Fun Books

In honor of Caleb now finishing his 30 books today, I thought I'd post a couple that we thought were particularly fun to read together. Since these are part of the Lancaster County Library system, if you're reading this and are local to this area (and if you have kids in this age range), these are great books to borrow!

Baby Bear's Books by Jane Yolen is a new favorite of Caleb's. In fact, I think we're going to buy it for his birthday since he won't part with it and we soon have to return it. This was probably my favorite, too. I love books that rhyme, and this one reminded me of my boys.

Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail was absolutely adorable and just so true! I loved it, and the boys both ask for it over and over again. We'll soon be returning it. :(

Duck Skates by Lynne Berry was also cute, especially if you'd read it in the winter.

I Love You Because You're You by Liz Baker is really a sweet, heartwarming book that we own. But, it's just too cute not to list here.

How Many How Many How Many by Rick Walton was an interesting book that the Bean & I enjoyed reading. I'd recommend it, too.

And yet another one for going over the alphabet was "Happy Tails: Earl and Pearl on the Farm" by Cindy & Kirby Pringle. Caleb lost interest early on, but I thought the puns in this one were comical, and Joshua liked the pictures and picking out the letters.

Last on my list was Cowboy Slim. Again, it was more because of the poems in it and a good cowboy book is hard to find. It wasn't a favorite of the boys, but I thought it was fun to read to them.

Happy summer reading!!!

Feeding the Ducks

With my ankle not doing too well, I've felt like we haven't done much of anything over the past week. It feels like an eternity, but it's only been eight days ago now. We went to church on Sunday and invited our friends the Cintron's out to dinner with us that evening, but since that day the boys & I have just been home. I've taken them to play out in the front driveway with their cars, bikes & sidewalk chalk and we've played in the backyard some. We've done lots of reading and playing with Joshua's new Leapster2 games (thanks, Grandma!). And I've started working with Caleb on potty training which has NOT gone well so far (having a hard time remembering now how we even started with Joshua... Caleb doesn't seem to mind being wet at ALL). All that said, I wanted to get out. I knew Shawn & I were planning a date night tonight, but with the gorgeous weather, I called Grandpa to see if he'd want to join us to go to the little petting zoo in Leola. He said sure.

Even though we hadn't been there since last year at this time, the moment we got out of the car, Joshua said "Hey, let's feed the ducks!" That's his favorite part of Hayloft Candles. So, we went straight to that area. I brought my little change purse full of quarters and Grandpa was kind enough to get the food out while I snapped the pictures. When he handed a fist full to Joshua, the Bean carefully through each piece one by one to the ducks and watched where it went. Then Grandpa gave a couple pieces to Caleb - who promptly put them in his mouth!!! YUCK!!!! We showed him that this was food for the animals, not for the kids. But, I realized that we should have been more clear the first time round. Thereafter, he fed the animals just fine without sticking any more in his mouth.

Joshua LOVED feeding the ducks and could have stayed there all day, I think. The weather today is simply gorgeous. It's sunny but breezy and no humidity. It is amazing - thank you, God!

After feeding the ducks for awhile, we moved on to look at the other animals. Caleb said hello to the 'dinky' deer... only this one's name was Daisy, not Dinky.

The boys said hello to the Yak, who told them not to talk back. Actually, this big fellow was hoping that they had brought some food for him, by looks. That said, he was a little big for their taste. They enjoyed the birds more than the big creatures, I think.

Caleb was intrigued by 'Tom' turkey. Gobble gobble gobble!

Then we continued to walk around the pond. Truthfully, the boys started to run and Grandpa & I hobbled as best we could. Both Joshua & I tripped on a plank that was sticking straight up. I grimaced in pain. At that moment, I wondered why I had left the comfort of our home. I'm still a little nauseous from it. But, it was a nice experience other than that little slip up. Here's Grandpa & the boys looking at the ducks on the other side of the pond.

And I made the boys stop to get a quick picture or two of them. They're sporting their new haircuts. And Joshua picked out his entire outfit today and put it on all by himself. He's getting to be such a big boy!

Caleb's expression in the above photo just says "please no more pictures," doesn't it? My little Bluke would rather keep exploring. In the picture below, he's saying hello to the bunnies in the cages.

Then we fed the goats. Joshua laughed and laughed and laughed here as the goats licked his hands. (I sanitized them and then washed them good when we left there, but they had fun.)

Just look at Joshua's expression in the above picture as well as the one below. He thought this was hysterical.

Caleb also fed the goats and enjoyed them eating out of his hands.

We had a fun morning out. When we left there, Grandpa offered to buy pizza for us & Jen's family if I was willing to drive to pick it up. I said sure, so we went to the pizza shop and then to Aunt Jen's house where we ate outside on her patio. Then the kids played more on her slide and in her backyard before we came home for naps. Both boys went right to sleep when we got home.

Here are more pictures from the morning's outing. The two below are the boys feeding the deer.

And here's Joshua feeding the pig. I thought this little creature was cool! Both boys enjoyed feeding her.

And there were baby ducks when we went back to feed them before leaving (since that was Joshua's favorite part, he said):

Thanks for a fun morning out, Grandpa Georgia!

Tonight Shawn & I are going on a date while Dad comes back to watch the boys. I better go rest my ankle until then. Enjoy the pictures!

This, That & The Other

I haven't posted much because I haven't taken many pictures, and we haven't done all that much this past week since I sprained my ankle. Here's a picture of the Bean and somehow my foot in its cast made its way into the picture. UGH! Anyway, Joshua is showing off his filled-in "Make a Splash" paper from the library. We officially read 30 books together, and he colored in every last picture to show that he had all those books read to him. Caleb's almost finished as well, but he enjoys the same book being read to him 30+ times rather than 30 books read to him at least once. :) :) :)

 

Sunday I was on the worship team at church for the first time. I had spent a good portion of the week practicing (to the point that my children now enjoy the "Spiderman" song and ask for it...). Sunday morning I was up and gone before the boys even woke up. Shawn said that he was late getting into the service because Joshua cried and cried that I wasn't with them. It didn't even cross my mind to tell him that Daddy would take him to his children's church by himself. Shawn said he felt so bad for the little guy and wanted to tell everyone that he hadn't done anything to cause the very sad, very gushing tears. I felt bad, but I also thought it was sweet that he missed me and wanted to make sure they didn't forget me. When I got home, they were already napping, so I put my foot up to rest it. When he woke up, he asked me if I had been sleeping that whole time. Haaa!!! ;-)

Both boys got haircuts last week (so I need to take some pictures - they look so cute!). On Saturday, we went out to lunch with Grandpa Georgia while Daddy went golfing and then when Shawn got home and the boys woke up from their naps we went swimming as a family with Ma-maw & Aunt Becky, which was fun. Other than that, we've been confined to the house for the most part. Shawn went to the doctor's last week and was diagnosed with bronchitis and an upper respiratory infection in addition to a sinus infection. I think he's feel mostly better now since he finally took a sick day to rest and has been on antibiotics. My ankle is still black and swollen, and my feelings a little hurt that I can't walk better, etc. Please pray for us all!

The boys have been doing well. They make me laugh all the time as Joshua says things like "I'm so happy of you" and Caleb is starting to recognize letters in books. He called to Daddy last night after being tucked in just to ask him what the letter "K" was in his book. Haaaa!!! They are adorable & sweet, and I'm thankful for our family even as we walk through 'trials' (although I know a silly sprained ankle doesn't compare with what some folks are going through right now). I must keep a good attitude and pray for a quick recovery so I can run and we can enjoy the rest of the summer.

Pizza, Park, Pool, etc.

Sunday was Father's Day. We went to church that morning, and the sermon was tied to Father of the Bride. While I didn't love the movie-themed service (just being honest!), I cried at the thought of my boys growing up too quickly. Hopefully this sermon series speaks to someone who's never been to church before and helps bridge the gap of going to church in general. Seeing the worship made me a little more nervous for this coming Sunday, when I play for the first time. Please keep me and that in your prayers! I've come to the conclusion that my main purpose is to worship God and not to screw up royally to take anyone else's focus off Him either. I think I can do that much (with His help, of course).

We ate a late breakfast/early lunch after church was over and the boys napped. After they woke up, we all played outside. This water ball was one of Caleb's birthday gifts from his party last year, and the boys love it!

They were having a blast between the old Wally the Whale pool (since Daddy has to patch our pirate ship that sprung a leak) and the beach ball sprinkler. I had called my Dad earlier in the day and he wasn't doing anything. I felt bad, so I asked Shawn if it would be okay with him if Grandpa Georgia could come with us to whatever he chose to do for dinner. Shawn said he didn't mind at all, and he picked Joshua's favorite pizza restaurant for supper rather than grilling out or going somewhere nicer. He said he enjoys our time the most when the boys are happy. So, that's where we went and Grandpa came along. Joshua 'signed' his card for his Daddy (the 'H' was bigger than all the other letters and then some - it was cute!), and Caleb scribbled his 'signature' on it and we gave Daddy his gifts, one of which was ordered online and will be here soon! Grandpa asked for a picture for a new frame he had bought, so I blew up the photo of the entire family from Easter and he seemed pleased with the way it turned out.

The next morning, I called my sister to see if she'd like to meet us at the park. She agreed but asked if we'd like to walk with her instead of us walking from our house. I said okay and drove to her house and then we all walked together. Joshua enjoyed walking with Emma.

I didn't think to grab our camera before we left. It was a hot day! The kids played on the playground equipment but the slide was too hot to keep going down, so they made their own fun games. Grandpa was taking Aunt Jen to get her car (from being inspected) so he showed up at the park to watch the kids play and brought them cookies. We walked back to Jen's house and went home for lunch.

After the kids woke up from their naps, we called Grandma back from her invite to the pool that morning. We also invited Lisa & Isabella to join us since she only worked a half day on Monday.

We all had a blast swimming (thanks, Mom!). Joshua had his swim floaties on and could 'swim' on his own with them. Caleb kept accidentally drinking the water. I can't find the floaties we bought him, so I think we're going to have to just get him a new pair. All the kids enjoyed the warm water that afternoon!

When we got home, we ate our dinner out on the deck. It was a lovely evening.

Tuesday morning I got up at 5:30 and was out the door by 6 as usual to run after doing my devotions. Somehow on the way back, I managed to step on a round stone or something (I didn't see it, but whatever it was sure rolled out from underneath my foot!). My left foot turned in right and I was running so fast that I pounded it a few good times on that awkward side angle before getting stopped. I thought about staying right there, crying in my own misery. But, I realized that I would be screwing up Shawn's work schedule by not getting home. So, I walked the half mile to our house (praise God I was that close!) and gritted my teeth with the pain. When I got home, my amazing husband who treats me like a princess saw how swollen and black my foot and ankle were and called the Orthopedic Associates, taking the morning off to be with the kids. I was horrified! I'm far too busy to be injured. Truly, we have plans going on just about every day! And I've been enjoying running in the mornings and getting my exercise in that way vs. a workout DVD. I was soooo disappointed besides in pain. 

 

Doesn't the Bible say that God sends His angels to guard us so our feet won't strike a stone? It also says that He makes straight paths for us. These are verses I've prayed over previous runs, and I've been kept safe and injury-free thus far. I was frustrated. And, I felt very much like God was telling me that I needed to focus on Him. That particular morning, I had been preoccupied with what I was going to be playing for worship when I was running whereas normally that is time that I re-digest whatever my reading was from that morning. I was humbled big time.

I had just been writing about how God turned the bitter waters into sweetness for the Israelites, testing them and providing for them. He worked a miracle out of what seemed like a bad situation. I know He can do the same here. I don't know what good can come out of this situation - but God does. And I'm anxious to see what it is! I need to find a new way to burn calories (and eat less!) until I'm healed. The doctor told me that I can't run for awhile, but at least it's not broken. They gave me an air cast and told me that I can walk on it as I can tolerate the pain, and that I won't be hurting it more. That was the best news I'd heard all morning. I can put up with pain - I just don't want to prolong the healing time. Shawn graciously got the prescription filled and the boys were well behaved yesterday (thanks Grandpa for watching them while we were at the doctor's!). Grandma came over for a little while today (thanks so much!) to play with them. When you think of it (even now would be good!), please pray for a quick and complete recovery. They warned me that if I ran too soon on it, there are good chances I would roll it again since all the ligaments are stretched, etc. I really want to be out and about and doing things, so pray for wisdom, strength, and the sweetness that is to come out of this situation!

Who's That Puffing Down the Track?

It's Thomas! All week we had colds. We were all a little miserable. I never took the kids to see Thomas, and then on Saturday I was kind of regretting it. So, we decided to check it out. And, it wasn't worth seeing (or at least in our current condition). Joshua enjoyed riding the little train; Caleb was scared. All of Lancaster County and neighboring communities were there, I think, and the wall-to-wall people made it so we couldn't really see anything or move. We didn't stay all that long. In the above picture is Daddy with his boys.

I laughed at Joshua and his fake smile in these over-sized sun-glackes (which he pronounces right now and I still say the old way). The other week at Target, Joshua picked out these sunglasses out. Since they were only $1, Shawn said okay and bought them for him. They are way big and have diamonds and butterflies on the side, we found out later. Joshua LOVES them. And, they're the first pair he hasn't broken and has kept track of. Ugh! Silly Bean!

I dressed the boys in their train shirts. Caleb is wearing the Thomas shirt Joshua wore last year, and Joshua is wearing his "all aboard" shirt that Mamaw & Papaw bought him the last time we were in Florida.

Here's Daddy & Joshua on the little train and me & Caleb, who calmed down once the train started moving. We went "in and out the tunnel" which Joshua sang. He thought this was great!

The boys played with the legos, but the tables with the little trains were packed (and we have train tracks and things for the boys to play with at home). We didn't stay very long, deciding against buying actual tickets to ride on Thomas with the crazy-go-nuts lines. Instead, we went out to an early lunch.

From there we headed home for naps and then we took the boys with us to look at some Parade of Homes. After awhile, the houses all sort of blend together. When you first see them, you think about the flaws in your own house... the paint that's needed here, the landscaping that's needed there, etc. By the last one, you think your house is pretty nice - after all, it has a kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. too. Haaaa!!! At least that's the way I feel. I would love to have a brand new gorgeous house, but I wouldn't like having to work 80+ hours a week to pay for it while my kids were swept away to daycare. I feel very blessed to live in a home that's perfect for raising our boys. :) We have a roof over our heads, food to eat, clothes on our backs, and more 'stuff' than we know what to do with. That, and we have LOTS of love. These houses felt a little cold and empty until our boys walked in. I think the pitter patter of little feet make up for the lack of a marble foyer (said without the 'r'). ;-)

Since the boys did so well while we looked at houses, we stopped for milkshakes on the way home and then we played outside last night. I bathed the boys before bed, and Joshua said his favorite part of the day was going in the tunnel on the little train while Caleb said he liked his milkshake and bath the best. Each boy is unique! I'm thankful for our little family.