Sunday, December 30

Finding the jewel

I found it...the frame I'd been searching for this past year! I saved this picture (taken by our very talented friend, Melanie) since last fall, planning to frame it. Mel caught the boys during a silly time...I'm sure they were laughing about some bodily function. Nevertheless, I love when they share a laugh together and this picture captured it forever for us. Now, if it only captured the sound of their contagious laughs too!

Both boys have inherited their Dad's funny laughs & giggles. Each of them can get you laughing just hearing them crack up. On our first date, Brent and I watched a Jim Carrey movie. I found more humor in listening to Brent than watching Jim Carrey!

Laughter is such a blessing, isn't it? Regardless of what we're going through, laughter does lift the spirit. One of the boys' favorite songs was taken from Prov. 15:13....A joyful heart is good medicine...
Now to find the perfect place for this great remedy!

Wednesday, December 26

Mommy University

On our way to my parents yesterday, Braden was snuggling with his new Webkin, Hoppy. He's a frog, in case you'd never figure it out. He asked, "Mommy, when I go to college, will I pack everything up?" (He wanted to secure a spot for Hoppy in his belongings.)

"Well, when are you going to college?"

"Maybe when I'm 7 or 8 or 9."

"How about when you're 17 or 18 or 19? Mommy went to college after I graduated from high school. I was 18 and Gpa and Gma Bailey and I packed up all my stuff in a minivan and drove a long way so I could go to college."

"Oh, so you could learn to be a mommy?" :-) :-) :-)

It's fun to try and help them to understand life before them. Life has essentially revolved around those cute, little boogers for about 6 years of my life, whether we want that or not. Thankfully, I was afforded a chance to study something other than mommy-hood before then. I do have a degree in accounting...will I ever put it to use again? I have no idea. I don't think I'll ever create the college-level courses on Mommy-hood though, b/c I have not won my "Mommy of the Year" award yet. When I do, I'll start writing the curriculum.

Tuesday, December 25

Merry Christmas!!!

We have a White Christmas in Iowa and it's so beautiful!!! We had a long trip getting here...stayed over 1/2 way on Saturday night, so we didn't have to battle the ice & snow in the night. It was so nice to sleep in a bed, rather than the in the car. Of course, only 1 out of the 4 of us really slept...that would be the one with the tonsil issues...Brooks. He snored so stinking loud, the rest of us didn't stand a chance to reaching snore-level sleep!!
We were so glad that we stopped when we did. The next day, we drove about an hour and ran into the terrible wind and roads partially covered by ice and many cars/trucks in the ditch. All in all, it was a good trip and God granted us safety!
We were greeted by Gpa and Gma Bower and lots of snow!!! Yeah!!! They have a some GREAT sledding hills in their yard, so we couldn't wait for cousins to arrive to sled with us. When they arrived after their trip from Dayton, we had ourselves a great turkey dinner complete with homemade fixin's. Brent's mom worked hard and his dad did the turkey in the fryer. That's a first for me. It was pretty yummy!!
All we heard that day and night was...."When do we get to open the presents...Where's my present...why does so and so have more presents than I do?" We know what's important. Glad we covered that topic.
More sledding on Christmas Eve, a little shopping (which is much easier in a small Iowa town to fight their "crowds"), some George's pizza, the family photo shoot and then...the presents! The kids had a great time and received some fun stuff...so did we!
More sledding today...it's perfect, almost too warm to be bundled up and sledding. Lunch and playing together, and now we're ready to head to my parents. Wish we could stay longer here and I'm sure we'll feel the same once we get to my parents. Glad we're making great memories while we're here. Gotta run and help pack the van!
Merry Christmas to all! More pictures to post later!

Friday, December 21

Up on the rooftop...


Tonight the boys just could not settle in to sleep...they were anticipating a visit from Santa tonight. Or maybe it was the effects of 4 sugar cookies smothered in red-food coloring & sprinkles that was the issue. Could have been the "footsteps on the roof" or the faint jingle bells that Braden kept hearing. (A friend shared that her dad threw a basketball on the roof to simulate Santa's arrival...guess what we used at our house tonight?) Whatever the cause for the hype, we WILL be opening our presents as a family in the a.m.

"I'm not going to sleep, b/c I want to wait up for Santa!" - Braden (He couldn't hold up and is sawing logs now...I should be too!)

Brooks doesn't remember much about the whole process from last year. But he did have fun throwing "reindeer food" on the patio before bed. That was quite comical. Braden came up with all sorts of ideas of what might happen if the reindeer are too busy snacking when Santa is ready to move on. He really looked scared, as though we might cause a delay in the travel plans.

Santa was not a part of Christmas in our homes, as we grew up. And we were okay with that...although we grew to think he was pure evil and it was our mission to spoil many kids' ideas of something fun. We've grown to understand that anything can become "evil" at the holidays, when it steals our focus. We, the ones that buy & give the presents, can lose our focus and make it more about ourselves than the celebration of Christ's birth. Our overindulgence and commercialism seems more evil than the jolly 'ol man in the red velvet suit...some with scraggly, cotton beards too! :-)

So Brent and I have decided that in our household, as long as it lasts, Santa surprises with stocking stuffers, while the presents come from Mom & Dad. Good thing we established that early, b/c Braden saw us wrapping the presents last year and called us out on it this year!

The focus of Christmas does remain on the miracle of Jesus' birth. We experience more excitement in setting up the Nativity scene than the stockings. Jesus is the reason for all that we do and celebrate this time of year. Braden decided to "send a message" and keep Jesus at the forefront of Santa's mind too...he left him a cross cut-out cookie in the CENTER of the cookie plate tonight. Thank goodness He helps us keep our focus!

Tuesday, December 18

Faith of a child

Yesterday I was cleaning the boys' fish tank and noticed a sickly fish. He was really struggling to keep swimming. To top if off, while I was cleaning, I accidentally sucked his head up in the junk-sucker. (true accident) I squeezed him out of that, only to see him struggle harder to even stay upright. After a few seconds, he turned upside down and began to "rest." You could still see him move, but I was convinced he was a goner.

I felt so horrible and told the boys that one of their fish might have died. I apologized to them, because I helped him along in the process. They were full of curiosity and wanted to watch him. Braden still had faith though. "Mommy, he's still moving!!"

"Yes, honey, but he's floating upside down."

It challenged me to teach the boys to pray for this seemingly small (and stinky) issue. "Dear Jesus, please heal our fish and save him. We don't want to flush him." (I think the boys secretly DID want to experience flushing a fish. They thought he might get flushed to the ocean, thanks to Nemo)

Don't you know that Jesus answered!!!!!
When Daddy came home last night, we reported our fatality to him and he went up to look. He said that fish is STILL alive! He looks healthier than when I started sucking his brains out yesterday!
Amazing that Jesus cares about our stinky, small fish that was ready to be flushed down the toilet. I LOVE that my boys can witness Jesus caring so much for our needs...not to mention teach me a thing or 2 while He's doing it! Thank you Jesus!

Monday, December 17

oops

I don't know what I've done...well, yes, I do. I've messed up my blog alignment. I decided to try and change some of the template margins by doing some HTML editing. (Yes, I really have too much time on my hands. Can I offer some of mine to any of you?!?) Hopefully I'll figure it out soon and everything won't be crammed over to the left!! Maybe I should leave it there...after all I usually am partial to the left side of things!

Sunday, December 16

Calling me out on it

Tonight we were frantically trying to get out the door to a Christmas musical at our friends' church, Vista Community Church - Dublin. My friend had mentioned what a great service it was going to be, so we did not want to miss it.

However, Brent was trying to get our dryer fixed and our wonderful handy-man neighbor came down 30 minutes before we needed to leave to help Brent with the task. And I was trying to catch up with a friend on the phone for a few minutes, but received about 10 calls in the meantime (NOT an exaggeration...usually no one calls us!). I was questioning whether we'd even end up going to the musical and if that was what we were supposed to do for the night. Maybe we were supposed to stay home as a family and get the dryer fixed.

So can you imagine what a freak I was being, deciding that we were still going to make it to the service. I wasn't very nice to the boys while I was getting them moving, as I knew that we were going to be late, and they wanted to lolly-gag getting ready.

Finally, we're all in the van. That's usually where everything erupts if it hasn't gone well in the house. Of course, I took advantage of the situation and fell in my "venting role." Soon, Braden piped up, "Mommy, are you going to act like that at church?"

Oh...my...word...!!!! My 5 year did NOT just call me out on my sin! Yep. He did...and he made us all laugh so hard, but also see the reality of my sin. (Brent laughed hardest) I told Braden that God gave him to me just for that moment. Had Brent said that, it would not have gone well at that point, as much as I needed to hear it.

I have certainly been trying to work on peeling away that junk...
#1 not acting like that to my family b/c I think I can.
#2 Not going to church and acting like it's all good.
God is so good to give me that challenge....through my son. When my kids can see right through me, why would I think anyone else couldn't? The Christmas service was so awesome & moving. I could post on that alone and may just do that! I needed to surrender that anger/frustration....SIN...during the service. I pray that see me handle things appropriately next time I'm overwhelmed.

Tuesday, September 25

Quotables

We know people highly suggest leaving thoughts of your kids at home while you're on a date with your spouse. But we just can't help but quote the boys when something reminds us of their funny comments. They give us a lot of material to laugh about while we're taking a breather from them. Can't completely get them out of our heads!

Last week I was making treats for big brudder's preschool class. I asked him, "Do you want me to put chocolate chips in the rice krispies, or do you want sprinkles on top?"

He answered, "Hmmmm, chocolate chips or sprinkles? That's a hard decision! Now if it were peas or chocolate chips, that would be an easy decision!"


Tonight we were watching a commercial for the "healthy" Curves cereal. The women in the commercial are portraying how much energy the cereal will give them...they're jumping really high in the air with huge smiles on their faces.

Big brudder broke the silence..."Mommy, do we have Curves?"
I was kind of in a daze, not soaking up the content and thinking the boys weren't either. I just knew that cereal does not find it's way into our cupboards. "No, why, do you want to get some Curves?" I asked.

"No."

"Does that cereal look good or something?" ...still trying to figure out why he asked if we had some.

"Will it make us jump really high?"

Whew!!! I was worried that he was checking out the older women in the commercial! :-)

And one more for the post...more to come later, I'm sure!

My boys have been spoiled by fast food for sure. Last year, I had a hard time getting home after preschool without a request for the Golden Arches nearly every time. One day I responded, "No honey, God didn't make our bodies to eat at those places all the time. It's not healthy to eat 'fast food' every day."

"Well, mommy, I'll eat it really slow. Will that be healthy for me?"

Hmmmm, I think he's on to the latest diet scam!

Monday, September 10

Back to the Bikes

I mentioned in an earlier post about bikes and what a great time we have on family bike rides. We have been so blessed by my brother, who has graciously hooked us up with bikes & accessories over the past several years. He is an amazingly, creative guy whose profession is designing graphics on bikes, helmets...all sorts of accessories. The coolest part is that he works for what we think is the best bike company in the world...TREK! (Did I mention he designed the graphics on Lance Armstrong's bikes & the racing team's identities? That's our mom's favorite detail to add in when she brags on his work) My parents can brag all they want though...they've seen his talent since he was a young guy, obsessing over and re-creating on paper his favorite bikes and semi trucks. We're glad he chose the bike industry over the 18-wheelers...we couldn't fit 2 of those in our garage!

So we have the ultimate hook-up with some great quality, American-made bikes and they happen to be sporting graphics that my own brother designed! I won't do justice for his amazing design work and talent...he does a quality job in everything he does though...most importantly being a family man for his wife and girls.

Then, to top it off, he hooked us up with a bike trailer to pull our kiddos in. Braden graduated from the trailer a couple years ago, when we happened upon a TREK Mountain Track bike at a garage sale. We snatched that tag-along up so fast and have by far recouped the $10 we paid for that gem. Coolest part about it...it is the exact color of Brent's bike and looks like it was bought as a pair!
Brent & Brooks going for a ride

For this summer's adventures, we've took family rides to the ice cream shops, we rode on some awesome trails in Fairfield, Iowa (where Brent grew up) and took the whole set of bikes on our 1st Labor Day camping excursion. We gave nearly every kid in our camping group rides around the campground and Brent managed to sneak away on some trails with a couple of buddies. Apparently the trails were quite narrow and the trees jumped out and grabbed Brent's toe. He is still suffering tonight and thinks it's probably broken. Thankfully our friend, Maria, was with us and she put her nursing skills to work and taped up his bum toe.
Brent getting some TLC from everyone at the campsite.

Regardless of the outcome of our rides, we think of my brother and are so grateful every time we hook up the bikes and ride off together for some q.t. The boys could ride for hours and we're given the great chance to get out and explore the great outdoors!

Thanks a bunch for the hook up! We'll keep saying it..."We LOVE our bikes!"

Thursday, August 23

Forgiven


After hearing a little scuttling downstairs, a sniffling l'il brudder came upstairs to tattle to mommy.

*Sniff, sniff...choke, choke (forced crying & whining) "Brudder said....um...."

I waited to hear what great offense he endured.

*Sniff, sniff "Brudder said...um"

Then he disappeared to the hallway and yelled down the stairs in the clearest, most composed voice, "BRUDDER....what did you say?"

"What?"

"BRUDDER...what DID YOU SAY?!?"

I never heard a response, but so quickly the incident was over...brudders resumed playing...offense forgiven! I could learn a lot from the little guys!

More adventures in the Heartland

It was pretty toasty while we were back in Iowa. Pretty normal for this time of year. So we frequented the awesome aquatic center in Marshalltown. The boys have been fish this summer, so we couldn't miss any opportunities to swim on vacation.

Brent has been a great instructor for them these past 2 summers...he stands in the pool, makes them jump off the side and keeps backing up while they swim as far as they can to him. It works and they keep rising to that challenge. By the end of the summer, they are pretty independent in the water. They have some great slides, but unfortunately they weren't part of the fun for our entire family for very long. We needed 2 more inches on big brudder to pass the test. We snuck on twice but got busted when Grandma tried to ride with him. The Lazy River was a hit though and we also snuck on the drop slide a time or two.

We had an awesome time with my sister's family...the kids couldn't wait to play each day. It's such a blessing to see them pick up where they left off, when they see only each other 2-3 times a year. We had 2 sleep-overs...one at their house and one at Grandma's house. And yes, we actually got sleep at both of them! The big boys got to play too...a round of golf at The Harvester, thanks to Mom and Dad for that annual gift!

We took a couple of bike rides (more about bikes later!) with my parents and rode to my grandparents house one day. Grandpa Button showed the boys his entertainment for the summer...his rodent trap. He wanted to empty it before showing them, but boys will be boys and they just had to see the dead thing! (I wanted to see it too...I am a city girl!) Grandpa and Grandma Button are kids at heart though and always fun to visit. Their wisdom is wonderful and the Godly heritage of their family is rich We are so thankful for their influence on all of our lives and love any time we get to spend with them.

There were many more highlights during our stay in Marshalltown...playing the Wii with Mom, Dad and Grandpa Button, hitting our favorite restaurants in town, chasing and loving on (torturing) Gabby the cat each and every day and simply enjoying the comforts of "home." It was a great time. We are so thankful!

Bzz, zip, bzz...Oops!

Today I took the boys to our favorite "salon" for their haircuts. Hands down, Cookie Cutters does the best job on their hair. Brent gave haircuts a whirl a couple of rounds ago, but we decided to stick with the pros. Expensive yes, a quality job, yes...every time?

Big "brudder" got a closer trim than we expected...on the first pass over his head! He was in the race car, Cars the Movie was showing and he was jammin' to the opening song. Bzzzz... the trimmers started and on the first cut, the guard flew off the razor. Down to the scalp they went on the back of his nice thick head of hair!

Oops! She looked at me to see if I just saw what happened....I could only laugh, b/c I didn't miss any of that action and what could we do at this point? She was relieved that I didn't jump down her throat. I just imagined him with a bald head on his first day of preschool. Our guy didn't even have a clue...he just kept right on groovin'. I don't think he would have cared had we left the racing stripe...he never sees the back of his head anyhow!

I was just thankful that we already had summer pictures taken a few weeks ago. Preschool starts soon, but we're usually lucky to get a good first day picture anyhow.

She mastered the mistake into a quality cut and it resembles one of his buddy's hair, so it's all good for him. It's a little harder on mom and dad, b/c he looks like he should be starting 1st grade or enrolling in the Marines! I don't have a picture, but wish I had one of that "Oops!" moment. It'd be worth a thousand words and a few laughs in the future!

Tuesday, August 21

Back Home

There's still no electricity in Iowa...sorry for the dark picture.

We had a great annual trek back "home" to Iowa. Every summer, typically in August, we spend a week at the Bailey house (my parents) and a week at the Bowers. They live about 2 hours apart. We are so blessed to have that quality time with both sets of parents/grandparents.

Summer is also a very nostalgic time in Iowa for some reason. Me and my hypersensitive nose can remember many moments from the 18 growing years I spent there, solely based on the scents in the air. The farm smells were so annoying while I was growing up, but now I can appreciate them!

On our way back to Ohio every year, Brent and I sift through our time in Iowa and discuss whether it's time to move "home." We don't feel God's calling this year, but we try to keep our hearts open for "the call."

This year we visited one of best kept secrets in Marshalltown, where I grew up. The Big Treehouse is one of the biggest tree houses in the world! A neat story surrounds it's construction and how a grandmother allowed her grandson's dream to come to fruition in her backyard. The Tree House consists of 12-levels, 55-feet high, with over 5,000 square feet of floor space, complete with music, electricity, telephone, microwave oven, refrigerator, running water, grill, 13 porch swings, and a Spiral Stairway, which was all built in stages around a maple tree. The grandmother actually gives you a guided tour, that infuses some history of the area into the tour. She emphasizes education and quizzes you during the tour also. So pay attention and don't get squirrelly or she'll fail ya!
The sprial staircase of the Treehouse

Grandma Bailey & the cousins being silly during our wait for the tour

The monkeys in the tree

It was so cool to see how massive the base of the tree was and also how the bark/branches of the tree have begun to grow around the wood of the treehouse. We were all amazed, inspired and somewhat fearful that we might lose a kid or 2 through the slats of the upper levels too!!

Well, that was the first of many adventures in Iowa, but being new at this blogging thing, it took me forever to post, so I'll wait for another post to share more adventures.

Hope you had some fun travels, making many memories this summer!

Monday, June 18

Summer is here!

Yes, summer is officially here. We've finished vacation Bible school, one basketball camp, one in process and frequented the pool in the last week. Oh yes, and my flowers are already dying from heat exhaustion and lack of watering....summer is here!


VBS '07 -Amazon Expedition - The Ultimate Trek through Time. So great for me and the boys. I was blessed to team-teach the Pre-K kiddos with my friend Carrie. Thank goodness for an awesome director of VBS who faithfully writes awesome scripts to teach these kids about God's creation and love. This was big brudder's first year to participate in all the activities and he had a wonderful time. Li'l brudder was even taught the stories in his young-uns class, so it was so fun to hear it retold from the mouth of a babe. ("I not a baby, I a big boy!!!" - he would refute that title!) Lord help all those kiddos to take something away with them, most importantly your love and salvation!

We spent some time honoring Brent yesterday, at the place he was begging to go to for 2 weeks now... Carrabbas! We were all kind of zombies after a crazy week, but he deserved much honoring. He has so much patience and loves on those boys so much. They love him to pieces too! Big brudder drew a picture of them jumping on the trampoline together, b/c that what he loves to do best with Daddy-o.

Today...a bit sore. We did some water-skiing over the weekend. Yeah....um, I haven't worked those muscles in an age! Brent's sister & bro-in-law took all of us out on the boat in Dayton. The kids had a blast and his niece got to showcase her newfound wakeboarding skills! Pretty sweet!

Realtor comes today to list our house. Hopefully it's ready and we are too! It's been a month since we made the decision to go for it. Praying for direction and everything to fall in to place...or clearly not fall in to place!

Gotta play with the pics a little bit...trying to post in the center....

Tuesday, May 29

New to the Family

On Saturday, during dinner, Big brudder and I are having a conversation that I don't even remember starting. He opened up and said, "When my friends die, I am going to be really sad." We said, "Why will you be so sad?" And he said, "Because I'll miss them."

Rewind about 2 years...we have been praying about, reading about, talking about how Jesus died on the cross to save all people from their sins. By choosing to trust Him to forgive those sins, we will be in heaven with Jesus when we die. Braden has a full understanding of the story of Jesus death and resurrection and why Jesus chose to do that for us.

Back to our conversation...We reminded him that he doesn't have to miss his friends, if he and his friends are sure they have asked Jesus to forgive them, so they can all live in heaven one day. It was an awesome chance to remind him that he has to make that decision for himself...not Daddy, not Mommy, not Grandparents, not friends...He was in charge of that choice. What a big one for a young guy!

The wheels must have been turning for him, because he soon held up a finger and said, "Mommy, don't listen to this..." He turned away from me, folded his hands and whispered a prayer...."Dear Jesus, please come into my heart and forgive my sins."

Wooohooo! We were excited...almost shocked...but we know that he understands and firmly believe that He became a new addition to God's family at that moment. Brent told him that he had just made the most important choice of his life. The angels were celebrating for him...so we had to also. It was great for little bro to hear the entire conversation and hear the excitement too.

So what better way for us to celebrate than to have a Blue Moon party...Don't they look happy? It got a little crazy, but what's a celebration without some craziness?

Thank you Lord for making your way clear for our boy...we can only trust your perfect timing for your plan to sink in to the heart of one who needs you. It's all You Jesus...you made it click for him!



The boys celebrating New Life!

Finally one of my own

So I've been loving reading blogs for quite some time now...it's time I have my own. More for the journaling purpose and I just really need to have one more thing on my list of things to keep up with! I'll either crash and burn with it or it'll become my strongest addiction...I guess it's pretty safe compared to my alternatives.

The person who's really inspired me to start mine is someone that I don't even know...never met...stalk her blog...love her stories. Deanna has kept me reading about their family of four and I can relate to their life experiences. I told her I'd have a blog that she could stalk...so here it is...don't get too excited though! I know that Deanna's #1 passion is for God and that's where we have an instant bond. She's a sister in Christ...it's amazing how God can use the internet for His purposes. May He use this blog in whatever way brings him fame and glory!