Wednesday, October 18, 2006

You Not Obeying

This morning Kynzie and I were brushing our teeth, and she said "leave the water on, Okay Mommy?" She waited a minute, and said "Mommy, say 'okay Kynzie'." She waited another minute and repeated her instructions. I was brushing my teeth and tyring to keep a straight face. Finally, she said "Mommy, you not obeying."

Isn't that one of the key signs that they have mastered a concept, when they are able to 'teach' it back to you!?

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right

Two days ago, our little Kynzie FINALLY went down the stairs on her own! She would go up the stairs by herself, she would go down stairs at other peoples' home, and we even got her to go down our (very steep) stairs if we would "start" her out on the first few steps. But, finally, something clicked.

Daddy told her to go down backwards like a puppy dog, and it just made sense to her somehow. (I am not sure how since our dog does not go down stairs backwards...) So she made a little yapping sound (her sweet voice is too little to make an actual "bark"-ing sound) and made her way down the stairs, from top to bottom, all by herself.

She was so proud and so excited! She wanted to go up and down over and over. One parent was upstairs and one parent was downstairs, so she would say "I have to go tell Mommy someping." And off she'd go. Then, "I have to go tell Daddy someping." And off she'd go. It was so cute.

Then we decided that this coming and going at will wouldn't work on an on-going basis, and in our parental wisdom, decided we needed a rule about the stairs. So, after the newness wore off a bit, we explained that she is not to go down the stairs without asking Mommy or Daddy first. (She already is supposed to ask to go up the stairs.)

So yesterday, I was sitting in the living room nursing the baby, when Kynzie decided to head downstairs. I reminded her that she needed to ask (since it is a new rule and all, reminders are good for a little while) permission first. So she stopped and looked at me and said, "Mommy, may I go downstairs please?" It was so sweet, but I had to say no, not until Mommy is ready to go downstairs with you.

She laid down on the floor near the top of the stairs, and I thought she was just going to wait there for me, but then she said "Hi, Jesus, Mommy won't let me go downstairs..." She continued to talk to Jesus for a bit, then I asked her if she was praying (because she breaks into spontaneous prayer often). She said "No, I just saying Hi, Jesus, Mommy won't let me go downstairs."

It was so sweet and so natural for her. I asked her if she was just talking to Jesus, and she said "Yeah!" like she had been waiting for me to 'get it' all along.

Friday, August 25, 2006

13 Thursday... Well, I missed it

So, how about 14 Friday for me.

Have you heard about this thing among bloggers, I guess? Write 13 things about yourself or about some other topic relating to you on your blog on Thursday... I think.

But I am a day late with that... so here are my 14 facts on Friday.

1. I am married to a wonderful man; mother to 3 wonderful children, and I love being a wife and mommy. (I guess that might be more than one?)
2. I am pretty new to blogging.
3. My favorite colors are green and purple.
4. I am excited about this new school year; we are homeschooling for the second year!
5. We're having Peppy Pasta Pizza for dinner tonight.
6. Our dog's name is Rosco.
7. There was a huge, icky spider in my bathroom this morning; I still haven't brushed my teeth yet.
8. I am learning new (to me) gardening methods - Lasagna gardening & Square Foot Gardening.
9. I gave my heart to Jesus at age 7, but still learning what that means at age 30-something.
10. Just recently closed my eBay store.
11. I have to go run some errands for a meeting tonight.
12. We are having a garage sale in two weeks, or less. (What is today?)
13. We are blessed to have so many family members that live nearby.
14. We have awesome friends from church that we really enjoy hanging out with.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Oven Mitt vs Puppet

Tonight I needed to get a casserole out of the oven for dinner, and realized that some of my oven mitts were missing from the kitchen. Delainey said Kynzie took them to her room.

So I asked Kynzie if she had taken my oven mitts to her room. She said "No, I not take ores oven mitts."

I went back to the kitchen and grabbed an oven mitt and asked her if she had taken any of these (showing her the mitt). She said "Oh, yeah!"

I asked her to go to her room and bring them to Mommy because I needed them in the kitchen, not totally sure that I would ever see them again.

Within a minute, she appeared in the kitchen doorway with an oven mitt on her hand, and said "Here's ores puppet, Mommy!"

I should have known what to ask for in the first place!

Dear God, Please Get My Snowman Back

I have to tell this story that my husband told me. I was away at a ladies meeting the other night, and he was home with the two girls (I took the baby with me). Delainey and Kynzie and Daddy were playing their usual chase-around-the-house-while-mom-is-gone game.

Kynzie had her big, floppy stuffed snowman, and Delainey playfully took it from her to run with it. K started off to chase her, but then stopped. She began to pray instead. "Dear God, please get my snowman back..."

Daddy and D just stopped and looked at each other. This was a first! What do you do after that? Well, of course, D gave the snowman back!

It is amazing what these little kiddos come up with all on their own!

Gardening and Canning

I did my first batch of canned apples a couple of days ago! Actually, it was the first time I have canned anything on my own. Well, Kynzie helped wash the apples and "dry" them, and Delainey helped run the various stations at the stove from time to time. I only did water-bath canning. I really enjoyed it. Hopefully, next year we will have more of a garden and I will be able to can more.

I am going to learn how to do some Lasagna Gardening. My mom is going to give me a crash course. My mom is crazy over gardening; she said she loves to play in the dirt! She is also raising red wigglers this year to help get good humus (I think) for her garden. I don't think I am quite to that level yet, but maybe someday. (By the way, Lasagna gardening does not mean we will only grow things for making lasagna... it is a method of layering different organic materials in a way to grow your garden.)

I think my husband is a little bit of a closet gardener. He wasn't very interested when I mentioned it a year or two ago. But this year he has been the (almost) sole caretaker of our tomato plant (only one survived the heat and me). I do not have a 'green thumb'. But I am going to learn!

We are learning about Square Foot Gardening as well. My husband is a little excited about a garden next year, I think. I am too. Bug has even gotten in on the planning.

Monday, August 21, 2006

See, He Really Did Have More Hair


Here is the newest edition to the family. He really did have more hair when he was littler. He has lost so much hair and sports the now-famous Max Mohawk. (This picture is when he had more of his hair.)

Our digital camera is starting to go out on us. It is only a couple years old. It isn't the greatest, but it wasn't the cheapest camera either. It is a bummer because we haven't been taking as many pictures lately since it is a pain to use.

My dream is to one day have the digital camera my brother has... or my sister in law (not my brother's wife). They both have these high dollar, high performance digital cameras. And, as a result, they are both picture-taking fools! (You aren't really fools!) That would be fun, I think. Posted by Picasa

Digital Scrapbooking with Scrapbook Max!

Here is a picture of the first digital scrapbook page I completed. I think I would enjoy digital scrapbooking. I just did the free trial version of ScrapbookMax!. It was so much fun. And time-consuming. But I don't think it was quite as time-consuming as paper scrapping. I am just not very creative when it comes to scrapbooking and the like. But is sure is fun!
Posted by Picasa

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Always late at night... Problems Loading Photos

This is my first attempt at posting pictures... I always wait till late at night to this kind of thing! Late for me anyway. This is also the first time to try Blogger and Picasa. Already one of my pictures disappeared, but it is too late for me to try to figure it out right now.

This photo is my first attempt at digital scrapbooking. It was done with a trial version of ScrapbookMax.com. That is why it has the little bar running across the bottom...

Okay, now both my pictures have disappeared. They said this would be easy. Well, maybe I'll try again tomorrow night!