Park It!

Last week was truly beautiful. We spent many days at the park near our house. These pictures are from Wednesday & Thursday.

Caleb loves to swing; Joshua doesn't. Joshua loves to slide; Caleb's not so sure. My boys are night & day different, like their Daddy & me. But, they love each other. :)

One day last week, I cut Joshua's toe nails. It is one of my least favorite things to do as a mom just because he detests it so much and wiggles around and I fear hurting him. But, when they're too long, it's just something that has to be done. He told me "I was very happy, but now I'm very CROSS because you cut my toe nails." I laughed as this expression, which is from one of his Thomas books. He's not quite as excited about Thomas as he once was even though he still likes him okay. He's much more interested in Toy Story and Cars, respectively.

We went to a yard sale this past weekend where two dogs were tied to a leash that was wrapped around a tree. Joshua stopped right then and there and prayed for those doggies to be freed in the name of Jesus. Shawn & I both smiled. I love that Joshua thinks to pray for things that he can't control.

The boys & I got a little rosy cheeked last week from being outside so much. We love playing outdoors! The park takes less than 30 minutes to walk to, and the boys do well in the stroller there and back and enjoy the time on the playground equipment. Soon enough the school behind us will be done and we can play on that playground equipment as well.

Thursday we picked up my niece Faith from preschool. She has been begging to come over to eat peanut butter & jelly with us (since they can't have it at their house since Daniel is allergic). We ate lunch and then played outside in the garage for awhile. Joshua followed her around and wanted to play with everything she was, much to her dismay. Usually they get along well, but that wasn't happening on Thursday. So, we decided to go back to the park and I invited my sister and the other kiddos to join us. The kids had fun once again, and I was impressed that Faith made the entire walk by herself (even though she told me that it was too long). Haaa!!!

Lots of what Faith said that day cracked me up. She told me that her favorite TV show is 'Spice Up My Kitchen.' She also noted that I was the smallest in my family - Grandma's family (I think she meant youngest). She told me exercise makes your bones strong. And when I asked her what they do at the cabin, she said "play and eat food; first Daddy gets up early to go buy the food that we cook; then we surprise mommy with pancakes." Seeing that the following weekend was Mother's Day, I wondered if my sister was in for a surprise breakfast.

We went home for naps since the boys were exhausted (you'll see a picture of them passed out in the stroller) and then we walked around the National Day of Prayer, looking for a homeless man that I had offered to buy dinner if he came to the NDP at Lancaster Bible College. We never did see him, though. He's 85, told me his wife had died, and even though he's obviously not all together upstairs (since he wears all sorts of layers on hot days), he's extremely articulate. I had given him a bottle of water on Wednesday as we were walking back from the park and saw him (it was so hot and he was completely dressed with a coat, hat, etc); and then on Thursday I wanted to feed him but he didn't show up. That week was rice & beans week, so I was beginning to understand what it felt like to be hungry.

We ran into Shawn's boss at the National Day of Prayer. We left then to go eat our rice & beans and then I went back with my chair to hear the actual speaker while Shawn got the kids ready for bed. The 'sermon' was excellent and was about good news in dark times. He told us that he was in the black out in New York and there was no light, no A/C, no nothing anywhere except for one hotel that had put in a generator. He said God is the light in our darkness and He has good plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11) amidst dark circumstances all around us. It was a good word.

I also saw the artist from my old work on stage playing the piano. After the speaker was finished, I walked home and helped put the boys to bed.

Friday morning, I went to Calvary's open gym; and instead of staying inside we went to the fenced-in playground to play. I think the boys had fun in the playhouses & sliding, etc.

Caleb is the same age as many of the children there, but he's talking a whole lot more, according to the other moms. I think I take it for granted sometimes how much he talks and what he says. Like he said "Momma's camera - cheese!" just now. He also says things like "bottle, open, YOU do it, please." While they may not be sentences you would see in a college textbook, there are more than four words to complete a thought. Sometimes his sentences are more typical English and other times he still just says a word or two. But, his vocabulary is getting better and better, too.

Here's Joshua & Faith heading to the park on Thursday:

 In this picture, Joshua's outfit is a 4T - the shirt is a 'Quicksilver' he got for his birthday last year, I think, from Mamaw & Papaw Ginder. I think they look 'related' in these pictures.

And here are the boys tuckered out from a busy day: