AWANAS

We had AWANAS awards tonight!
This is her last year as a Cubbie. Next year she will join Sparkies... big sigh from mom and dad!

Elie is at the center top, next to Gracie, who is next to Camden - the little boy who lives down the street from us. The three of them have been best buds in their Cubbies class.
(his big sister is also our baby sitter)Elie getting her award (for completing her second book)

The Girls showing off their treasures at the ice cream party afterwards.

Nursery

Our little friend Gracie is adopted from China. She and Elie recently had a conversation about who came from China, who came from her mommy's tummy. (It was really cute!) Today the topic of discussion was Jadon... Elie and Grace were discussing where he came from. Gracie was certain he had to be adopted, but didn't seem as certain that he came from China. Elie's response was priceless!

"Oh, Gracie," she said," Jadon isn't adopted, he just came from the nursery. Where all babies come from instead of China."

(I'm guessing she meant, "where babies who don't come from china come from.")

Gracie's response... "Oh, yeah. Well, nurseries do have babies in them."

Update on Our Baby Guppies

2 baby guppies are still thriving in our tank! (we originally counted 4)
And, all three adult guppies still live. So far we have gone 3 straight weeks without one death, and both of our female guppies are pregnant!
The lady at Pet Co (where the pets go!) said that once you get babies in your tank you're guaranteed to continue getting more. And more and more and more...
She also said they are great free food for the adults... as very few are born smart enough to hide right away, though a few exceptional ones do make it.
Good to know!

More of Spring...

Spring is in full bloom now!
It's so fun to see the daily changes, and we've been busier than ever lately simply being outdoors more. Spring comes very late here (to this native Oregonian)... but when it comes it is amazing!!

More time outdoors means more cleaning up inside... we're still getting the wet weather which means we have boggie sand pits - fun for playing in... not fun to clean out of the carpet.
Elie and Jadon are becoming experts at washing their feet without being asked.
See! No more yucky blaugh grass... it's all green! And see the pink blossoms?

Blossoms in our own yard.

The sky is gray, but the tress are GREEN! A color I have really missed.
(well, more and more of them are getting there:o)

Even the few evergreens we have are "blooming"

I know Oregon and Washington are covered in bad weather right now... so I won't gloat too much. But at least you guys have had green trees and flowers:o)!
Out here when the snow goes away there is simply nothing glorious about the outdoors.
Until Now!!!:o)

Appropriate Behavior

Last night Elie went to AWANAS with the neighbors and Jadon and I picked Bryce up from the airport. With a couple of hours to kill Bryce took J and I to supper at Logan's Roadhouse. For those of you who aren't familiar with these Roadhouse restaurants , one of the perks is that you get to eat peanuts and throw the shells on the ground while you're waiting for your seat and food.

Jadon was fascinated by this very taboo activity. He got a little look of glee in his eye with the first shell Bryce let him throw, and that was all it took. All throughout supper J was totally content to pick apart peanuts and throw them on the ground between bites of chicken strips, and comments such as, "we should do this at our house," and "what a messy house we came to, guys!"

After supper Bryce went to the bathroom and Jadon and I waited for him in the sitting area, still picking apart peanuts and tossing the shells. Unexpectedly, a look of deep concern crossed his little face and he looked me in the eyes. "Mommy," he asked, "is this appropriate? Is this appropriate behavior, mom?"

I had to laugh. After spending the whole evening engaging in this taboo activity, I could see his mind wrapping around the possibility of consequences. "When we come here, it is a perfectly appropriate behavior - but only here," I answered.

Delight returned to his face, and he said, "I love coming to this peanut house!"

Spring Buds!

We are finally seeing buds on a few plants!! WAHOO!!! Spring has come to Grand Rapids!!

Raod Trip Tales

To See Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/Psalm139.118/RaodTrip

Okay, well... to begin with, our trip got off to a rather surprising start. We were scheduled to leave Thursday afternoon at 4pm, but arrived at a very congested airport. Apparently storms in Chicago were keeping flights grounded on both ends. We soon learned (after our ride to the airport left) that our flight wouldn't be leaving earlier than 8:30pm, if it left at all - which would put us into Chicago well after our connecting flight had left - if it left at all.

We opted to get the tickets for Friday morning, flying through Denver, that the airline offered us. After getting Bryce to come back and pick us up, we spent the first night of our road trip right here in Grand Rapids:o). We also discovered that our tickets - the ones now flying us through Denver - were FIRST CLASS!!!

We flew the whole 5 hour trip in First Class, where hot meals are served on real plates, with real glasses and silverware, and even a table cloth for your little tray. We got to go through that short little line, and get seated first - it's going to be very hard to go back to regularlife next time we fly!!

In Oregon we were met by my sister-in-law, Lisa, and spent a few hours with her, meeting my newest niece and chatting before heading down to Portland to meet my family. After supper with them we headed off to the Dalles where we spent our first night. Already being a day behind we wanted to get as far as possible each day. So, Saturday morning we were in the car on the road at 6am, planning to drive through Yellowstone. It was, however, closed due to weather and plowing...

So, instead we went to Butte, Montana, and laughed so hard at ourselves along the way that we could hardly walk into our hotel at 9:30 that night. We were on the road by 6:00 the next morning, this time making it to Rapid City, South Dakota. We stopped at Mt Rushmore, shopped in the old town of Keystone, and ate steaks at a freaky but very yummy restaurant. We decided to call it a night, and put in 15 hours of driving in on Monday. We got to Waldrug - a must see sight on any road trip - at 6:30 in the morning, right as it was opening!

Needless to say we got crazy, did some car dancing, laughed till we cried and found that country music is quite appealing when you're stuck in the car from sun up to sun down, simple to laugh at lines like, "I hate your stupid old truck that you never let me drive anyway," and "Where I come from we drive pick-up trucks," and "My truck is next to my soul," on radio stations where the announcers howl like coyotes!

We missed our husbands and kids, called them several times a day and each night, but thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being young and irresponsible again! Oh, yeah, and, not only did we start the trip out in first class, but we had sunshine and warm weather the whole way home - not one drop of rain or one cloud. Coupled with the incredible scenery across the country, It was amazing.

However, we are very excited to not be getting into a car again, for at least a few days:o).

Guppy Footage

Here is some footage of the tiny guppy babies. They are very hard to see, so look for the tiny orange-ish dots that wiggle.
This morning we counted 4 babies. Guppies can have anywhere from 2 to close to 100, so we have no way of knowing if these are simply the only survivors, or the mommy only had 4 this time around.

We Did It - We Had Babies!!!

Our tank is finally a breeding ground for life! Someone had baby guppies!! We have no idea which fish had them, as we've had several new residents come to live with us recently, but there are tiny little guppies darting in and out and around the tank as I type! We discovered them over dinner, and still have to figure out how many we have... given they don't get eaten by the adult guppies in the mean time. Yay! We did it - we finally made a fish tank able to support life:o).

We have a very happy little boy.

Raod Trip Count Down

2 days and counting...

12 meals to plan... 10 bags of groceries to buy... 7 rooms to clean... 6 errands to run... 5 loads of laundry to be done... 4 loads of dishes... 3 beds to put clean sheets on... 2 kids to bathe... and a suitcase still to pack... Oh the fun we will have when it's all done!

Sheila and I have mapped out our driving route and we'll be stopping in at Yellowstone to see old faithful, visiting Mount Rushmore, and doing all the little things in between. Including some shopping sprees, nail painting and hot tub soaking!

In answer to those who've asked if I'm worried about finding my way home, I'm adopting the verse from Joshua 1:9...
"Be strong and courageous! Don't tremble or be terrified,
because the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

So we may accidentally end up in Florida - but God will be with me:o)!!

Road Trip!

The Moms are going on a road trip!!!

Come next Thursday my neighbor, Sheila, and I will fly to Oregon, pick up a car and head out on a four day adventure trying to find our way back home. No kids, no husbands, no melt-downs or poopy diapers!! Just lots of nail polish, laughter and the open road and clear blue sky (at least that' our prayer!)
Sheila's never been out west (farther than Iowa), and I've never struck out on my own in a cross country drive. We plan to have a complete blast:o). Matching sparkly flip-flops and all!

Magic Mommy Kisses

If you're a mom you know the power of you mothering kisses to heal all sorts of afflictions. If you aren't a mom, maybe you can remember back to when you were in need of that comforting kiss from your mom... it's magic! Well, today I learned about something else my mothering kisses cure...

Today the task of the day was to pick up all around the house. Well the upstairs was pretty picked up and went very quickly... when it came to the basement where all the kids' toys are.... that was another story:o).

About every 10 minutes Jadon or Elie would come upstairs complaining about how the other wasn't helping. On one particular such event, when it was Elie's turn to tattle, Jadon came trailing up behind her. She spilled her story with the usual conviction and when I turned to Jadon and asked him about his troubles he stopped and thought a minute.

"Well, I just, hmm? Well," he said, "I just really need some Mommy kisses. Yeah, I need lot of 'em. Lots and lots of Mommy kisses. That's my troubles." He proceeded to grab my ears and cover my cheeks, eyes, nose and forehead with big wet kisses.
"I'm better now, Mommy. Thanks." And he trotted off down stairs!

No, the basement is not finished... but my kisses did help get a few more trucks and blocks put away:o)