Pancakes & Pajamas

Last week, pancakes was a definite highlight for us! On Tuesday, we met our friends Julie, Jude & Kate at Oregon Dairy and ate scrumptious pancakes with their special warm butter syrup. Just thinking of it makes my mouth water. :) :) :) We got their little side room, and the boys (and girl!) watched the train go by. Afterward, we all came back to our house to play. Joshua was a bit grumpy, though, and by the end of our time together, he shouted at me "I'M TIRED!" and promptly put himself in bed, even tucking himself inside of his covers. He was exhausted and took a looong nap that afternoon.

The following day was pajama day for the Bean at preschool. I asked him which pair he wanted to wear, and he chose his "George" jammies (which are red PJ's with monkeys on them). The first picture of this post was of his entire class, and here he is with his teacher, Mrs. Ford. The teacher's aide, Mrs. Hilton, is below with a little girl named Kate.

Together, the class made pancakes! While I wasn't there, Kate's mommy took lots of pictures and shared them. Typically Joshua isn't in any, but this time there were lots with him in! He must have been a big helper that day. :)

Meanwhile, Grandma had invited me to go shopping. I wanted a new dress to wear on our anniversary since I don't have much that fits me currently (and Shawn called my dress from Valentine's Day "dated"). I tried on a few and finally settled on one from Kohl's, which was half price. We had a fun morning shopping, and Caleb was an angel!

While we were shopping, Daddy & I were also contemplating our trip and watching the weather report, which at the time was saying that we were in for a tremendous storm that night (Wednesday) through Friday. Our plane was supposed to take off Friday afternoon to land in Florida that evening. But, with the weather, Shawn called and moved our tickets to Thursday morning. We decided not to take any chances and also booked a room at the Hilton for Wednesday night.

That meant I needed to do some quick packing! I hadn't even started! But I scrambled to pack for four people in just a couple hours.

The night before I had a dream where my Dad had fallen, and I was the cause. I had woken up sobbing, and I never got back to sleep. Then my devotions were from Job, talking about how God speaks through dreams to keep folks from pride. I was so disturbed, I called my Dad to make sure he was okay, and I told Shawn & my mom about the dream, crying both times. I keep praying for God to show me exactly what He meant. In the meantime, pride is always something I can work on! Since I talked to Dad while the boys napped, I missed my workout on Wednesday. Such is life!

That afternoon, Damian Rhodes from WLAN FM 97 was a special speaker in my advertising class again. He always does an amazing job, and the students really enjoy hearing from him. I also appreciate the 'real world' perspective a special speaker brings to the classroom. :)

I left MU and rushed home to finish packing. We were on the road right around 8 pm (in record time for us!) and got to our hotel that night around 10 pm, absolutely exhausted from a crazy rushed day!

But, we were super excited for our trip, which I will post about soon. (I'm hoping Papaw will email me some of his pictures that he took since I didn't take too many...)

Joshua stayed in his PJ's the rest of the day, and he loved helping make pancakes. :) Here he is with his friend Ethan eating their hard work!

And here is his entire preschool class enjoying their snack on PJ Day!

More Happy Birthday?

Our weekend started out nicely. On Friday my friend Becca called and asked if we were going to Calvary's open gym. Yep, that was the plan! She met us there at 9 am. I'm glad we went (I had originally been debating about it) for a couple reasons. For one, my boys ran and ran there, which was great - they have energy to burn these cold winter days! And two, the gal in charge didn't show up or any of the other 'regulars' but there were a ton of new moms who didn't know what to do. So, we told them how fun it normally was and to please try it again. Everyone seemed really nice. Becca had the only little ladies there. :) I, unfortunately, didn't remember my camera. :( :( :( Since the folks in charge weren't there and hadn't brought down the toys, we left a little early and decided to do lunch at Friendly's before parting ways. The boys enjoyed their grilled cheese, fries and ice cream; and we all enjoyed the company. The kiddos got balloons for the way home, but Joshua let his go on purpose to watch it go up in the sky to Jesus. It ended up getting stuck in a tree. Caleb, on the other hand, kept a tight grasp on his.

That afternoon, I had a meeting with Water Street Ministries to brainstorm for their upcoming fall food drive. I got to meet a new contact at the York Rescue Mission, as well as the man responsible for sponsorships for Water Street. Maria told me that we need to raise awareness of how important this food drive is - they can run out of food in the summer if they don't collect enough during the fall food drive months. We talked about the different components they currently do, as well as some ideas for their advertising message & look. We also talked about corporate sponsorships and how to increase those. I thought it was a good meeting. Afterward, I went with her on a tour of the entire campus, along with a group of seniors from Homestead Village. We met with a man who had come there out of prison, and he gave his testimony of how God had changed his life and heart and how he had been given a second chance at the Mission to turn his life around. He was on a program where he was seeking his GED and trying to obtain a job and get more permanent housing. It was interesting to hear his story. It was also intriguing to see the medical & dental clinics and the areas where folks sleep and eat, etc. I enjoy helping with their communications needs.

After my meeting was over, I went home to play with my boys. When Daddy got home, he surprised us and treated us out to Cici's Pizza (who is currently having a special for the pizza buffet for $2.99). The kids really like it there. Afterward, we browsed the furniture section of the Pottery Barn before heading home.

Saturday was Grandma Good's birthday. So, we headed up to Nonie & Poppy's house to celebrate with those extended family members who could make it (unfortunately the same folks we didn't see at Christmas also couldn't make it to this event). The theme was Italian, and everyone brought a pasta dish to go along with that (or salad or whatever). We were going to bring garlic bread to go with it, but instead ended up taking rolls for the French Dip sandwiches Nonie made (which were amazingly delicious). After dinner was over, we sang to Grandma Good and then ate cake & ice cream, which the boys loved. 

 After it was over, Ben asked for "more happy birthday, please?" meaning he wanted more dessert. :) He's extremely articulate.

 

Joshua had fun playing with Jordon, especially. They ran around the circle of the basement, and he kept saying "get back to work, man!" Not sure where that one came from! Both boys enjoyed playing, and we enjoyed chatting as adults. Soon enough it was time to head home. Hope your birthday was special, Grandma Good!

On Sunday, when we were at lunch, Joshua also asked for more happy birthday. This time, I think he meant the singing. :) Silly Bean!

Being 41 is second to none!

 

The other day, I saw a bumper sticker that said "I love the Bean!" I thought, ME TOO! Wonder where they got it? Or what theirs means? I can't believe our Bean is 41 months old! In fact, I just scheduled his 3 and a half year portraits to be taken next month. Time certainly flies. And yet there are days that I take being home with my boys for granted. I never want to forget a moment of our time together! So here's a snapshot of this age in time. 

The other day, Daddy turned on the song "Sweet Caroline" by the Glee (a TV show) cast. The song is one of the boy's favorites. I realized, though, as Joshua was singing that he was saying "Sweet Carrot Line, whoo whoo whoo..." Haaaa!!! Carrot line means more to him than Caroline would. Joshua knows the names to most of the kiddos in his class when I ask him who his friends at preschool are. He will typically say (in order): Ethan, Brooke, Liam, Lila and occasionally Sienna and Owen. They had a little Valentine's Day party on 2/15 (since school had been canceled the week before due to the snow), and all the boys and girls traded Valentine's. I couldn't believe the creativity these days! Joshua got a pack of M&M's, a pencil, a piece of gum in the shape of a butterfly, some chocolate pieces of candy, heart-shaped chocolate fudge, a picture of one of his little friends and much more in these Valentine's. He likes to carry the little container around and look at everything. :)

  

Joshua LOVES movies, and he would sit in front of the TV all day if we would let him (which we don't). Right now his favorites include: Cars, Ratatouille (sp?), Up and Finding Nemo (which he always calls 'Finding Meno' ... such a cute mispronunciation!). My little man is mostly potty trained except for holding his business too long. Ugh! I'm sure this too shall pass. He's also sooo skinny still - he weighs 30.2 pounds completely clothed. You can see all the bones in his ribs and back without his clothes. But, he's been eating better on some days. It just depends on his moods. He loves peanut butter & jelly dinosaurs, crackers, pretzels, goldfish, cereal of almost any variety and french fries.

 

Joshua is a hoarder. There's no better way to describe him than "scarcity mentality." He will take ALL of his cars (or books or whatever he's into) and carry them with him. I should get a picture sometime. Things are literally falling out of his hands, but he won't let them go or put anything down. He often carries a big entourage of items with him into our master bathroom to sing to Daddy as he showers. He loves Shawn! And he loves his stuff and doesn't want to have to part with it.

That said, I think he's understanding the concept of sharing, and he likes to take care of Caleb at times. He really is a good older brother. They have SO much fun together. Joshua loves to run the circle of our first floor and he'll tell me to chase him and then to chase Caleb. They giggle as we go. :)

In keeping with his hoarding, he now also likes to have two drinks with him at all times - juice (mixed with water) and milk. He will drink a sip out of one followed by the other. We just laugh at the silliness of our Bean! There is much more I could write about him - how he loves to snuggle and insists that both Shawn & I tuck him in at night, how he loves when we read him books and sing him songs, how he knows his address and phone number and colors and shapes and letters and most numbers, how he dances when the music is played and asks for it to be louder, how he loves to scream outside and wants desperately to be boisterous inside, how he makes us all smile and laugh with his funny stories, how he tells us every night that something new is coming into his room so he will call on Jesus and Momma if he needs us, how nicely he plays with other children and how we trust him not to get into things, how he likes to be clean and neat and orderly... there is so much more I could post, but alas I must run off to work.

Happy 41-month birthday, my Bean!

Fun With Friends

We had flurries again from Monday night into Tuesday morning. Thankfully the roads weren't bad driving home from class. Tuesday night we had our friends Don &Melanie and their daughters Abby & Emma come from Life Group. When I told Joshua who was coming, he said "Why aren't all the kids coming?" He thought when I said "Emma" I meant his cousin, and he was thinking Aunt Jen should bring everyone over. :) Here's the Emma I was speaking about, along with her Daddy.

We all enjoyed dinner, which consisted of pizza, salad, chips &salsa and grapes. They brought dessert, which were cute little brownie bites. [Melanie's a vegetarian who eats healthy; I wish I had her will power!]

We also enjoyed the company and catching up. The kiddos had fun playing the piano. I love both these pictures below. There's nothing like three to a bench!

Meanwhile we chatted. Here's my hottie hubby:

We never seem to take pictures of us mommas. :( At the end of the night, Abby brought one of our couch pillows and the Mildred blanket up and laid down on the floor. Either she was tired, or she was asking to spend the night. Haaa!!! So cute. :)

Joshua was also exhausted from the day. He asked for a snack before bed and could barely keep his eyes open.

Thanks for coming over, friends!

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day weekend was truly amazing this year. When Shawn came home from work on Friday, I asked him to stop at the grocery store for some juice. I had bought heart-shaped flute glasses and then realized that we didn't have anything to put in them for the breakfast I was preparing to make. He said okay, and he came home also with this next-to-dead plant. Now, I love the sight of what my Mom always called "Easter Lillies" when they come out of the ground in the Spring since it's a sign that the dead, cold winter is coming to an end. But, I grinned when I saw these and told Shawn I wasn't sure the earth was ready for them (notice the snow in the background!). Shawn also chuckled and said they were the most alive plant that was at the store. I thought it was a nice effort, and I gave up on the idea of roses, which is what Shawn typically gets me on this special day. After all, I reminded myself, we're going on vacation soon and promised not to get each other gifts for V-Day and instead spend the money on Florida. I thought he was finally living up to his end of the bargain. 

I already posted about sweets & swing Friday night...but I didn't mention how much the boys loved the balloons. Joshua begged to play with the monkey balloon, so Caleb then took the froggy balloon and they would run the circle of our first floor over and over again, laughing the entire time. Just look at Joshua's priceless expression in this picture to the right! I love it! The balloons were so big that they could knock things over - and Caleb even bumped his into the light switch with such force that it turned the lights off. Shawn & I cracked up. They were having a blast! They also got 'mail' including Valentine's cards from Grandma & Grandpa Ginder and Mom & Ken.

Saturday morning, we headed out and got breakfast sandwiches from McDonald's and then headed to Walmart and then Giant, where Shawn bought me a new flavor of coffee that rocks! When we got home, we did some cleaning around the house, and it was soon time for the boys to go to bed. While they napped, Shawn organized his clothes and I worked on school work. I think I'm finally caught up! Then he watched me (at my request) do the p90x shoulders & back exercise DVD and helped show me when I was doing something wrong or how to modify the move if I couldn't quite do it yet. He had hung the chin-up bar in our room, and I could do most of the exercises with the modification of a chair like they showed on the DVD. After that, I started the ab ripper X DVD, as suggested in the program. But, most of it I couldn't do and by that point the kids were awake and jumping on me. :) :) :) After I was finished, I went tanning and then came home to beautiful roses on the counter waiting for me.

I was genuinely surprised. I knew he hadn't left to go anywhere - the car seats aren't hooked up in his car and I had my ride. The other flowers he had bought were a 'decoy.' Sooo funny! Shawn keeps me guessing. He also made dinner - Asian Orange chicken. It was delicious. Inspired by my husband's amazing thoughtfulness, I gave him his card and gift awhile, which included a gift card to Barnes & Noble. I told him to go have some relaxing, quiet time - get a drink, read some books, enjoy!

He left shortly thereafter and enjoyed some time out and brought me home a Chai. In the meantime, I enjoyed building a new train track for the boys. Joshua insisted on wearing his construction hat - doesn't this picture just say "workin' on the railroad" to you? Caleb also insisted on wearing the Bean's hat since his cool older brother did. My boys are silly!!!

When Daddy got home, we all got into our jammies. Then we headed downstairs to start the movie "Couples Retreat." Shawn warned me that it wasn't rated overly fantastic. So, I kept waiting for the 'bottom to drop out.' But, it never did! I thought the movie was entertaining and funny. It was pretty brainless, but that's what I was in the mood for. It was a great romantic comedy without being overly sappy. We enjoyed it. About 15 minutes into the movie (after the boys had their snack) we hit the pause button and tucked our kiddos in bed. Both boys had seemed in a really good mood all day. We told Joshua how Valentine's Day was all about love. :)

The next morning, Joshua came in around 5:30 am. Daddy stumbled out of bed and turned on a movie for him so we could sleep a little longer. [Joshua is enjoying 'Finding Nemo' right now.] Then at ten 'til seven, the phone rang. It was my best friend Suz announcing the birth of their son, Ian Christopher Lang! What a great way to start the morning!!! I can't believe how lucky Suz is. Her due date was Saturday, and her water broke that night around 9:30 pm, then contractions started and were two minutes apart the entire time. She went to the hospital around 1:30 am (thinking she would have an 18-hour labor) and they told her that she was too far along for any pain medicine (which she really wanted, by sounds). They told her to push instead, and Ian was born at 3:30 am - 7 lbs 12 oz and 21" long. I was so excited! There's no sleeping after news like that! So, we were up and starting our day.

Since it was the Sabbath day of rest, I decided not to work out. I did start with my devotions, though, and I read the entire book of Esther. In it, I noticed the day of celebrating was the second month on the 14th day when the Jews avenged themselves from their enemies. I smiled, knowing that yesterday was the 14th day of the second month, a time of celebration for us. God is so neat how He puts little reminder love notes to us all throughout His Word.

 After showering and getting ready, I started making breakfast. I had premium thick-sliced bacon, french toast 'doctored' to my liking with a little vanilla and cinnamon, and Shawn cooked the scrambled eggs. He drank coffee and I had tea. We both drank juice. The boys were ravenous! By the time everything was ready, we were too! We all ate extremely well.

After breakfast, we cleaned all the many dishes, pots & pans and then continued to clean the house. Soon it was time for naps for the boys while we just relaxed. I decided to go tanning and get our outfits ready for the evening. Shawn had made dinner reservations at the Belvedere, a very high-end restaurant in the city. But, we looked at their online menu, and we didn't see anything that wasn't made with mushrooms, wine, bizarre seafood or other strange concoctions. So, he called and made reservations at Loxley's instead and canceled the original ones. The boys woke up, had a snack and started playing while we got ready. Soon Miranda arrived and it was time to go! We had looked through the movie options, watched the trailers and confirmed with her how late was too late for her to get home. Soon enough, we were off. But not before she snapped a picture of the two of us... here's me and my sweetheart or Val and her Valentine. :) :) :)

Loxley's was extremely efficient and we were pretty well done with dinner within a half an hour of arriving. We decided to get dessert elsewhere, so we drove around for a little bit, stopped at Sports Authority, and then ended up at Barnes & Noble where I got the most heavenly slice of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake made by the Cheesecake Factory along with hot Chai and Shawn got a double-chocolate cupcake of some sort and his typical Java Chip Lite Frap. He also brought over tons of Florida magazines, and we looked into what to do, where to eat, where to stay, etc.  We talked more about the movie and decided that nothing was really playing that we were itching to see. 

So, we came home earlier than expected, Shawn took Miranda home since his car was already warm. We got the boys ready for bed and then I played with them awhile in the office while Shawn did some more online research. Our night ended on a bit of a sour note as we kept getting prank calls long after the boys had already gone to bed. It was seriously annoying until Shawn figured out how to go onto the computer and block anonymous calls. I hate to do that since sometimes various numbers that are important are anonymous, but I had had enough giggles and laughter on the other line.

We watched a little TV before turning in for the night. We also discussed favorite memories from Valentine's past. Our favorite was before we were married when Shawn surprised me by taking off work, and I woke up to a little breakfast 'buffet' in heart plates that he had bought. That year we were celebrating the romantic holiday before flying to Georgia with my sister & her (then) fiancee. :) Our second favorite was the "Sweetheart Storm" of 2007 because Shawn got out of work early and got Chinese takeout and a movie on the way home from work, and I had two sets of flowers delivered. :) We also had our Bean with us that day. :) Our first ever Valentine's Day we went to see one of the Scream movie's and Shawn gave me a rose. He's always been a romantic! Most of the others we don't remember, sadly. But, the ones we've appreciated most are the ones that we've been fortunate enough to share together. This weekend was incredible. :) 

 Happy Valentine's Day!

Sweets & Swing

The weekend started out well. Nonie & Jordon came to visit Friday morning, and I went to get my cholesterol checked at the recommendation of my doctor that sometime after 25 it should be checked and mine never was. Afterward I went to the Dollar Store to get some Valentine's Day items, including these balloons for my handsome husband.

When I got back, Nonie treated the boys & me to lunch at Garfield's. We had a nice time. They gave Jordon & Joshua a balloon, but the Bean accidentally left go of it right before we got into the car. I think he was completely in awe of how high it went!

While the boys napped, I took the opportunity to exercise. In the middle of my workout, the phone rang and it happened to be down with me (which is rare!). It was Pastor Matt from the Lord's House of Prayer inviting us to the Valentine's Day Banquet for the youth group this Wednesday. He said that they think of me every year since the original banquet was my idea and they've done it ever since. :) He also invited us to "Sweets & Swing" last night at the church. They had a social mixer time from 7-7:30 with all sorts of desserts that we passed on (since I had baked these earlier in the day for Shawn & Caleb - well, Joshua, too, but he doesn't really like sweets all that much):

Shawn & I both had some chocolate chip cookies that were fresh out of the oven before leaving [on a side note, WJTL was playing some awesome love songs as I baked, which got me excited for the weekend!], so more sweets didn't sound tempting at all. We mingled for a little while and saw some old friends, including Pastor Matt & Joanne and their family (their two girls were the childcare helpers that night), Pastor Mark & Abby, the Raybold family, David Brennamen (a youth when we were leaders) and his wife, Michael McNulty and Leah Gochnauer (two other youths when we were helpers) and a few other folks. Then at 7:30, they started the instruction of learning how to swing dance. One of the 'instructor's was another youth from when we were leaders. She was impressive, as was the teacher! We were in awe as they gave the demonstration. Then they started step by step giving us the moves. We laughed as we did the steps together, but as they broke it down, it didn't seem that difficult. We were probably fifteen minutes into the 'real' part of the evening when Areanna came in to get me. Caleb had been crying since we left and wouldn't calm down.

So, we left the fellowship hall to go to the children's room to see what was going on. The kids in the room were a little routy, and my little Caleb Luke was shaking. The oldest Raybold child (they have five kiddos in their family, and my guess is the oldest is somewhere around twelve-ish) was holding him, and he was crying and screaming away. Rebekah told me that this young man had tried to entice Caleb to play with all sorts of toys and then Caleb finally gave in and let him hold him. How sweet that he tried so hard! Caleb kept crying "mommy!" When Daddy & I walked in, he wanted me (and normally both boys are Daddy's boys, I think). He seemed pretty scared. Joshua was doing amazingly well. But, seeing that Caleb was trying to climb up me with fright, we accessed the entire situation and decided it was best if we just left. No swing dancing for us! :( :( :(

Instead, we came home. The boys got baths last night, and eventually we put them to bed before turning in ourselves. On the up side, I thought it was really sweet of Shawn to try and take me out for a night of dancing (which isn't really his style). And, it's nice to feel loved. Also on a positive note, we've officially picked our dates for our anniversary trip without the kiddos. We are going to Florida Feb 26-March 2 and the boys are going to be staying with Grandma & Grandpa Ginder. Please pray that the boys do well without their parents. I'm not as concerned about the Bean as I am about Caleb staying nicely and sleeping for someone else - we've never been apart before. :) And he's not great at sleeping in someone else's house and not his crib. But, I'm excited for some much needed time away with my sweetheart. :)