sharing joy
-communion as an extended family at Christmas day service
-but of course, the highlight was Jonas' answer at the Moravian candlelight service during the children's sermon. The leader asked if anyone knew what frankincense was. Jonas piped up VERY loudly, "That's what they put on DEAD BODIES so they don't get STINKY!" That's my son!

Caedmon catch-up

Caedmon learned some new skills this summer. He enjoyed many more board games including Guess Who, Monopoly Jr. and more complex puzzles. He was very proud to learn to ride a 2-wheeler! He became very independent and agile! I enjoyed not pulling his 45 pounds in the trailer!

And, of course, he now picks out all his own clothes. Clearly.

Back

I'm back! I think I can handle blogging once every 6 months. :-) In this season of Thanksgiving, I was reflecting on one of the tangible health blessings God has given us. It has been 2 years since Jonas was hospitalized twice for severe croup. We continue to deal with this problem almost monthly, but he has not had to be readmitted to the hospital since!

This last bout has been about 2 1/2 weeks of sleepless nights so far. Yet I praise God that my Jonas is still with us. You get such clarity of God's provision at 2 AM calming your child. You feel such heartfelt thanks for the health you usually enjoy. You are blessed by God's amazing strength to face the next day after a long night. You have powerful empathy for those who deal with chronic pain or illness. And you realize how fiercely you love your children. It is all grace.

We are thankful! Jonas has been an absolute delight in our lives and we couldn't ask for a more fun child!

3!!!!!!!

My Jonas turned 3! I can't believe it. Jonas is the perfect middle child! He is extremely laid back, especially for being in the terrible 2-3's. Still has the most contagious giggle, and knows how to use it. Jonas is not a fan of vegetables or most meat, but if you fill him with carbs and sugar he is happy! He enjoyed being the spotlight all day! For breakfast, birthday waffles and the cereal he picked: fruit loops! Jonas asked for a police car cake, so Jason and I did our best.

It was fun and delicious!

Unbeknownst to us, Aunt got him a police car, and Mormor got him a police officer's uniform!

Complete with handcuffs, whistle, ticket pad, and radio!

Jonas enjoyed going to McDonalds for lunch, then having a couple friends over for a party. Here is a blast from the past-April 5, 2008. The best friends meet for the first time!

We love your sweet spirit, Jonas, and can't wait to see what God has for you!

Spring!

Spring spring! We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with the traditional color, good friends, a lesson on St. Patrick the missionary, and green eggs and cornbread! I have a lifelong goal to make good pie crusts. A person just isn't an accomplished baker until she masters pie. Jason encourages me to practice often! I made a superb lemon meringue pie with a flawless crust which was fun! (My record for good crusts is generally 1 out of 2)

It is time for the spring warm weather teasing. One beautiful day last week we got out the sun hats and played in the driveway-it was wonderful! Then today we got snow, sleet, rain, and hail.

Jonas loves to feed Elsie. Elsie loves to eat. It is a mutually beneficial relationship-like many parasites. :-) Happy Spring!

A Tale of a Couch

After a year of scouring craigslist daily, we finally we found a couch for our family room! $125 looked mighty good so we called immediately. The phone number didn't work, so Jason drove across town only to find it was a veterans' warehouse that had just closed.

I was not to give up so easily. Monday morning they were to open at 9:00. Caedmon had the flu and had fallen asleep downstairs on a flop-out in his pj's. I had decided I was going to get there when they opened, or not at all, so I hurridly woke up my sick son, dressed him, gave him a puke bowl to carry, and packed up. 3 kids in tow we arrived at this place at 9:05 where I sat in the comfortable couch, dashed to the front desk, and plopped down my money! Bless Caedmon's heart, he didn't throw up, but he didn't make it to the bathroom on the way back... They delivered it by noon and we were tickled!

THEN we smelled it. Like a sleazy motel, the couch was saturated with smoke and dog odor. Hmm. Not quite as good of a deal as we thought. However it fit well in the space and looked good. Then I took off the sheet covering the chaise lounge. The sheet was hiding a huge basketball-sized black gunky tar stain. Hmm. We took to cleaning it.

We vacuumed it.

We washed all the cushion covers.

We shampoo-vacuumed it.

We dusted it with baking soda.

We revacuumed it.

We rewashed the cushion covers.

We saturated it in vinegar and vacuumed it. Twice.

We shampooed it once more.

And VOILA! The smell is all but vanished! I am not so sure we came out ahead after all that electricity though, but we are very pleased, and the huge nasty stain came completely out!
It is a great couch for the boys' cars. :-)

Grandma approves!

Ta-DA! If you come to our house you don't have to sit on the floor anymore!!!