I'm so excited!

I just discovered that I can listen to All Things Considered online! This is great. I always miss the program when it airs on NPR at 5 or 6, because I'm busy fixing dinner and reconnecting with my boys after my daycare girls leave. Now I have something to listen to after the boys are in bed, and I can simultaneously do housework or crochet. I can be more productive this way than I am when I read the news online (I doubt I could crochet and read at the same time...)

A nice picture

Taken at a friend's house the other day. Me, my mom, and the boys. Elijah is good at saying "cheese" for the camera but the smile doesn't quite extend to his eyes. Noah was grouchy as it was past his naptime. Personally, I think he is pretty cute when he is grouchy. Actually, I think he is pretty cute just about all of the time.

Elijah is getting so big, that I can no longer think of him as cute. He has graduated to "handsome." LOL It's hard to believe that he will be four this week. (And I'm 29 as of yesterday! Wow!)

Both boys' communication skills are improving. Elijah is getting much better at using words to express his feelings instead of whining. For instance, the other day Noah threw some cracker crumbs at him. He started to get upset but when I rebuked him, he calmed down and explained, "Noah threw slobbery crumbs at me and I didn't appweciate that."

Noah's vocabulary consists mostly of words like truck, plane, tractor, vroom, etc. but he is now adding words like wet, and funny; and he's putting words together into phrases more often, like "baby book," and "shoes on." He loves shoes! He will happily stomp around in my shoes, Elijah's shoes, or even, if all else fails, his own shoes. Elijah, on the other hand, is happy to kick off his shoes the first chance he gets.

Did I mention that I am now watching another baby part-time? She is 7 months old and very cute. Now for a couple of hours every morning, I am watching 5 children ages 3 and under! But it all goes pretty smoothly. The only downside is that I have to get up earlier as the newest one arrives at seven, but that's kind of an upside too, I guess. I've often thought that it would be nice to be up by six thirty every day.

Well, back to work.

Mom's visit

My mommy is here! She arrived Friday night and will be here for two weeks. She is helping me out with a lot of things around the house and we are greatly enjoying her company. The first night she was here (Friday) I got sick. She was kind enough to help out quite a bit with housework and childcare on Saturday so that I could get some rest. By Sunday I was better, but Elijah was ill, so we all stayed home together and listened to a couple of sermons online (check out sermonaudio.com) and a taped sermon by John MacArthur. And drank lots of yummy tea that Mommy had bought on Saturday. :)

Today we are back to normal health-wise, for the most part, though Elijah is still pretty tired and grouchy, poor guy. Mom is helping me rejuvenate my bathrooms--they are getting new caulk, new grout, and a good scrubbing. They will look so much better!

The boys are really enjoying their time with "Meemaw." It's so cute to see Noah bring her his favorite book (Bears on Wheels) and climb up into her lap so that she can read it to him. Both boys are delighted when she plays the violin or the penny whistle. And she is great at pretending with dolls and animals.

Well I need to get going...need to put some fresh sheets on the bed and get Elijah to sleep. Good night.

Budding musicians

The other night before bed Elijah was humming to himself. Then a thought struck him and he looked at me and said, "Mama, when I'm a grown-up, I can play Tai-chow-sky on the pany-o." :) :) :) I assured him that yes indeed, when he is a grownup, he can learn to play the piano and then he can play all the Tchaikovsky he wants.

Noah knows and can hum the opening line to Beethoven's 5th, and part of a piece by Mendelssohn. Elijah sometimes puts a name to pieces whose name I don't know, and I have to check to see if he's right. He usually is. Both boys like to "play instruments" while they are listening to music. They have decided that the broomstick is a cello, and a shorter stick has been labeled a violin. Both instruments are "played" with mixing spoons. Occasionally arguments erupt when Elijah decides that he would like to trade instruments, but Noah is not ready to do so; then I have to intervene...but this is an ongoing issue, Elijah deciding that he would like to "trade" toys whether the other children are willing or not. *sigh*

Perhaps one of these days I'll get a "real" instrument for the kiddos to play. Elijah would really like a triangle. Seems to me like a triangle would be pretty much indestructible, right? Indestructible is nice. Come to think of it, we do have a harmonica somewhere--I put it up during naptime one day, and never got it back down. Hmmm, now where did I put it?

Actually, come to think of it, maybe the pretend instruments are better than "real" ones, as they can play along without interrupting what we're listening to! I mean, the music to which we are listening! Sometimes correct grammar just sounds so awkward. Anyone want to suggest a better way to end that sentence?

Changing subjects--I have recently learned that several family friends (and my sister-in-law!!!) are expecting little ones. Congratulations once again! All are due I believe next spring.

For a while I felt like I had a house full of babies, with my own two and the two I watch; but now they are all getting so big! There aren't really any babies in the house any more. The older two are preschoolers now, and the little ones are fully toddlers. The littlest one just turned a year old this month. But I did get to babysit a really-truly baby for a few hours on Friday--she's 7 months old. That was nice. :)

Okay, this might be a bit disjointed? But I'm off to bed. I meant to go to bed early tonight. :( I would like to wean myself off of emoticons but it's hard.

This saddens me

I don't know why I'm trying to post when I have to leave in fifteen minutes, but this really struck me (in a sad way) and I felt like I ought to share it.

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-obama-race

Take a look at the box on the left--survey respondents were asked to pick adjectives that describe blacks. Notice where white republicans fall on this graph (the red squares). They are the least likely, of all white political groups, to apply positive adjectives to blacks, and among the most likely to think that negative adjectives apply. Note that less than 15% of white republicans think that the word "law-abiding" applies to most blacks! That's right, 85% of white republicans think that most black people are NOT law-abiding! Yikes!

This makes me wonder how many white republicans actually *know* any black people. I would have liked to see that question in the survey--how often do you interact with black people, and on what level?--and to see how the answer to that question correlates to the adjectives chosen.

But to a certain extent, your familiarity with black people ought to be irrelevant--surely any charitable American would be willing to assume the best about people that they don't know?

Elijah

Okay, three posts in a day--this has to be a record. Anyway, the other day Elijah was playing with dominoes, and after a while he announced "I made 'lion'!" I took a look, and sure enough, he had carefully lined up the dominoes to spell: LIEAN. Which does say 'lion' if you think of it as LIE-AN. I thought this was very cute. :) Oh, and he had it backwards, reading from right to left.

So far he is self-taught--I really should get my act together and teach him some proper phonics. I started the book "Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," but stopped when I realized he was not even close to being able to do the writing sections. A couple of months later I thought about the book again, and realized, duh, who says we have to do the writing sections? We can just skip them. Now it's just a matter of remembering to do it with him (at an opportune time, like when the other little ones are napping).

Okay, that's really all for the day.

Oh yes, the wedding

It has come to my attention that I have failed to post any pictures of my sister's wedding. Unfortunately, since I was in the wedding, I was unable to take any pictures, and the other expert photographer whose pictures I usually "borrow" was also in the wedding (that would be my sister. :P)

So the photos I post will be borrowed from several sources. For now I will just post this one, borrowed from Anna:

Above we have: Leah (my brother Caleb's wife, and the groom's cousin), Haley (best friend of bride, and married to groom's brother James), moi, Mercy, her new spouse Mark, Carl (groom's brother), James (also groom's brother, and spouse of Haley), and John (also groom's brother). The groom has a lot of brothers, six in fact.

The wedding was lovely and of course Mercy looked beautiful. She was a bit stressed out before the wedding though. I was not at all stressed out before the wedding, but I was stressed out after the reception when we all went outside to take pictures by this lovely pond, which you can see behind us. I was stressed because Elijah found the pond quite fascinating and didn't want to stay away from it. It had steep banks, down which he wished to venture. You can see him eyeing the pond again in the picture above. Just before this picture, he went out on a bridge over the pond (also behind us in the picture--note the highly inadequate railing) and leaned way out over the water to drop fluffy seeds into the water (cattails maybe?) and I couldn't do much about it because I was supposed to be posing for pictures. Fortunately a few other people assisted me in keeping him from plunging into the depths.

Oh, and as we left, Noah got into a nest of fire ants. I have been dreading fire ants ever since I first heard about them. But my imagination was worse than the reality. Once I got them all brushed off of him (and out of his clothes), he was fine--they didn't seem to cause him any lasting pain. The bites I got weren't too bad either. I am much relieved. :)

Okay, several children are waking from their naps, so I should go. Perhaps I will edit in more pictures later.

Plastic bags are yucky

Here's a slideshow about plastic bags, and the impact they have on our environment and our economy:

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016

I've switched to the reusable bags that you find selling at most stores nowadays for $1, and...they are so much nicer! I love the big handles that I can put over my shoulder. I love that they're strong enough to hold two gallons of milk. I love that they are big enough that three of them hold a week's worth of groceries (well, that's if I don't put the milk in bags). I like the flat bottom that enables them to stand on their own when full of groceries. They're so much nicer, that I wonder why everyone doesn't use them all the time. Oh wait...maybe it's because they are always forgetting their bags at home, like I do. :) Seriously people [Mom], they cost a dollar; you should give them a try.

Note: the ones at Walmart for $1 don't have the hard bottom that makes them so much more supportive--so pick some up at Kroger or another store, where they still cost $1 but have the hard piece in the bottom.

Of course, the bags you find for $1 aren't exactly the ultimate in reusable bags--the best ones are the ones made of heavy-duty canvas, that you can run through the washing machine. But those are significantly more expensive...I've seen them at the farmer's market for $10. Maybe someday I'll be able to afford them. I bet they would last forever.

I hope that in my lifetime, plastic grocery bags will go extinct, so that the bags I crochet out of them will be a novelty item. Someday I'll tell the stories to my grandchildren. "Gather round, kids. Once upon a time, people brought their groceries home in these flimsy, ugly plastic bags. They hardly held anything, and wouldn't stay upright in your trunk, and sometimes they would rip and send your groceries rolling across the parking lot. And they had to put these warning labels on the sides, because sometimes babies would suffocate in them." "Eeeeewwww!" reply the kids. I can just see it, can't you?

I'm in Texas...

...and keeping quite busy, so I may not be able to respond to previous comments for a few days. My parents' church recently bought a new building and my brother Jesh and others have been transforming a wing into living quarters for the new pastor and his family. We spent a few days there this last week, helping out; the place was humming with activity--painting, tiling, new doors, trim, etc. Mom and I repainted the kitchen cabinets and replaced the handles. It was very satisfying to see those hideous yellow cabinets transformed into something beautiful...(ahem) well, tolerable at least. (Sometimes there is only so much that you can do.) I enjoyed working at the manse (parsonage) in part because I enjoy that sort of work, but also because I had nice company, like Mom and my brothers. :)

One person I haven't seen much is my little sister, but as she is getting married tomorrow, she has a good excuse for not being more sociable. Today she tried on her wedding dress for a few last-minute alterations (she looked lovely of course), and I got to think a little more about how my little sister is all grown up, and leaving home for the first time. I also scoped out her room, since I hope that the boys and I will be able to move in now that there's a vacancy. :) Well, not right away, but before too long.

I've been taking lots of pictures and will hopefully get some posted soon, maybe on Saturday?

I can't believe that my visit will be ending so soon (Monday). Perhaps I can just skip my flight back and stay here for good! (kidding, kidding, though I'm tempted).

Adios for now.

I got a new stroller!

...not the double jogging stroller I've been wishing for, but a single jogging stroller, which is a big step in the right direction. I found it cheap at a local rummage sale. The fabric is faded, but it's sturdy and a good brand (baby jogger) and has the fixed wheel I wanted, and it turns on a dime, and I can drive it straight over a curb without stopping (an advantage of great big wheels). I love it! Now I can make trips like I did yesterday--Noah in the stroller and Elijah walking on the way there, and Noah on my back and Elijah in the stroller on the way home (a mile each way)--only the trip will be sooo much easier with a nicer stroller.

My neighbors had a yard sale of their own today, and thoughtfully included a few items of mine that I wanted out of the house--some of them big, like an extra twin mattress and a broken computer desk--and sold them for enough to compensate me for what I spent on the stroller. I feel good about getting some of those big unwanted items out of my way, and (effectively) getting a new stroller in exchange!

Please don't take this post as an indication that I'm "done" with the last one--I'm still welcoming comments and meal suggestions. :)