Grow Old With Me

This is what happened after a busy day of shopping! Sleep was all Jack wanted, and Cheezits were all Elijah wanted! Nadine insisted on carrying her stuffed cat inside her shirt around the one store...which looked rather interesting.

Elijah loves to play his guitar that he got for his birthday!

Before the shirt was covered in mud, I did get a cute little photo shoot with Jack & Elijah. Do they not look like brothers?

Jack loves to pull himself up on anything and everything!

Yesterday while we were driving, just Nadine & I, she saw the moon in front of us. It was very large as dusk was coming upon us swiftly. In an excited voice she said, "Look, Mom! The WORLD!" I laughed and expalined to her that WE were on the world and THAT was the moon! SO funny. =)

The boxes in the dining room are stacking up as everything is emptied around here... it is a little crazy! The kids are feeling the changes which makes it a little difficult on everyone. Tonight they are all sleeping in the same room as we are re-painting their room before we leave. Lots to do! Busy days. I am going to bed soon... which reminds me of what Nadine said the other day about snoring. She said, "Maybe if we're upstairs storming and sleeping..." =)

Tonight we brought some delicious Buca Di Beppo's over to Daddy & M0mmy's new house to celebrate! We had great food, real plates, paper napkins, placemats, even chairs... but no silverware. The one thing we forgot to pack! Ah, well! So, we improvised in a good, old-fashioned missionary way and ate with sporks, measuring spoons, wooden spoons and paring knives! How fun! =)

Sometimes I just sit on the couch with my crocheting and say nothing. My ears are peeled though, and when this happens I usually catch quite a few hilarious moments. Most things are impossible to capture by merely writing them down on paper. But quite a few times yesterday, I laid aside my crochet hook for my pen to remember them saying:

"Save me, oh fire cheeter!" -N
At one point Nadine was playing that she was Daniel in the lion's den. "King Daria" & "King Daniel" were both key characters in this charade. In one breath, the game was changed to David & Goliath. Then, one breath later, "I'm not King Daria, I'm a fire cheeter."

Nadine started reading a book to Elijah. When he asked her why Goliath was bad, she stated simply, "Goliath doesn't have Jesus in his heart."

Then while reading the story about Noah and the ark, Nadine made this comment about the rainbow: "It's not a rainbow! It's pink and blue!"

Today Elijah prayed, "I believe in God and pray that I like motorcycles. Amen."

He also said to Nadine, "Hear me!" While cupping his ear with his hand, because he couldn't hear HER. =)

My sweet boy taking a nap at Amy's house. Look at the FEET! He never moved!

Elijah & Nadine watching the model airplanes at Valley Forge with Maggie & Audrey. So fun!

Today it was fun to see my sister, Sherry & her 3 kids! All the cousins had fun bonding. Jack & Isaac, who are 7 months apart, smiled at eachother and wrestled a little in baby-fashion. (Mostly Isaac rolling on top of Jack, who is easily toppled.) So weird to think that in time the gap will close and they will be "the same age".

Today Nadine mentioned a new kind of fish that I've never heard of before. We were watching cooking and she said, "That's a wally-fish!"

The boxes are piling up over here for our move!

This morning we read about Noah. Later on, Nadine was telling me that his sons names were Ham, Shem, & Japheth. Then she said without hesitation, "And the girls were Hacka, Mecka, & Shecka!" I laughed so hard! Where on earth she got those names from I'll never know! =) The toddler mind is so amazing!

We also read about Daniel in the lion's den. Later in the morning Nadine & Elijah were running away from the lions and hiding under the table, which I guess was the den, and were exclaiming how the lions didn't hurt them!

On Elijah squirting suntan lotion everywhere during naptime:
"I did a lot a lot." He sure did!

On Elijah drinking Tylenol during naptime (all was quiet, but I could hear the tell-tale sound of the clicking medicine bottle cap as he was twisting it shut) :
After disciplining him, I explained how very serious it was not to drink medicine without Mommy's permission. I told him we might have to go to the hospital. He started to cry, "I don't want to go to the hosbibol! Then I will be sick! And then I will cry!" "Then I will have a baby." The last comment almost made me lose my composure. I smiled behind my hand while looking away before finishing our serious conversation.

It's been a very eventful day.

Today for school we studied the letter "G". We are learning the "consonant rhyme" to help them remember what sound each letter makes. Today was, "G stands for g, in g, g, gum!" So, we chewed gum until it lost its flavor, then stuck it to our G page and hung them on the wall. Fun!
I was struck today anew, at how relaxed kids are. I was watching Elijah enjoy a drippy, sticky Popsicle, with juice running down his arms and shirt and onto his toes. He just stood outside happy and content, not caring how it felt, just reveling in the sweet goodness of a summer Popsicle.
Tonight Nadine has her baby doll tucked in her own little port-a-crib, beside her bed. Her name is Nadine too and she was sleeping last we checked. =) This morning at school she told me that today was Monday! I go over the days of the week each day, but hadn't yet today! I was quite impressed!
Jack is teething I do believe. He cried more than usual today, which was a little difficult. So, we'll see how he does tonight! He's eating a little bit of rice cereal each day and loves it. He discovered the joys of plucking grass when I put him on a blanket outside today. He loved that too!

What a wonderful day we had yesterday at church! Thankfully, the power-point presentation for our Belize trip worked ! It was a special time with the whole team (minus Henry) and brought back lots of memories and yet brought closure to our wonderful summer. Afterwards we went to the Shorts' house for more fellowship. Had a blast playing basketball and getting black feet too. It felt good to be active and have fun with my husband! =)

Today Mat went to the ENT Dr. and had good news! His nose looks much better than 3 weeks ago. Now he will go back every 6 months to see if his septum is fine and not caving in or corroding. http://www.entnet.org/healthinfo/sinus/sinus_septum.cfm if you want to see what exactly the septum is.

Tonight Nadine was "cooking" macaroni and cheese and "asparagan" (asparagas). We had just finished watching cooking and they had made asparagas. =)

A while ago, after his bath, Elijah said, "Fold me in" (the towel). =)

Jack drank formula for the first time today. Nadine fed him, actually. He drank 8oz!

We had a wonderful weekend at the Jersey shore for Labor Day. Though we only saw the beach and didn't swim, it was still a wonderful time. Mat's grandparents own a tiny shore house about 10 min. from Cape May. So we hung out at the house, took some much-needed naps, cooked a live lobster! and had fajitas all weekend. =) It was great.

We are starting to get excited about moving! It wasn't really official until yesterday, that we will be moving November 4th! We are buying my parents' house and they will be moving a couple miles down the road!

Basically the only stitch of packing that I've done is organize Jack's clothes. He is now in 9-12 month clothes... kinda' skipped the 6 month clothes... and he's only 4 and half months! What a chunk! =) He is still so smiley and fun!

Tonight is our first youth group meeting since the beginning of the summer! I still have a few things to do before then, but wanted to post a little note.

Here are Nadine & Elijah making Jack laugh.

Here is a picture I took on my phone of the kids! Everyone loves to cuddle! We had a great day today, learning about the letter "D". We pasted pictures of Daddy to our paper! Looking forward to a weekend at the shore with Mat's family...

Today we had our third day of school! We worked on the letter "C". So, we cut out carrots and cows out of magazines and drew pictures for people. It was fun! I guess I'm not a very good artist, because Elijah asked me to draw a lion. So I did. He looked at it and said, "Do another mouse." I said, "A mouse! That's a lion!" Then Nadine piped up and said, "That looks like a pig!" So, my lion turned out to be half mouse, half pig. =) I am NOT an artist. Sherry, help!

Yesterday we cut out a picture of Bambi since we were learning "B". Elijah said, "I want to ride on Bambi's back!" Then Nadine said, "Bambi's don't live here."
Later, she was pretending to be the teacher and said, "Elijah, what does owl start with?"
He would answer, "Whoo! Whoo!"
"That's right!"

So, we have rather animated times between 7 and 11AM.

The Lord has been strengthening Matthew through this week. His prednisone dose is starting to lower each day, so at times he is feeling the effects of that. We are really looking forward to a time of relaxing this weekend down at the shore with his family.

Here is Nadine singing Jesus Loves Me...

Some more Nadine quotables from another day:

"I have Jesus in my heart... just like Alanna! Alanna's in Africa. I'm going to go to Africa... but after Heaven."

"Jesus loves us when we sing and dance and bounce and swing and chase bunnies, and..."

"When do we have to die on a cross?" -Nadine
"We don't have to die on the cross, because Jesus did it for us!" -Mommy
"Yes. Remember? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved! If we don't believe, we will be lost."- Nadine

Some funny quotes today from Nadine:
"Elijah, if you don't obey me, I'm going to stick you in my purse!"

Then she was trying to remember what the words were to "the wheels on the bus." So she sang, "The holy bus goes 'round and 'round..." "The holy horn goes beep, beep, beep..." =)

After Matthew came home from work he asked her, "So, were you running around outside?" She said, "No. I was running straight, in a LINE. Not AROUND." She is so literal! =)

Today I had a great morning with the kids. We did our Bible time, then had to rush off to the Doctor to get shots for Jack. Once there, Nadine commented to the nurse that we were here so Jack could get "shot". Oh, dear! They all did a great job at the Dr.'s and Jack even smiled at the nurse after all four shots were done and he cried a little. Sweet!

We then ventured to the grocery store where we had to get such essentials as oatmeal and milk and peaches! Again, the kids did great. I somehow maneuvered this gargantuan cart with Nadine & Elijah "driving" the car in front (and getting out at every stop, pretending something-or-other). Jack nestled in his car seat, which barely fit inside the shopping cart basket, and he ended up holding the oats and peaches! We checked out with little incident, both kids were rewarded with gum for such good behavior and off we headed for home to eat lunch!

Well, on our drive home, Elijah got it into his head that he should unbuckle his belts and start monkeying around in the backseat. I told him he would get punished at home, but that didn't detour him from "enjoying the passing pleasures of sin". We had all the windows down, and I had a funny feeling (which I should know by now to heed!). Well, next thing I know, Elijah was leaning forward, yellow crocodile shoe in hand, and tossing it OUT the window! I looked in my rear-view mirror just in time to see it skipping and blowing along the highway behind me. I did a quick U-turn and wondered what on earth had gotten into my child. There the shoe was, in the middle of the suicide lane. So, I stopped our van right there, waited for no cars either way, retrieved the shoe, and drove home. Needless to say, the ride home was pretty silent from then on...

After nap-time I polyurethaned some crown-moulding Matthew made for a job he's doing on Saturday. Then I finished making chicken cacciatore for supper. At one point I looked out the kitchen window from where I had just gone to check on my pot, to see Elijah ON TOP OF our van. Is life ever boring?

Today Nadine was pretending to be a Doctor and had a thermometer with which she was "taking her temper".

Jack topped the growth charts and is in the 97th percentile for height and weight.