The Influence of Bible Time

A few Sundays ago I spoke with Perry and Daisy's Sunday School teacher.

"I just love having your boy in my class." He said.

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Today I watched him very carefully stack about four of those large lego blocks together. Then he placed a little toy goat on top. He looked up at me and said, 'Does this look like an alter to Baal?'"

I just about died laughing.

On our way home from church, when I retold the story to David, Perry jumped in an said, "And I only bowed down a little."

Yikes.



Oh, and I'm sure you're wondering about little Elijah. Well, I'll have to tackle that subject when I get more time.

Just a Bit About Calvin

This past Tuesday was Calvin's first day of exclusive walking. I don't think I've seen him crawl since. What a cool little guy! I almost thought he'd never get around to it.

The other Sunday in church the pastor asked, as he always does, if anyone had anything they wanted to share with the congregation. Perry piped up, "I want to share!" We quieted him down (whether or not we should have. Our church is pretty open when it comes to all ages speaking up). Then Calvin, like the little parrot he's becoming said, "I-wanna-share. I-wanna-share" all slurred together like that. It was hard not to laugh, he's just so cute.

Today he walked up to me and wanted me to pick him up. I asked him if I could just hold his hand and walk around with him. It worked, and not a moment too soon since the new baby is due next week!

Our Kids and The Big Snow

I snowed last night. This morning on the radio they said we averaged 2" across Middle Tennessee. The last time we got any measurable snow it was under an inch--and that was 8 years ago!

After dinner I got up and looked out the window to check the temperature--and lo and behold it was snowing! I was so shocked I called the family to see it. Even though it was almost bed time, we got the kids bundled up and let them play in the fluffy white stuff for a while.



It's all melting now. As the sun rises it hits new parts of the trees and the little pieces of ice on each branch slip and fall to the earth. At first I thought it was hail. That shows you how unaccustomed I am to this kind of weather. I let the kids go and play in the snow after breakfast, but they kept running in and out and whining abut something or other. I think Perry wanted me to build him a snow man, but I really didn't want to go out in the cold. Daisy would have been happy if only Perry would have stayed out there with her. The door got opened (and left open) too many times so I told them they had to stay in. They don't want to take their jackets off though. I think they're hoping I'll relent.

Merry Christmas!

If I can get my act together in time I plan to send this picture out with Christmas cards. But just in case I don't, you can at least enjoy it here :)

After much deliberation on whether or not we should, we decided we would in fact celebrate Advent. Believe it or not I was really proud of the candles and wreath I came up with. I bought some taper candles (gosh I had forgotten how fragile those things are--especially in little hands). Then I bought five brass candle holders from Good Will. Next I cut some holly branches and berries from our bush and constructed a wreath to fit around the candles.

The problems came when I tried to put them all together. The candles wouldn't actually fit into the holders. We had to melt them quite a bit in order to get them to even rest in their slots. Almost any movement of the table sends them crashing. It's a wonder they're still mostly intact. When I unwrapped the white candle from its cellophane, I noticed that it was broken, even though I took great pains to make sure I bought unbroken candles. Now, in case you are unfamiliar with Advent, the white candle is supposed to be the Christ candle. In other words, it's the most special of all! David tried to melt it back together, but in doing so put black marks on it that we couldn't get off unless we scratched them off and I was afraid we'd re-brake it if we tried that. So we just left it. But then just yesterday it got knocked over one time too many times and re-broke anyway. David just cut it off at the break and trimmed a new wick for me. I think it will work fine--even though it's now shorter than the other candles.

Also, as you can probably see from the picture, Calvin got a hold of one of the candles and bit into it. So it might look a little shabby, but I'm still proud of it.

The kids seem to be enjoying our Advent celebrations. We've been lighting the correct candles on the correct Sunday nights, at dinner. Then, after dinner we enjoy dessert (something of a rarity) and David reads the Advent verses and we sing an Advent hymn. David and I have been enjoying it too. One of the interesting things our pastor said on the first Sunday of Advent is that the holiday is celebrated in order for us to prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas--Christ's original coming. However, it is also supposed to remind us to prepare our hearts and lives for his second coming. I love how it all ties in together!

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

Just Stuff That's Been Going On

Yesterday while driving home from church we saw a sign that said the road would be closed at 1:45 for the Smyrna Christmas Parade. We had no idea there was even going to be a parade! It was then about 1:00 and we had just enough time to devise a plan... We had split a loaf of bread 5 ways, or so, on the ride home. So when we got home and Daisy was asleep and Calvin close to it, we put them down. David looked up exactly where the parade would be while Perry and I ate a muffin and an apple. Then I loaded Perry up in the double stroller, the other side holding a folding chair for myself, and we walked to Smyrna's little downtown area--not too far away. David and the other two stayed home and napped :)

It was really fun to share the experience with Perry. Followed by the fire department's color guard, came the mayor on a golf cart throwing candy to all the children. Next came all the town councilmen following suit. There was the local high school marching band, and it was all I could do not to cry as it went by. I love marching bands, but didn't realize I loved them that much. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones. Ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars went by with their lights flashing and occasionally turning on their loud sirens. Since the only Nissan factory in the US is located here in Smyrna, they brought out what must have been an example of each of their cars. Local businesses and boy and girl scout troups and churches made up the bulk of what was left. My favorite was a truck pulling a trailer, as most of them were, owned by a chimney-sweep company. Walking beside the vehicle were four people, two on each side, clad in black with chimney sweep brushes slung over their shoulders and black smudges on their faces--smiling and waiving to the crowd. On the trailer were four chimneys of varying sizes and styles constructed of who knows what, each smoking, and a woman dressed up as Mary Poppins. Speakers on the trailer played "Chim-Chimney."

After a while I noticed a police car driving down the road with its lights flashing, honking its horn and trying to zoom around the the cars in front of it. With all the children occasionally running into the street to gather up the candy, I was a little puzzled at the policeman's actions. A little while after that we saw an ambulance and then a small fire truck do the same thing. My first thought was that someone driving a vehicle in the parade hit one of the children. I hope not, though. I can't find out any information on it, though, so it was probably just some accident somewhere completely unconnected with the parade and the service vehicles thought this was the fastest rout to take, even though it was right through the middle of the parade.

I made Alton Brown's Paradise Macaroons cookie recipe on Saturday. They are amazing! I think they taste just like those Mound candies (you know, Almond Joys without the almonds). David thinks they taste better :) Actually, I literally can't remember the last time he raved this much about something I cooked. The recipe calls for only 2 oz. of sweetened condensed milk. I turned the rest of the milk into dulce de leche. Since the can was already open, I just filled the crockpot up with water until it was just below the can. For Thanksgiving I made a Chocolate Pecan Pumpkin Pie that I sort of came up with after reading a couple of recipes. It turned out very well (if I do say so myself). I think I'll make the bottom part of it again minus the pecans--so sort of a chocolate pie, and after it has cooled, put the dulce de leche on top with a drizzle of chocolate on top to make a sort of chocolate caramel pie. But with all the sweets in the house right now, I'll just freeze it for a special occasion in the future.

And there you have it, more than you ever wanted to know about our recent lives!

"F" Names

Sorry I haven't written anything substantial lately--only posted updates when I've added more names to the baby name list. I'm just so incredibly busy! But I guess we all are, really, so it's not like I'm any different than any of you :)

Anyhow, check out the "F" names and let me know what you think.

"E" Names

The one and only "E" name I like, at least from this site, is up to vote on. "D" names are there too in case you haven't voted on them yet.

There is a name I came across and liked that isn't in this site's database: Adoniram. I don't exactly know what it means--I just read it and liked the sound of it. David said there was a missionary named Adoniram Judson. Since David's grandfather's name is Judson, maybe we'll name the baby that--if it's a boy. But then again, David's cousin and wife just had a baby boy and used Judson for one of his middle names, so maybe we shouldn't. We wouldn't want to steal their thunder or anything, you know?

What do you think?

Baby Ticker

For those of you asking about it, I've finally gotten around to changing the "baby ticker." The countdown is now accurate, so enjoy!

From the Mouth of Babes

The other day David was on the phone in the front yard while Perry and Daisy played around near him. All the sudden I heard David's tone of voice change. It wasn't that he was mad, just talking to a different person. When he finished on the phone David found me and filled me in, with raised eyebrows, on all that wet on out there. He gave me the, "He's your child" look.

Apparently Perry saw that the new neighbor across the street was outside, so he asked her:

"Hey, did your dad die a long time ago?"

"What?" she responded, a little confused, then "what did he say?" addressing David.

"I'm sorry," said David, not knowing how to get out of explaining, "he's asking if your dad died a long time ago."

"Oh, no... He's still alive."

"Ok."

And then Perry ran away, leaving David and the neighbor to look at each other; one with puzzlement and the other in embarrassment.

Have your kids ever said something strange or embarrassing? I'm sure they have, almost every kids does at some point or another. I'd love to hear about it, if it's not still too taboo a subject to talk about.

"C" Names are Up!

A number of you have voted now for your favorite names. Thanks for doing that, I love to hear what you all think. I've just gone through the "C" names and added my favorites to the list. I should specify that these names are ones only I have chosen, so don't worry if you don't like any of them too much since David still hasn't even looked at them :) Also, now that there are more to choose from, we're kind of mix 'n matching. Some might make better middle rather than first names so keep that in mind. Feel free to give me feed-back if you like a certain combination of any two I've chosen.

I suppose it's only fair to give you the tally so far :)

Ace
Yes--0
No--4

Aldis
Yes--1
No--3

Amos
Yes--3
No--1

Archer
Yes--2
No--2

Arden
Yes--1
No--3

Arthur
Yes--1
No--3

Blaise
Yes--1
No--3

Brent
Yes--2
No--2

Briar
Yes--1
No--3

Butch
Yes--0
No--4

How to Have a Happy Daisy

Daisy's new favorite pastime is to roam around the house with a damp washcloth "washing" things. She might sit for ten minutes or so washing a chair or a toy or move from room to room washing windowsills, doors, walls, books, you name it. It really seems to make her happy. When I see her doing this I usually thank her for being such a good helper. Maybe she's inherited some of my mother and grandmother's tidiness genes--I sure didn't.

In other news:

This evening Perry and I were talking about different states and he wanted to know where Pennsylvania was located.

"Is is near Tennessee?" He asked. When I responded negatively he wanted to know if it was close to Florida. Again I told him it wasn't and suggested he get his map game of the United States and we would find it together. When he came back with the game we turned it on--it will say the name of the state when you press on it. I asked him were Tennessee was. He found it the first time, pressed on it and the game told him he had gotten it right. We did the same with Florida.

"And there's Pennsylvania" I told him and then asked him to press on the green state.

"And there's Underwear" Daisy said, and pointed directly to Delaware.

Help Name the New Baby!

I've added a new page element. Just under the floating countdown baby, which incidentally is about three weeks too fast, I've added a link to a page where you can vote on names for the new baby. So far I've only gone through this site's A and B names, but I'm going to try to update it frequently--so stay posted. And please do vote! You probably won't sway us too much with your preferences, but it's nice to know what you like anyhow :)

You'll notice there are only boy's names up there at present. That's because we've got the girl's names nailed down to two: Persephone or Charity. If we list any girl's names, they will probably be as a middle name for one of these two.

Do let me know what you think!

Clogged Ears

A few Sundays ago Perry met me in the hall after church. He had escaped from Sunday School right at the end. I think he figures that when some other parent comes to get his or her kid, Sunday School is over and he's free to wonder the halls looking for me. He just gets excited and forgets he's supposed to stay put until I get there to claim him.

"Mom, look! I made a sifter for cakes!" Then he handed me a black cylindrical piece of construction paper with stickers all over it.

"Oh, great Perry!" I said, a little puzzled.

I stood there a little while longer waiting for David to gather up Daisy, Calvin, and all the worldly possessions we, for some reason, feel we have to haul to church every Sunday.

"Oh, great, you've got him," I hear and turn around to see Perry's Sunday School teacher looking relieved.

We exchanged greetings and then she mentioned that they'd been studying the book of Ester.

"Oh," I said, "Then this is probably not a sifter for cakes, then."

"No," she replied, laughing. "It's a scepter. The Scepter of Mercy."

Perry looked up at me. "The Scepter of Nursing?"

The Deviant

Here's the mohawk boy. In case you can't decipher it from the picture, that's David's pipe he's playing with.

David took the picture.

Our Little One Turns One

Congratulations birthday boy! Wow, has it been a year already?

We spent the morning of his birthday at the library where we saw a friend of ours perform a children's singing and story program. It was wonderful. I was surprised at how much the kids really got out of it. Just a little plug for our friend Kevin Kidd: http://www.kevinkidd.com/

I told Perry we could buy one of his CDs and he insisted that we get the one with the stinky feet song. I guess I'm a push-over. I love it when little boys enjoy being little boys. I bought the CD.

I was going to make a pinata, more for Perry and Daisy to celebrate with than Calvin, but by the time I figured out how to do paper mache it would have taken too many days to dry and wouldn't have been finished in time. But we had a cake and, as you can see, Calvin enjoyed it.

Despite expecting a new baby, I've been able to continue nursing Calvin. Hooray! I feel like I've finally succeeded at nursing! There were a few times this past month or so I contemplated weaning him--only to discover he wouldn't let me. I found this interesting. Each other time I was pregnant and nursing my nursling jumped at the chance for formula because I just wasn't producing enough milk. The only things different this time around are 1.) I'm not scheduling feedings (I don't have time to look at the clock--it's much easier to feed him when he wants) and 2.) he's older than the other two were when we went through this. It really doesn't matter that much to me why he's continued nursing; I'm just so happy he has! But at the same time I'm a little nervous too. How long is he going to want to keep this up? I've got a book on tandem nursing that I read a little bit of every once in a while and I'm not sure I can do that. Even if I could, I'm not sure I want to. I guess I'll just take it one day at a time.

In other news we finally got our dishwasher installed. In case anyone out there didn't know, this was a full instillation--the house didn't have one before this. I'm so thankful to my wonderful husband for all the hard work involved in putting it in!

Also, the other day while I was finishing up something on the computer, David decided to surprise me by cutting the boys' hair. In actuality this is something he could only have done while my back was turned. See for yourself:

Ok, I couldn't get the pictures to post well so I'll just tell you about them and post them some other time. Calvin, as anyone who knows David might guess, has a buzzed head. Perry's hair is even more shocking--and honest-to-goodness mohawk. Calvin's buzzed hair fits his little round head perfectly. We might just keep it this way. Perry, on the other hand... At first I thought it was kind of cute. And it is, as long as he's romping around the yard looking sweet. But when he throws a temper tantrum it's just scary. It makes him look like a little punk. I'm not ready for this from my three year old. So we'll see how long the haircut lasts. He loves it, though. David told him he looks like a fish or a dinosaur.

A Farewell to Arms

I was just sitting on the sofa reading Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms. At a chapter break I laid it down and listened. Usually it's quiet, but tonight I can hear the booming of my neighbors' leftover fireworks.

In the book I just finished reading a battle and retreat scene. I don't follow war and battle in books (or even movies) well. I just can't understand what's happening. I'm not able to visualize it--I guess because I have no reference for what the author's writing about. But tonight I'm struck by the thought of war; by the thought that these explosions around my house right now sound as though they could be from weapons.

I'm very anti-war, and agree with David that we haven't fought a war for the sake of our freedom (that couldn't have been dealt with some other way) in many, many years. The booming outside my window makes me sad. Sad that our country is currently in the middle of a war. Sad that, in this fallen world, we resort to such violence. Sad for all the people that have to try to live in countries that are torn by fighting and killing. I'm thinking of the people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Uganda, Israel, Lebanon. People caught in the middle who just want to survive and hope against all hope for a time in the future when they can do more than think about surviving. For a time when they can flourish. For a time without fear for their children.

The children. I'm sad for the children.

I'm not going to spout off some patriotic jargon about being glad I'm living in a free country. I suppose compared to many other nations we're free. But the only thing that makes me feel patriotic is the Constitution and the ideals of our country's fore-fathers. I don't hate our country or wish to be in another--I long for it to be what it was created to be, what it once was. What I have given up hope for it ever being again.

But I am glad that, at least for the time being, the sounds outside my window are only fireworks, and I can look in on my sleeping children without fear for their lives.

The Hand that Plays With You

A few weeks ago Perry came to me crying and told me Daisy had bitten him. It was obvious that she must have, by the way he was acting, and he doesn't make up stories, but I asker her anyway. She confirmed it, I spanked her, told her that she may not bite anyone, and sent her to her room for a while.

When she re-emerged, a little while later, I told her to tell Perry she was sorry. She walked over to him and did what I asked. I thought the issue was finished, at least for the time being. Then I heard Perry's worried whining. When I looked up I saw Daisy, dancing around him and chomping in the air--with a big grin.

The Makings of a Martini

David and I were just talking in the kitchen while he fixed himself a martini. He meticulously placed two olives in a cocktail glass, put three ice cubes into the shaker, added some vermouth and gin, admired the beauty of the bottles. Then he put the lid on the shaker and agitated it. Uncapping it, he poured its contents into the glass.

"What is that"

I had seen it too. Something had fallen from the shaker into the glass. Something that wasn't intended to be in there.

David fished it out. It was one of Daisy's little purple hair ties.

My mind zoomed back to this morning when Perry informed me that Daisy had poured the leftover contents of David's shaker from the night before (just water at this point) onto his bed.

The Letter or the Spirit of the Law

I've been held fast in the grip of my enemy Morning Sickness for the past two weeks. Yesterday and today were much better, but before that, I was basically reduced to a lump on the sofa, watching the world swirl around me. David did most of the cooking for me. He's been wonderful!

He's been gone this week painting a house and so dinner tonight fell to me. Thankfully, I was feeling somewhat up to the challenge. Not wanting to heat me or the kitchen up any more than necessary, I resorted to carrot spears dipped in homemade salad dressing. I figure that if I'm going to look for something to simply fill our stomachs, at least this was healthy. I always feel guilty when I don't serve a complete meal. I sit at the table and think We don't have a green vegetable. That means the kids aren't getting enough, um, whatever it is that's supposed to make green vegetables magic. I'm such a horrible mom!

So I just rationalize tonight by saying that we were making up for a lack of beta carotene. Yeah, that's it, beta carotene!

Wishing to dirty as few dishes as possible, I set out a paper plate with carrot spears and a bowl of dressing in the middle of the table. The rule in our house, as I'm sure it is in yours is: (unless you're the type to throw all germ caution to the wind and live a commune-like existence--in which case, more power to you)

No Double Dipping!

Perry has pretty much got this skill mastered. But Daisy, who really just asks for carrots so she can get dressing, is still somewhat lacking it. For the first part of dinner I watched her closely and patiently (see patiently, aren't you proud of me!) corrected her. After a while I figured she had it figured out so I turned my attention toward Calvin who was shoving leftover spaghetti noodles into his mouth like there was no tomorrow. I looked back over at the plate of carrots and noticed that one of them had a little spot of dressing on the end. No big deal, some must have dripped on it from...somewhere. I looked back over at Calvin for a second, then back at the plate of carrots. This time there were three carrots upon it with dressing only on their very tips. I sat silently and observed. Daisy picked up a carrot from the plate, dipped it into the dressing, sucked all the dressing from it (except what was on the very end), placed it back on the plate, then proceeded to do it again with another carrot.

But hey, at least she wasn't double dipping.

New Page Element

I've added a new page element. I saw one on somebody else's blog, liked it and thought I'd add it to my own. I hope it's not too strange for you folks. Let me know, honestly!