Did you know . . .

- 4 year olds don't pick their nose anymore?
- 4 year olds take care of their dishes after they're done eating?
- 4 year olds don't "toot" at the table?
- 4 year olds can drink from a regular cup and not a sippy cup?

Rachel and Owen didn't know that either, until they turned 4!

It has been my past experience that age 4 is much better than age 3. I'm wondering now how much of that has to do with my expectations. Maybe by age 4, I just let them know that certain things won't be allowed anymore and they go along with it. At any rate, it's been fun to tell them that "we don't do that when we're 4".

Although, there have been times Rachel has sighed and said, "I don't want to be 4 anymore." Growing up isn't easy!

A squishy pillow

Last week, Owen wet through his pull-up at night. I washed his sheets and was making his bed before rest time. He came in to "help" and saw his pillow case in a heap on the floor. He poked at it and said, "What the hay? My pillow is all squishy!" It took me a minute to realize he thought his whole pillow was in that heap. He was relieved when I explained that his pillow was in the hallway (where he had taken it) and that heap of fabric was just his pillow case.

"What if he didn't?"

I was working with Tori on her Awana verses a couple weeks ago. We were trying different activities to help the verse sink in a little more. The first activity was writing the verse on a white board and then erasing one word at a time after she said the verse each time. This works great for Brendan but Tori is more visual and just seemed to focus on the words that were left and couldn't remember what had been erased.

So I tried the picture route. We took each part of the verse and drew out a picture of what it was saying. This seemed to be much more helpful, along with repeating the verse several times.

The verse was 1 Peter 2:24, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." I drew Jesus on the cross and then had many arrows with the word "sin" pointing to his body.

I know Tori has heard this many times. It's not new information. But this time it seemed to really sink in.

I know the feeling.

This time, she looked at the very poorly drawn picture and said, "He took all our sins." And I said, "Yes, he did." And she responded with, "But mom, what if he didn't?" And I was struck speechless. I just looked at her and honestly said, "I don't know." And we both just looked and pondered that for a minute. And then agreed that we were so thankful he did.

I love seeing things through the eyes of my children.

Starting 2011 with a bang - almost too literally

I have started this post so many times. There is just a lot to write about! I was trying to figure out a way to put it all together in a cohesive way but that just wasn't happening. So this will be more of hodge-podge post.

It's a new year and I'm feeling good! I started some changes last December and decided that one of my resolutions this year would be to continue those. In November I started running again. I've been running on and off for a couple years but haven't felt committed. I often used any excuse to not run. For some reason, this time something clicked with me. I felt the need to prove something to myself. I ran a couple times with some friends who were a lot faster than me. I thought about telling them that I just couldn't keep up with them but they were very encouraging and said that if I kept at it, I'd be running at their pace. I'm almost there! Before, the most I would do on the treadmill was 3 miles. This time, I've gone 6! I'm improving my speed and am making time to run 3 times a week and actually enjoy it. I'm really excited to run some races this summer and see what I can do.

Another goal for this year is to read the Bible. Our church is doing this together but I decided to be a little different. I didn't want to buy a new Bible with the reading plan so I looked on-line and saw a chronological plan and decided to go that route. It's been good to get in the habit of reading it every day, even if it's occasionally very late at night. For some reason, I'm more apt to fall asleep when I try to read it in the afternoon but reading it at 11:30 pm is never a problem.

I've also been watching what I eat and trying to limit certain foods. I think I'm making better choices. I joined the SparkPeople website and have been tracking what I eat and trying to stay within the recommended amounts for me. It has definitely made a difference. It seems to be a change that I can continue. I wanted to lose some weight but it wasn't just about the numbers on the scale. It was how clothes were starting to fit (or not fit, really) and I knew that my current eating habits were not helping things. I kept saying "moderation in all things" but I wasn't really moderate. And again, I wanted to stick with something and prove that I could do it.

That seems to be a theme for this year - stick to it. I should probably pick up that guitar and add that to my list of goals. I seem to be more focused and goal-oriented than I have been in the past.

Last Saturday, I heated up some water in the microwave to make tea. When I walked back through the living room, it smelled strongly of bacon. We had had bacon for supper so I didn't think too much of it. On Sunday, Josh heated some water in the microwave to make hot chocolate for the kids after they had played outside. This time it smelled like fish. We could not figure out what was going on. Monday morning, I was heating some oatmeal in the microwave and Tori happened to be sitting in the living room. She hollered out, "Mom, this is bad, it's going to be a fire!" I walked in and she pointed to an outlet that had sparks coming out. I quickly turned off the microwave and unplugged it for good measure. I called Josh and he called an electrician, after cautioning me to not use the microwave again. No worries there.

The electrician came on Tuesday morning and showed me our old outlet, with some melted wire around it, and said we were very close to a house fire. I asked if that would have caused a fish-like odor and he said that would have been the wire burning. He even had me smell the outlet and the odor was still there. He put in a new outlet, one that is now grounded. So thankful for a daughter who was done eating and who happened to be sitting in the right spot at the right time to alert me to the danger. I don't really like to think about what might have happened.

Now, to keep up with these goals past January. :)

Merry Christmas!

Doesn't Brownie look like she's in the holiday spirit?

Tori has been an animal lover her entire life. She has big plans when she moves out. She wants to own a poodle, golden retriever, chihuahua, and dachsund. And a horse. And maybe a rabbit. And a couple cats. The poor thing has to settle for one chocolate lab right now. If we could, I'd have a couple goats. And maybe another dog - but not one of those silly little dogs. I'd get a newfoundland. We're a bit different, my daughter and I.

This year, top on her Christmas list, is a chihuahua complete with clothes. We watched a little video clip about them by a vet and he said you have to be very careful where you walk because they get underfoot very easily and also like to hide under recliners. Josh made an innocent comment about most likely crushing a little dog like that because of not watching where he was going. Tori now will tell people that she "wants a chihuahua but my dad said he'd crush it." A bit out of context.

Needless to say, she's not getting her wish this year. But hey, a chocolate lab can be dressed up, right? I have never seen a more pleading look in this dog's eyes. She looks so humiliated. But Tori was in heaven. So Brownie gets the Santa hat put on every day. At least the white beard that came with it was too small so she doesn't have to suffer through that disgrace.

Are you sure they're only cousins?

There have been times that I've seen a picture of my nephew, Barrett, and thought he looked like Brendan did when he was younger. But I never realized how similar they looked until I saw this picture!

"Tell him 'Hi' for me, okay?"

This was a conversation I heard tonight as I took the kids to the Awana church program. We passed by some decorated houses and Owen exclaimed, "Santa!" Rachel then informed him that it wasn't the real Santa, it was a pretend one. Apparently, she's not a Santa fan:

Rachel: Owen, do you like Santa?
Owen: Yes.
Rachel: Oh, okay, then you tell him "Hi" and give him a hug, okay?
Owen: Okay.
Rachel: 'Cause I don't like him so I don't want to.

At least she's got someone to stand in for her!

Elk, swimming, bat factory - but not at the same time

The promised, much-anticipated vacation pictures

Can you imagine seeing this out your back window?

The elk just took over this driveway.

Waiting for the paint to dry

Sanding the bat

The trick or treaters ready to go!

Rachel is a "toes in first" kind of girl.

Owen is a "watch out world, here I come!" kind of boy.

A break from the every day

After two intense months of school, football, irish dance, gymnastics, and awana, we took a week off. It was awesome.

We left Saturday after Brendan's last football game and drove about 6 hours to Pennsylvania to stay in a condo. My parents, sister and her little boy also went with us. We each had a two bedroom, two bath condo with a kitchen and living area. There was an indoor pool a short walk away that we had to ourselves every day. Owen only had a near-drowning once. We slept in, played games, went swimming and enjoyed the luxury of two bathrooms. :) Seriously, it's a luxury.

We toured a baseball bat factory and watched them make a wooden bat in 2 1/2 minutes. We got to see elk very close up - crazy close up. I have pictures but they won't be put on tonight. I don't think I'd like to have elk walking through my backyard and laying in the middle of my driveway but it was neat to see them.

Now we're home and I haven't started laundry yet or cooked a meal. I think tomorrow will be a big adjustment. It was good to come home but I haven't quite gotten out of the vacation mindset yet.

Creative use of space

If I haven't mentioned this before, our house is on the small side. It's about 1200 sq. ft., plus the basement. The upstairs is about 220 sq. ft, about a third of which is hallway and attic space. That's not a lot of space left for 4 small people, especially when one of those is getting closer to adult size.

Last year, I started trying to figure out how we would rearrange the rooms to fit Rachel and Tori in one and Brendan and Owen in the other. There was a bunk bed in Brendan's room that fit okay. Because of the sloped ceiling, it was pushed against the closet, which meant only half the closet was really accessible but it worked. I hoped we could fit a twin bed with a trundle in the other room but when we measured, we realized there would be no space for toys or a dresser if we did that. It would literally take up the whole room.

We talked about making an L-shaped bunk bed specifically for that space and then I came across this in an Ikea catalog:

It's a loft bed that is just the right height for the ceilings in our rooms. We put them together in August and we now have a room for the girls and a room for the boys. I was going to buy new bedding for them but was debating about getting matching bedding. My mom made a comment when she was helping me put sheets on the beds (not an easy feat) and jokingly said that maybe I should just let them use a sleeping bag every night.

I started thinking about it and realized that there was no room on top or bottom bunk for a comforter to hang down. It would be a lot nicer if there was a blanket that was the same size as the bed. A sleeping bag wasn't a bad idea but hard to find really cute ones. I decided to make the no-sew fleece blankets for each of them. They're heavy enough that they tend to stay in place fairly well and easy to straighten out in the morning and keep the beds looking neat. It was also easy to find fleece that they would each love.

I bought matching fabric for Tori and Rachel. Besides the fact that they like matching, I was worried that they would like whatever the other had better.

This is Tori's bed. We bought these cute cubbies to give her more space for some things of her own. I actually bought a set for Rachel and Owen, too, but then decided maybe putting some of their favorite things right next to them in bed would encourage playtime and not sleeping. So those will be taken back. Or used in another spot.


And Rachel's cute little bed. I did not realize the outlet was right there until I took this picture. There will be outlet covers on that tomorrow.

Brendan's bed - he went with the U of M fleece. And again, he has the nifty cubbies to hold books and cd's and his mp3 player. Everybody needs a space to call their own.

And Owen's bed. He was supposed to get John Deere fleece but they were out of that so I went with another favorite - Cars. And again, I didn't realize until now that there is an outlet right there. That will be covered tomorrow as well.

The new roommate situation has worked out really well. The boys now go off and play up in their room (or listen to music and look at football cards) and the girls will go up and play in their room together. I love seeing them interact like that. It makes me think that maybe this house is still perfect for us. At least for now.