Dare I Say It?

shhhh...

I am talking quietly here...

I think Evie might be potty trained (silent clapping)  (tiny "yay")

She occasionally will have an accident (mostly at the Grandparents),

but she has been going to the Y, church, errands in undies.

She naps in her undies and stays dry.

And she has been dry at night for a few nights (not sequentially, however).

We are almost diaper free...

Book Update!

1.Caddie Woodlawn
2.Cheaper By the Dozen
3.The Great Turkey Walk
4.The Great Wheel
5.In Search of the Source
6.Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
7.Johnny Tremain
8.Across Five Aprils
9.Oh My Godmother: The Glitter Trap
10.The Tale of Despereaux
11.All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud
12.The One and Only Ivan
13.Little Britches: Father and I were Ranchers
14.Miracle on Maple Hill
15.Moccasin Trail
16.The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems
17.The Winged Watchman
18.The Kitchen Madonna
19.Thee, Hannah!
20.Understood Betsy
21.Dragon Howl
22.Detectives in Togas
23.Follow My Leader
24.Gooney Bird Greene (They all LOVED this book!We read the whole series)
25.Greek Myths for Young Children
26.Henry Huggins
27.The Year of Miss Agnes
28.The Family Under the Bridge
29.A Little Princess
30.The Cricket in Times Square
31.Kildee House
32.Red Sails to Capri
33.The School Story
34.The Apprentice
35.Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess (Platt)
36.The Child's Garden of Verses (Stevenson)
37.The Door in the Wall (de Angeli)
38.The Little Riders
39.The Minstril in the Tower
40.Tales of Robin Hood
41.The 21 Balloons
42.White Stallion of Lipizza
43.Captain Nobody (They also LOVED this book, especially Roman!)
44.The Adventure of Sir Lancelot the Great
45.Sticks Across the Chimney: The Story of Denmark
46.Charlotte's Web
47. Rainy Day Poems
48.Homer Price
 49.Mr. Popper's Penguins
50.The Wheel on the School
51.Little Pear
52.Mrs Piggle-Wiggle 
53. Mr. Revere and I
54. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
55. Sarah Witcher
56. In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Let This Be The Last!

No more snow,

No more cold,

Please, let there be no more

of this white stuff

and this cold stuff.

Come, Spring!

A Tale of Three Dates

I took Deacon on a "date" on Saturday, Roman on Sunday and Lincoln today.  They got to pick the place that we ate and I tried to let them guide the conversation.

Deacon and I went to Target to get him some shoes (ones that he can just slip on) and some new clothes ("I am tired of other people picking out my clothes for me, I want to be able to make my own choices about what I wear").  After that successful trip (in which he declared "this is my best date ever!") , we went to Dairy Queen.

We sat for a long time as he ate his food and then his blizzard.  We talked about movies, music, Christianity, friends, sports, blizzard flavors.  He held up his end of the conversation and brought up new topics.  He ordered his own blizzard, even though he was a little nervous.

---

Sunday Roman and I went to Culvers.  Roman informed me what he wanted to order, got his drink and picked out our table.  We talked about a variety of things, but it was mostly me bringing things up and him answering.  When he was done eating, he asked me what kind of ice cream that I wanted and without another word took both of our tickets up to the counter and came back with our ice cream.  He cleaned up the table and put the garbage away. 

We walked out to the Suburban.  I approached it and clicked the key, wondering why he headed to the other side.  I walked around the (first!) Suburban and saw him getting into our Suburban parked next door.  I laughed.  "How did you know that wasn't ours?"

"Silver stripe" was all he said.

"Were you just going to let me try to get into that car?"

Hint of a smile, "yeah".

(did he have fun?  I would never know.  He must have though, because he was quite disappointed that it was Lincoln's turn the next day...)

---

Lincoln had a little smile on his face on our way to Wendy's for his date.  He seemed impressed that I actually got him a Kid's Meal (which is a rarity for us).  He didn't demand conversation, but was content to carefully eat his food in a certain way.  I asked him a couple of questions, but he mostly seemed happy enough just to be with me and  to practice reading everything he saw- "Mommy, what does A-S-I-A-G-O spell?"  He brought up a few things, some funny story he had heard and plans for summer vacation, but let's just say there were a lot fewer words spoken than when I was with Deacon.

They are all so different, but all so precious to me.  I can't wait to see what kind of men they will become!

Basketball

Basketball season is over, but it sure was a great year!  Lincoln gained a lot of confidence on the court and made at least one basket in every game.  He knows how to get open and grab those rebounds.

This year Deacon was able to be aggressive without being too aggressive.  He made a lot of shots and contributed to his team.  In fact, his team was undefeated this year!  This was a huge deal to a boy who often gets on sports teams with fairly poor records.

But it is over, and we are ready to concentrate on the musical the boys are in, finishing up AWANA and starting baseball!

Brain Warming Hats

The kids were looking for inspiration, and found it from Gooney Bird Greene!  Yep, underwear for warming one's brain was her idea, but these three made it all their own!  :)

Why I Don't Wear Scarves

A lot of women are wearing scarves these days.  It used to only be middle aged women, but it seems the tide has shifted.  Now friends my own age wear scarves too!  I briefly wondered if I had reached middle age myself- if that was the problem.  A couple of months ago, however, I received a wedding invitation and the 20-year-old getting married was wearing a scarf in the picture!  I determined at that point that I was not just getting older (because that is true), but that the scarf trend was dipping down into the 20s, and dare I say it?  Even to the teenage girls!

Over the last couple of years I have considered joining the scarf-wearing population.  After all, it is a good way to change up a boring wardrobe and dress up the shirts that you already have.  In addition, a well placed scarf can cover over a multitude of spit up stains and...ew...chocolate from when your four-your-old used you as her napkin.

I have a cold friend.  We are both always cold, and so when we go shopping together one of the most important questions is: will we be warm enough in that for it to remain cute, or will we just cover it up with a bulky sweater or, in my case, a well worn bathrobe.  This is an important question, because there is not a lot of sense in buying something cute only to cover it up with something else.  It is the same way I feel about lingerie.  Somehow, my husband feels differently.

Anyway, my cold friend has tried to sell me on the merits of scarf-wearing from a cold lady prospective.  She says they greatly help her to stay warm.  I believe her.  I tell her that smart wool socks are the key to warmness.  That and a good stocking cap.

And I do wear a scarf in the winter.  I got it at Old Navy for a dollar.  It is striped, and I like stripes.

Aside from my winter scarf, however, I remain scarf-less.  Well, I may have one or two in my closet, but I don't wear them.  I cannot wear them.  I try to tell myself that it is just because my mom always wore them when I was little and it just feels too old and grown up for me, but somehow I don't think that is the whole truth.

The reality is that there is one picture that makes scarf wearing out of the question for me.  One picture that stands out in my mind every time I am tempted to grab a colorful scarf and tie it around my neck.  I call the picture, "The Unfortunate Red Bow".

 

Do you see the unfortunate red bow in the picture?  That single object which my mom tied around my neck that morning at the capital is the reason that I do not wear scarves right now in 2014.  She assured me that it would be festive, and I am sure it was.  She assured me that it was cool.  I am not so sure of that, but I believed her at the time.  But now, I just can't get past that picture.

 

Noah doesn't get it, "it is not a scarf", he says. And it is not. 

 

"It is an unfortunate red bow",  I respond.  And he snickers. 

 

"It is that", he replies. 

 

"Is that the day you fell in love with me?"  If it was, maybe I should reconsider the scarf/bow thing.

 

"No".  He scans the picture onto the computer.

 

And I remain scarf-free.

 

(by the way, the little boy in the picture?  Yep, that is Noah.  He has an unfortunate red stripe on his pants, but he doesn't like to bring that up.  I am just happy that it matches my bow.)

It was a good effort...

I was really doing better at my blogging frequency!  And then March happened...

Just so you don't feel too hurt, just know that my push-up count is also extremally low.  Let's see if  I can pull up those numbers!

But right now I am off to bed. It has been a very busy work weekend. St. Paddy's Day in an Irish Lovin' town combined with a full moon- that equals hospital drama!

40 degrees!

It's finally warming up and the melt is on!  I need to post this picture for my snow-loving sister in Thailand, though, just so she can really see how big our drifts were! 

March Goals!

It is the second day of March already, and I haven't really done anything! Of course, I have been working, but that is one thing I don't have on a list!  By, the way, it was still below 0 on our way to church this morning, so it doesn't look like I will have to start any yard work this month!  Hopefully in April there will be things like "pick up sticks" and "repair garden fence" on my list.  But for now, it is all indoor stuff!  There are a few things I will probably be adding, but I can't remember them right now!

Personal Growth/Bible

*read 4 books
*memorize book of James
*find my Fruit of the Spirit book and get through week 5
*blog 18 times
*write Noah and My story for the blog

Exercise

10 mile run
9 mile run
8 mile run
8 mile run
6 mile run
6 mile run
5 mile run
5 mile run
10 8 min miles at .5 or 1 incline, try to make some consecutive
swim 2 miles
400 push ups
2 miles lunges
lift weights 10 times
walk

Home

*buy dishwasher
*trim in kitchen/dining room/entry way
*go through kitchen cabinets
*go through dining room cabinets
*clean outside of cabinets
*bring stuff for youth garage sale
*Master Bedroom closet
*Paper sorting
*B's book
*Picture deleting
*scanning
*clean carpets

School

*standardized tests
*spelling/language arts

Social
*B's birthday party
*two outings with friends for me
*dates with kids
*2 times out with Noah
*people over x2
*plan out summer activities