Winter Playground

It IS possible to enjoy some playground time in the winter... even if it's 30 something degrees out and there a touch of snow still on the ground.  We had lovely sunshine here today, and managed a little playground time after nap time.  

A Conversation With My Daughter

This is Stephen and I had a conversation with Clara Belle that I would like to share.  It was last Sunday afternoon while the others were having a nap.  I was doing daddy things like trying to read something.  CB was doing some imaginary cooking.

C:  Can I make you more cakes? (For my birthday)
S:  Sure.
C:  You would like more cakes?
S:  Well, not really.  Daddy likes pies better.  Apple pie, pumpkin pie, even coconut creme pie I like.
C:  Oh, OK.....I need surgery for my baby.
S:  I'm thinking "Surgery??!!!  What's wrong?  Her baby?"
C:  Because I can't get pregnant.....but I don't need that because my husband can't get pregnant....yeah....only girls.....so I need to make more pies.
S:  *speechless*
C:  Would you like two?
S:  Yeah.  *mostly numb in the brain*
C:  And another one?
S:  Yeah.
C:  And another one?
S:  Yeah.
C:  And another one?
S:  Yes.
C:  OK.  *nod nod*

This Morning's Baking Class

Clara LOVES to pretend she's teaching a cooking class.  Sometimes she does it with make believe ingredients, and occasionally it goes along with actually helping Mommy with real food.  Helping Mommy was the case this morning.  She was squeezing fresh juice for a trial run of scones I was making.  Enjoy!  There's also a good shot of the "dishwasher" man!  Gotta love the "That's a good question."  :-)  Videos 2 and 3 maybe the best.

Work and Play

My little work crew!  I'm actually not too good at having my little people help out as much as I should.  But here's a cute shot of Clara putting away silverware.  She doesn't enjoy it, but she's good at it.  Daddy worked at teaching her to do the silverware when she was pretty young.  Last week I had Hilkiah help out with putting away dishes.  Among other things, he got to stand on the counter and put away stuff in the cupboards!  He really enjoyed it! 

Here's a shot of my little snow bunny, taken yesterday.

A Morning Smile For You!

Here's my little guy this morning!

Little Mommy

Here's little mommy, Clara, with our sweet little friend, Susannah!  Susannah was good sport!  :-)

The other day, the little mommy even managed to get Hil sitting on her lap... she wanted me to snap a picture, but I think I was in a hurry to get going and didn't take the opportunity.  

1, 2 and 3

Monday and Tuesday of this week, Stephen had to put in some late hours at work.  Thankfully, we are very blessed and that is out of the ordinary for him.  Well, Monday night, the kids had been down for some time, and Stephen still wasn't home.  Clara was having a hard time getting to sleep, probably due mostly to the fact that she had taken a nap that day.  So, she kept making noise, asking me questions, etc.  I was on the couch reading at about 10:30 when a little girl comes around the corner and asks me "Mommy, did Daddy die?"  Too precious!  You never know what's going through those little minds!  And Clara is always saying something new, funny or darling!

Kiah has been taking his time in the talking category, but is slowly adding to his word list.  One of our favorites right now is his word for Clara: "Yah-yah".   He has also been broadening his scope of foods that he'll try and that seem to strike him as edible, which is a blessing!  He loves playing with balls, tackling his sister, watching videos, and playing outside.  He'll also sit and look at books.

Clara has enjoyed doing some simple, 24 piece puzzles lately.  After doing the one pictured below several times with help, she sat down a few weeks ago and did it all by herself!  Seemed like she'd hardly started and she was done!  I don't know who was more please about it: her or Mommy!  Probably Mommy!!!  

We're sooooo blessed by our little people!  They bring us tons of smiles!  And yes, they honestly bring lots of challenges!  I thought discipline and training was going to be rather easy and straight forward... before I had kids.  I could totally see what OTHER people where doing WRONG!!!  And now... well, it's not nearly as easy as I thought!  I'm sure there are all kinds of people who can see the many things I do wrong.  May my many short comings encourage me to look to the Lord for wisdom, strength and all that is needed!  And thank You, Lord, for the MANY joys You allow to be mixed in with the challenges.

In the realm of baby number 3, Mommy has been feeling a little "blah", but the nausia has not been too bad, perhaps less then with the first two!  The other day I was sitting on the couch with Clara and we were both enjoying some hot chocolate.  I was in a slightly reclining position and sit the cup down on my stomach.  I was told "not to spill" and then was also quickly instructed "don't put it on the baby!"  :-)

Important Lines

Clara has been voicing some important lines lately that I MUST share with ya'll.

This first line she randomly chose to voice to a small group of ladies gathered for Bible study last night.  "Mommy was feeling yucky so she got something to eat."

The second line she has used at least twice, once when she had been told to make the announcement and once when she had not.

"Don't you know, Mommy's got a baby in her tummy?"

Yes, she's telling the truth folks!  We just found out about a week ago that we've been blessed with an addition to the clan!   We're thinking the due date may be around the end of August / beginning of September.  We're so blessed!

Wintry Song

Do you ever just feel the urge to sing... even when surrounded by mud and grey skies?  Well, something like that seemed to happen to Clara when we were out playing for a bit today.  Let me guess the mud and grey skies weren't bothering her much at all!  While she was in the singing mood... Hil was in more the exploration mode.

I did learn a lesson today, and that is, before you go to all the work of going outside... snow boots, snowsuits, etc... have somebody make a trip to the potty first!  We'd been out for about 20 or 30 minutes when the urge suddenly hit a little someone.  :-/  You live and learn!

Tackle!!!

Surface Rust

This is Stephen.

I recently wrecked my dear wife's car.  We got the same make and model, just a year older, with 20k less miles.  I used the rest of the insurance money to buy parts.  Here's the problem.  Before I bought the car I was thinking....that's a lot of rust.  But there is a saying here in New York that sellers like to say.  "Awww, that's just surface rust."  Meaning it's solid.  In fact, the shipyard I just came from saved money in paint by allowing the surface of the ship hull to rust which acted as a protective coating during the 3-4 years it takes to get the ship to float.  Before the ship is floated out of the dry dock for final fitting, the rust is brushed off and a new coat of paint applied.

I have decided that with vehicles (and trailers) that it's a different story.  Exhibit A:

The above is the old shock I removed.  It took me 7 hours to replace one, uno, ehud, ein shocko.  Why?  You would never guess this but it was because of surface rust!  It's not the inside rust that falls in your eyes when you are working, it's the surface rust.  It was not the rust on the inside of bolts that inhibited removal of the corresponding nuts, but the surface rust.  In fact, the surface rust was so bad, the threads had distinctive layers parting away from the original base metal causing three peaks instead of the preferred single peak.  I had to hacksaw both the top and the bottom, and then because I didn't cut the bottom close enough, I had to file down the about 7/8" diameter metal rod about 1/8" before I could break the bolt out of the hole.  There was no rust on the inside of the bolt.....that checked out OK.  This was all done on my back, in a parking lot, on a bed of ice.  The nice thing about ice for a shop floor is that your cardboard really slips out from under the car easily...at least until it gets saturated with water.

 This is my new jack that Gracie let me buy to get the job done.  Thank you, Honey!  My 3.5 Ton Napa jack is sweet!

During one of my many resting times....I mean, inspection periods....I got a picture of a random undercarriage shot looking at my emergency parking brake.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  I also broke a gas tank band.  I think that problem was actually due to inside rust in this case, but it broke because I was scraping the surface rust, so I actually attribute the failure to both.

The good thing about all of this is that I now have a great new jack, and my other car that I thought was really rusty is now suddenly seeming very low on the rust scale.  HA!

Rust, auto accidents, tsunamis, earthquakes, drought, famine, and theft.  Nothing lasts in this life.  Where will your soul spend eternity?

What?

Here's a "cuteness of the day" for you:

I was looking at a book with Clara and one page had several different types of birds with their names.  I went through the names and came to "Great Blue Heron".  After I told her the name, the little lady piped up and said something along these lines:

"I don't like those ones.  They kill... they try to kill... they try to kill the baby Jesus."

It took a few seconds for it to dawn on me that "Heron" sounds very similar to "Herod", the king, who did indeed try to kill baby Jesus.

So precious!

Team Color and a P.S.

Some adorable team coloring that was going on this morning!  For some reason, sister didn't seem to mind the "help".  Too precious!  If only it was always like that!  :-)  

And a P.S. to my anniversary post:  Stephanie said in her comment that she hoped me had been able to do something fun for our anniversary.  Yes, indeed we did!  My hubby took me out to a Thai restaurant and we greatly enjoyed a DELICIOUS meal together!  And we took our friends up on the offer to babysit for us... so it was the first unchaperoned date we've had in quite some time!  :-)

The Couples

Stephen captured this preciousness on his phone this evening!  I just HAD to share!  :-)  The little lady really loves to get dressed up.  She's wearing my veil.  And the little man obliged long enough to snap a picture.  

And the parents of that adorable little couple celebrated FIVE years of marriage this past Friday!  FIVE years!  Wow!  Where did the time go???!!!  I have been sooooo incredibly blessed and privileged to be the wife of my Stephen!  Each day I experience his love, faithfulness, patience and leadership!    Stephen, I love and respect you... thank you so much for the honor of being your wife!

A New Year... And A New Look

So a couple nights ago Hil got a new look!  These are phone shots, so not the best quality but they'll still give you an idea.  :-)  Daddy gave him a good buzz.  The new look reminds Stephen of Hil's cousin, Phin! 

 And this ought to bring back memories to my fam... as buzzes are what my brothers always sported when they were younger.

To my friend, Stephanie S., if you're reading this, Clara said Hil looks like Gideon.  :-)  

Happy New Year... From A True Daddy's Girl!

The Snowmen

Two cute snowmen that were out in our yard this morning!  Fun times were had.  The boy actually got into throwing some snow!  :-)  The girl got cold before he did!  

Just Enough...

We were blessed with just enough snow a few days ago to be able to go get our first sled and give it a shot!  The videos are from yesterday afternoon when Stephen took Clara out and gave her the first ever rides.  Hil was napping.  However, this morning I got to take them both out and have some fun!  They both enjoy it!  Hil pretty much doesn't want to do anything but sit there and ride around or watch Clara and I play.  The big bulky snow suit might have something to do with that.   He did a good job of keeping the mittens on... surprise, surprise!  He does think Mommy throwing snow is very funny... unless he gets it in the face!  Enjoy!

I know, it looks like she's headed right into the street... however, there is a good size ditch there to work as a safety block.

Summer Memories

Here are more of those pictures I finally got taken off my camera!  They're old, but thought I would still share some of them!  First two are from our trip to family camp in June.

The rest are from our visit with Grandpa and Grandma M. later in the summer!  They made a long trip out to see us as well as other family along the way.  What a treat!  Enjoy!

Sweet Boy

She Loves Her Daddy

Sittin' with Pop pop

Mom and Dad M. didn't come alone... they brought along this lovely couple who are friends of theirs!

Apple Picking  (We did apple picking and blueberry picking all in one day!)

The Roles I've Been Given

The other day a little girl draped a sheet over her head and told me she was called "Mary".  Then she changed it to "the bride".  Shortly thereafter she went and got me veil from my wedding day and I helped her put it on.  A few minutes later she showed up at my chair, veil on and holding the sheet around her and said "Hey, hey.  I Raechel (her new Auntie whose wedding Clara was just in)."  She then wanted to know if I would be "Uncle Randy".  I obliged for a little while and we walked around and played wedding.  Didn't know that one of the Mommy jobs was playing groom.  :-)

The next day, she was Mary and I was given the role of "Jophis".  :-)

Another thing I've been requested to play lately is "dragons"!

We love that girl!