Interview with the Nine-Year-Old

Our boy is nine today!  We had a little party for him on Saturday with a few friends from our new and old towns.  Hopefully I'll share some pictures soon…it was super fun!  The party had a Lego Chima theme (but mostly Lego) as you can see here.  We are wearing our Lego name tags that we, and all the kids, made at the party.  Big thanks to everyone who has made, and still is making, his birthday special.  We love you so much, Jonathan!

Here are some little glimpses into his world at nine - and not too many surprises, if any:

Favorite color:  Red
Favorite food:  Macaroni & Cheese, or Lego pizza that we made at his party
Favorite book:  Redwall #1
Favorite movie:  Planes
Favorite song:  Chima theme song
Favorite thing to play:  Legos
When he grows up, he wants to be:  Lego model designer or master builder or an engineer
His perfect day would be:  Going to Legofest and playing there all day

Shout Out to Ben and Christin

This one's for Christin, since I know she reads my blog.  :)  Christin, I meant to take and post this weeks ago, but obviously I'm behind!

Christin and her husband Ben had a new baby this fall - their first - and boy, were we excited!  When I was getting ready to mail the card to them, Grace had to get in on the action and draw a picture for Baby Ellie.  If you haven't spoken four-year-old lately, I'll translate for you.  The picture is full of hearts and kittens, as well as a butterfly and a ladybug, and it says, "Baby Ellie, meow meow, lady bug."  She thought the baby would like it.  Big hugs to your family, Ben and Christin!

Nine years ago

I get really sappy at this time of year, partly because of the Christmas season, but partly because it's when we became parents and had both of our boys.  Instead of being productive and getting ready for Jonathan's party this afternoon, I got distracted and started looking through some pictures from December 2004.  These are the last ones we took before Jonathan was born.  The pictures are from December 3, right before Jeff's Christmas party for work, and Jonathan was born December 10.  I miss his little nursery with the animals I painted to match his bumper pads.  It seems like a long time ago.

That's My Boy

Rereading my Chronicles of Narnia treasury…again.  I hope he never gets tired of it.  I never have!

And This Gem's from Jonathan

Jonathan's most recent visit to the orthodontist included one of those stretchy rubber chain things across his top brackets.  It's there, of course, to bring his top teeth together and close the gap between them.  Tonight I noticed that the significant gap between his teeth was closed!  He looks very handsome.  When I told him the good news, he went to look in the mirror, and exclaimed in a disappointed voice, "Awwww!  No more Mater teeth!"

Another Gem from Benjamin

B:  Mama, will you read to me?
Me:  First, you need a fresh diaper.
B:  I suppose I'll take zat as a "no!"

Thankful

This is what Jeff and I are most thankful for.

Even though I have so many things to be thankful for…so many good things…I hope I can just be thankful in general, knowing that God's promise in Jeremiah 29:11 is true - that he has plans not to harm me, but to give me a hope and a future.  I can be thankful for that.  Because if God is planning something, I can know that it's a sure thing.  My thoughts are all running together as I'm writing this while very tired.  But, I am thankful as we approach Thanksgiving Day…and I hope it's a very special day for you and yours.

Backyard Pictures

I think I promised, a long time ago, to share pictures of where we live now.  The pictures have been a long time coming.  The other day, we got a little rain, and while the rain brought leaves down and made the yard a little messy, they brought the colors out, too, so I decided to share pictures.

Our backyard is small, but our kids love the fact that we have the pool.  (The pool scares me and I am super uptight about keeping the fence latched.  We fenced the pool right before we moved in.)

It gives us something fun to offer friends, and I'm thankful for that.

There's just a bit of grass next to the pool.

The footprint of our house has a little cut-out place that we use for an outdoor dining spot.  We use it a lot in the summer.

Here's a little garden spot that we haven't made into a garden yet.

We can see our outdoor table from our indoor table.

 Jeff spent a ton of time yesterday cleaning the front and backyard, raking and collecting leaves, etc.  It looked (and looks) great!  Today, though, lots more leaves had fallen and he was irritated that his work hadn't lasted long.  I told him that's how my hard work in the house was rewarded every single day.  I might possibly have used more words than that to explain myself.  He did a great job, though, and I appreciated him taking care of those details.  Now I need to go work on the inside of our house.

Gems from Benjamin

Benjamin is at that wonderful stage when funny things come out of his mouth all the time.  Here are just a few of the things he has said lately that have brought a smile to my face.

"Mama, wook at the beauuuutiful sunset God is painting!"

I pointed out to him that he and I were wearing stripes, and he told me that "Gwacie" was wearing
"poke-it dots."

"Don't touch my belly button, it's 'pivate.'"

He made a pretend telescope out of a tube and called it an "eye looker-outer."

And, he doesn't have braces like Jonathan, but he said, "Mama, I have peanut butter in my wires!"

Manifesto

We were listening to the radio in our superfast minivan, and Benjamin asked, as he always does, "What's that song called?"  I told him that it was called Manifesto.  Grace said, "Mama, instead of 'Manifesto,' I like 'Princess Presto' better."