Just Drive it Home

We haven't even had the van 24 hours, and the fun with it has already begun.

Here's our first adventure. Matt needed to run into the office to make a few phone calls. It wasn't going to take very long, so of course I jumped on the opportunity to take the van for a spin! We didn't go to church this morning because Zoe still had a very slight discharge and the doctor said her pinkeye was contagious until the morning she woke up clear (or 3rd day of drops, which will be tomorrow). I wanted to get out of the house! Besides, the low fuel light just came on, and we could fill it up after his quick task. Did I mention my eagerness to take any opportunity to drive the new van?

We sat in the car and waited for not more than 20 minutes for him to finish. I spent that time doing the floor mat jigsaw puzzle. I didn't even unbuckle the kids, just opened both doors to allow a gorgeous breeze flow through while they read their books.

When Matt rejoined us, it was a complete shock that all we heard was rapid-fire clicking coming from the starter as we prepared to leave. Not the noises you want to hear when you turn the key of your "new" car.

Assuming the owner's manual would help, we read that you should depress the brake pedal and turn to position III on the ignition, waiting no fewer than 10 seconds between tries to start. If this didn't work, the helpful manual suggested something was wrong, and we should call a tow. (Thanks, Honda!).

It didn't work, and we had to assume the car's fuel level was too low. Matt made a quick trip over to the PX/gas station (about 1/3 mile away) to get a can and some gas. I let the kids crawl around the van to occupy themselves. You know those cute pictures in the previous post pointing out how Ian and Zoe have enjoyed the van so far? Yep. Those were taken while we were waiting. It was a cute & fun time.

Look, here's Mommy trying to get a nice picture of her and the van for all the nice folks in cyberspace!

Matt returned, slightly frustrated, and tried to put gas in the van. All I heard was grumpy noises, since the can wasn't functioning properly and spilled gas all over the asphalt. Ian began his line of repetitive questioning about this time too.

I: "Mom. Why isn't the car going? I'm ready to go home. Just drive it home."

M: "Me too. Daddy's putting gas in it, and we'll try it again."

I: "Is it broken?"

M: "No, it just needs gas. Remember, gas is car food. It needs food to go."

I: "It's hungry?"

M: "Yes, Daddy is trying to feed it, or put gas in it."

I: "Oh. Ok. Why isn't the car going? I'm ready to go home..."

After finally getting enough in the tank, we buckled the kids up and tried again. Here we go! Click-click-click-click-click. Nada. [Insert sounds of frustration here, and gas can hitting the ground].

At this point, I had tried making calls to a few friends. The next culprit was presumably the battery, and a jump would be a good next step. No innocent bystanders in view. Unfortunately, most people we knew were in church, or farther away than the second option.

I wish I had a picture of the light bulb going off in Matt's head, or the smirk on his face as he rolled his bike back from the office.

Wait. I have been given a different narrative for this portion of the story. Ahem...

The sun glinted brightly off the steed's bike's frame as our knight in shining armor's handsome stud in the Dr. Pepper jersey rode into view. With a nod of his head, he graciously turned to wish us well as he embarked on his quest ride to save the stranded damsel in distress desperate pregnant woman who now endured the vexed cries of the monsters children about to strike.

So, aren't you glad I got the bike now?" he asked. YES. (Look, I'm so thankful, I even put it in writing!). For goodness sake, how long is this going to take you? I hope you've been riding that bike a LOT and have a really, REALLY fast speed!

It took him 15 minutes to bike home, and 10 more to ride back and pick us up in the car. When he returned, I was about to start pulling my hair out.

Eventually, we ended up with a new battery in the van. It works just fine now. I'm thankful for a friend's husband that gave us the sounding board for figuring out the problem! And, I'm hopeful that our next adventure of this nature will not be for quite some time.

As it stands, I think all the electronics in the van were perhaps overused while the car was off. We'll be a little more conscientious about this in the future. Perhaps also being shown to people on the lot had already put the battery in need of a good charge. Maybe we don't live far enough away from anything to let the alternator do its work? Anyway, I think we'll be good for a while.

There was some other fun later on today. I learned that the van's navigation controls can be voice operated. Which is a phenomenal feature (if you don't have preschoolers). So, I was yelling, "GO HOME!" to the microphone, trying to get it to register while the kids chattered in the back.

Ian suddenly was quiet while I tried a few more voice commands. It actually does work even with background noises when you actually follow directions. But, I continued yelling at it. When at first you don't succeed, keep trying the same thing over and over again, right? Then I sat and began flipping through the manual again.

Ian then informed me, "Mom. The car doesn't like you yelling at it. Just drive it home. We can go." :)

Growing...and Preparing to Grow!

The last few months have heralded a lot of growth in our family.

We grew in number, as Carrie joined us for a little while to live with us. (And now is embarking on her journey afresh! We are so excited for what God is doing in her life!). And even though circumstances weren't the most ideal, we miss her already and are so glad we got to spend so much quality time with her! :)

Sometimes growth causes downsizes, too. I parted ways with many pieces of baby girl clothing, as we continue to pray about God's plans for our family. Above anything else is the realization that baby brother won't need anything pink, and I can't keep toting around every single piece of clothing that we've used for the past 3 1/2 years! (I did spare just one bin of favorites, you never know!)...

There's all sorts of growing happening with Zoe and Ian as they develop skills to do new things. Even knowing that children must grow, why does it come as such a surprise when they do so?

All of this growing has us looking towards the next few months...when our family will be experiencing the biggest kind of growth there is...the addition of another life! There are only 10 weeks tops (countdown to 42 weeks), until little brother will be here!

There are many preparations still taking shape in the meantime. For example, getting little bitsy cloth diapers! (Month by month I've ordered one or two to build up a stash). I can't wait to see how cute he's going to look in them...and to total up our savings!

Of course, I have monthly goals for January (that are nearing completion), and February (which I am more excited to begin!), but I won't bore you with those details!

Instead, I'll skip ahead to what everyone has been waiting for...one of the BIG preparations for our growing family: the minivan!

I have researched prices for months, tried to absorb all I can about the car-buying process, and literally prayed for someone to appear and volunteer to find a van for us! We have known for some time that we wanted a Honda Odyssey, and you would think that alone would make the search easier. As much as I looked forward to all the good things a bigger vehicle would bring, I literally dreaded going to the car lot.

But, God proved yet again He cares about every detail of our lives. I can't imagine how a buying process could progress any more smoothly than it did. We brought the stock number of a great deal we found on a specific vehicle, and left with a BETTER one for even less.

She's a 2008, with more bells and whistles than I even imagined we'd get for the price...

I can't believe how blessed we are to have the means to get a vehicle with enough space to fit everyone and everything!

We brought the kids with us to purchase (had to, they were fighting off a bug!), and they were amazing. Later that night, we celebrated by watching a quick movie in the van. I really didn't want a built-in entertainment center (just one more thing to break), but it actually didn't end up costing extra. It will be nice for the rare treat we'll use it!

What do the kids think besides how cool the built-in DVD player is? Zoe planted herself in the drivers seat. And after it met her approval, moved on to buckling and unbuckling car seats. Zoe is definitely a details-oriented kind of gal.

Ian engaged in what I would consider typical kid-checking-out-a-van-for-the-first-time behavior. He crawled over every seat, attempted to run from one side to the other, and enjoyed playing hide and seek in what must seem a cavernous expanse of vehicle to his small frame.

Matt has claimed the van as his...which is amusing, since he'll hardly be driving it. But if you know him, you know that even before children he would have driven a minivan. He thinks they are cool, and I daresay has been looking forward to this moment even more than I have.

Which brings me to me. "A van? Really? A van!?" I've been asked. To be honest I don't really have an ultimate dream vehicle. The time that I drove it, the Focus was my dream vehicle. It had everything I needed! It's a standard transmission, that can turn almost literally on a dime. My foot is still seeking the clutch pedal. It was a perfect, zippy little car! It got us from point A to point B. It gave us a few problems in the first month we had it, but has very happily earned nearly 100,000 miles in 6 years.

Now I find myself in my new dream vehicle. It hasn't become that dream vehicle because of all the features that I didn't even envision having. (Or the fact that I don't have to bend over to get them in car seats, or risk smacking a nice dent into the neighboring vehicle as I load up). It certainly isn't a dream for the nightmare I can imagine it will be to clean. Seriously, is it even possible to make one more nook or cranny for something to fall into? They do realize kids are probably going to be in there, right?!

This 2008 Honda Odyssey is my dream vehicle because our family is growing perfectly into it. I'll be that mom, driving my 3 kids around in my Oreo Speedwagon blasting kids songs, trying to drown out their screaming...and enjoying every moment of growth God has given us.

...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus... -Philip. 1:6

That's the best promise of growth. He won't stop growing me until He's finished with me. I look forward with eagerness to all of the growth we have yet to experience as a family. :)

This is Love

There are not too many days of football left, and I seized the opportunity to dress the kids up in their matching jerseys. If you know me & my football preferences, you know that truly, this is love. :)

From 01.2011 - MISC

Resolutions: More than I Expected

What does the following list of items have in common?

-Cheerios
-Spoon
-Piece of donut
-Missing page from Cinderella
-4 loose socks (none matching)
-Half of a pretzel stick
-Empty tissue box
-11 cents

I found all of these things (and I'm embarrassed to say a few more) in the car!

Keeping an immaculate vehicle was ingrained in me by my Dad. Although I have never quite been able to keep up with his showroom standards, I've been really close most of the time...until we had kids! Now, in the rush of way too many road trips and hustling from here to there, I've gradually reached a point of embarrassment with the vehicle. I admit I half gave up on keeping it as clean. What's the point if it will just get dirty again? And that's not even factoring in the amount of effort it takes to keep the kids occupied while I clean it!

For the last 4 months, I have resolved to not make any more excuses. I told myself there's only so long I can keep telling people, "PLEASE IGNORE HOW NASTY MY CAR IS!!! I really try to keep the car clean!" without actually doing as much as I could about it. Mentally, I would have to admit that it really didn't matter to me as much as I said it did, OR I would have to change my priorities to match my goals. Part of the big picture...trying to be less of a hypocrite in ALL my ways. :)

Considering that it really does bother me that much, I have done very well with changing my actions! Four months ago, I started with a clean slate. We paid (probably way too much) to have the car completely detailed. And, every passing month the "cleaning out the car time" has gotten closer and closer together! I am building better habits of cleaning messes right when they happen instead of putting it off for the next free moment (which tends to fill quickly with something else).

I'm sharing this because I know some moms that might need the encouragement...you CAN do it! Even the littlest efforts add up. But if you're at a point that I have been (and really was not ready to prioritize yet), I'm not judging you! There are definitely more important things in life!

Anyway, first beautiful day in some time, and I decided to pull out the car seats and wash them, clean/condition the leather, and in general do the "big clean" on the car again! This might be the last time I go to this level of cleaning before the baby arrives...especially considering I just won't be able to maneuver in the car as much anymore AND I plan on keeping it EXTREMELY CLEAN until then! :)

As I'm cleaning, Zoe is napping, and Ian is amusing himself in the yard. This involves running around in circles, narrating every movement, and having dialogues with imaginary friends and toys. Have I mentioned that Ian self-entertains better than almost any child I know?!

So, I get in the "groove" and am peripherally aware of where Ian is and what he's doing. Turns out, I don't give him enough credit for the skills he is developing.



Yes, that's the hose faucet. I stand up to stretch and realize he is standing in the middle of the yard, soaking wet...



After running inside to get my camera (aren't I hopeless?), I walked over and asked, "Ian what are you doing?" He smiles up at me and informs me, "I'm washing the dirty off the grass, Mom, for you!"



Now it's a beautiful day in comparison of the current weather, but it's still barely hitting 60 degrees. The water is freezing. And, he's drenched! "Ian, would you like to change your clothes? You're all wet!" He shook his head, "No, Mom, I'm ok, I'm just going to finish cleaning first. And, I'm going to water the plants."

Ok, why not? He's happy!

I called my friend Anna, and fill her in on Ian's antics while cleaning some more. Next thing I know, Ian is asking me to drag the pool into the front yard so he can fill it up. Why not? Anna warns me he's going to end up in the pool. "Nah, I think he just wants to watch the water running out of the house, because he's been filling the watering can and stuff."

The blue plastic pool stands out brightly against the browning grass of winter, and Ian happily stares mesmerized at the running water. I smile and continue cleaning and talking with Anna.

Ian finds a rubber duck and tosses it into the pool. I laugh and share with my friend on the phone who again warns, "I know he's going to end up in the pool!" I laugh again and insist it's much too cold and now he just wants to throw something in there.

After a few more words, I hang up the phone and turn back to Ian.

"Ian, why are you in the pool?! Isn't it cold?!" I'm finding it hard to keep a straight face!

"Mom, my duck was in the pool, I had to go get it. I'm not cold!" he tells me with absolute glee.

And the best part of it all, the middle school bus drops off the kids right at our corner, and half a dozen kids are laughing and pointing happily, "Look at that cute little kid in the pool!"

Ian smiles and waves back, "Hey guys! Want to go swimming with me?"

These are the details I don't want to miss...and who knew that resolving to have a cleaner car would provide the perfect opportunity for such a fun memory? I love the blessing that comes with applying myself to something I thought would be purely more effort on my part and getting more than I ever expected! And P.S., yes Anna, you were right! :)

The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. -Proverbs 10:22 (NIV)

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Matt's 33rd birthday was a great reason to celebrate! Even though he had to work in the morning, it gave us ample opportunity to plan some fun surprises for his special day. Well...sort of surprises. More on that in a moment!

We started out by baking Matt's favorite cake! I have to share that this is the first year I have remembered correctly. In the past, I have "remembered" German chocolate, yellow cake, sprinkle cake...anything but his favorite: a combination of lemon/chocolate. So either, lemon cake and chocolate icing or vice versa. Ian was very eager to help and wear his Christmas present!

Ian can read the directions on the box now and gather all the ingredients. He's really quite helpful!



Zoe helped with the cake process by snacking and supervising. She was very animated in her observation, making comments and telling us what to do. When we poured the cake into the pan, she applauded our efforts with a hearty, "YAAAAAAY! You did it!"


Next, we flipped over some wrapping paper and made a banner. I love how Ian colors in whole words at a time.


Zoe insists on using pens for everything. And, she will often color with two hands. She's pretty much ambidextrous at this phase, but does show a slight preference for the right hand.


They really wanted the balloons. We are giving balloons a break, though!


Next, we made birthday cards. Ian had already picked out a very appropriate Garfield one at the PX. It said on the outside, "Aging is mandatory," and on the inside, "Maturity is optional." How does he know what is so fitting when he can't read?! Anyway, the handmade cards were on pieces of random foam I had saved from Ian's birthday. I pencilled in letters to spell out the message on the card, and Ian picked and matched up the stick-on foam letters to create the greeting.


I pulled out all the letters to spell, "Happy birthday," for Zoe, and figured her card would be sort of a search & find. In reality, she put all the letter stickers on the card, peeled them off, and ripped them to pieces, handing me back the blank foam card saying, "Happy!" So, I tried again, and gave here the letters for simply, "Happy." She carefully placed all of them.


Later on, they helped place candles and sprinkles on the cake. Ian wanted to dump the whole pile in one place.


Zoe helped decorate too. In her usual supervisory mode, she insured that the quality of the sprinkles was up to par.


After we had completed icing the cake, Ian announced he wanted to call Daddy. How did I not see what was coming? (The following conversation was completely unprompted. I simply dialed and handed the phone over on speakerphone).

Ian: "Hi Daddy! Happy birthday!"
Daddy: "Oh, thank you, Ian! You remembered!"
Ian: "Yes I did. And, I made you a birthday cake with sprinkles on it. And a sign and a card."
Daddy: "Wow, Ian! That's great! Thank you!"
Ian: "You're welcome, it's a surprise. Love you, Daddy. Bye!"

Zoe requested the phone next.

Daddy: "Hello? Zoe are you there?"
Zoe: "Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!"
Daddy: "Hi, sweetheart! How are you?"
Zoe: "Happy! Happy! Happy, Daddy!"
Daddy: "Thank you, Zoe."
Zoe: "Eat cake. Yum yum."
(Daddy didn't hear this clearly).
Daddy: "What?"
Zoe: "Bye, Daddy! Cake!"

They crack me up. Maybe next time we are planning surprises, we'll postpone a phone call. Or, make the phone call first?!

When Matt came home, the kids were a flurry of excitement. After all, Daddy's arrival meant most importantly that it was time for cake.


Then, we showered him with all of our "surprises."






Wait. Wasn't that super-de-awesome triathlon transition backpack an actual surprise?! Didn't I actually have Matt fooled into thinking that he was getting running shoes or biking shorts? That was before the day known as the-last-day-of-having-to-keep-a-surprise-before-his-birthday-arrived.

Allow me to explain. Two days before his birthday, Matt's present arrived in the mail. I opened the present right away, eager to see how neat my surprise was! Ian stood by too, quietly observing. I thought nothing of this. I unzipped all the pockets, I smiled, I packed it back in the box, and was proud of my handiwork. What an amazing surprise! I turned and Ian announced, "Oh! I like Daddy's birthday present!" Did I even tell him it was Matt's present? NO! But I immediately realized that a 3 1/2 year old is definitely NOT capable of containing a surprise. What were my best odds here? Trying to downplay the situation...and only acknowledging with a brief, "Yep." I figured the more I talked about it, the more it would be etched in his mind. I also figured if I told him NOT to tell Matt, he would do so even more readily.

Fast forward to that last night before the birthday. We had made it through two WHOLE days with no leaks. I had forgotten that it was even a possibility Ian would say something. Unbeknownst to me, while Matt was dressing Ian, he stopped his jabbering about clothes and toys to say, "Daddy, we got you a backpack for your birthday." That is all.

It was still a wonderful family time of celebration. Matt didn't know which triathlon backpack he was getting, after all. I'm sure more details will be remembered and transmitted next year. I'm going to develop additional covert birthday present ops.

So glad we got to celebrate with Daddy on this special day. Every year that passes truly is better and better. Happy birthday, Matt! :)

Home Church

So, we've been sick, and traveling, and for one reason or another have missed church for several weeks now. When I say miss, I don't just mean that we physically weren't there...I have really MISSED church!! It's been wonderful to be in the company of the Godly people at Tidal Creek and hear the pastor teach the Word.

Most of the time when we have to miss church for some reason, Matt and I will listen to a CD sermon and do quiet activities with the kids in the room. It's kind of our "home church." With Matt out of town, I ended up listening through the computer, and brainstorming activities to do with the kids.

I have to say, I was kind of stuck. I guess I had a brain block of some sort today. I had no idea what to do with the kids except a coloring sheet & reading the Bible story (LAME). So, I turned to a book getting dusty on my shelf, Tippy Towers and Boo Blankets. Our daily readings had us at Moses being hidden among the reeds, and the book helped me brainstorm some great ideas! These weren't even in the book, but sometimes just reading other connections between simple activities and Bible stories helps get the creative juices flowing.

First, we played "Sink or Float." I grabbed a wide variety of toys and items to put in two mixing bowls of water. We talked about how Moses' basket floated on the water...and how some things will sink and some will float. Ian enjoyed making predictions about which items would sink...his guess for everything. It cracked me up to watch his absolute glee and surprise that something would float in the water after he said it would sink! Zoe got into it more than I expected, too. She started clapping every time something sank to the bottom. We made piles and sorted which were floaters, and which were sinkers. We tried stacking as many objects as possible into a cup to see how heavy we had to make it before it would sink...and on and on...

Later in the afternoon, they were getting restless, and I looked for another idea. Our next game was "Baby Moses in Hiding." Since the idea was to hide Moses from Pharaoh's command to get rid of all the Israelite males, I thought why not just hide a baby doll? This was an absolute hit! Of course, I had to keep sending Ian back around the corner into the kitchen because he started peeking to see where I was hiding "Baby Moses."

The difference between the two of them was amusing. I hid a different baby for each of them, so there would be equal opportunity. Ian would walk a circle track in the middle of the room looking up and down, saying, "Where is baby Moses? I can't find him." Zoe scampered over to every blanket, box, and toy, turning them over theatrically and announcing, "I find baby. I find baby." They shared the same huge smiles of accomplishment when they found the baby, though!

It was so much fun to do these simple and fun activities...with things I already had laying around the house! I really like manipulatives and gadgets designed for educational learning, but today was yet another reminder that there's no need for anything extra or prepared to learn and have fun. Yes, another one of those lessons that I will never tire of learning.

And, I still missed church, but sure did have fun at home church today. :)

The Abridged Version

So, I have so much to write about, I'll be honest with myself and realize I just won't be able to recap it all! So here's the super-duper-abridged version of our happenings the past few weeks!

Our family has grown by another member! Carrie is staying with us for a little while as things get sorted out for her. Sera is enjoying the company especially. It's fun having another adult around to make conversation...and talk about things other than toys and toddler drama. The reality that our family of 4 will soon be a family of 6 is sinking in quickly. We need more chairs for the kitchen table! :)

After getting Carrie settled in, we had a wonderful trip to Florida, visiting parts of my family that I haven't seen in a LONG time! They spoiled us absolutely rotten. The kids had a great time, too. We visited the Science Center, saw some amazing gingerbread houses, rode a train, and got stuck in the sand at the beach! (Very briefly...but what a fun memory!).

Home for one day, we re-packed the gang and headed to Georgia for Christmas. Staying for just a day, we left just in time to miss the big snowstorm, but caught a few flurries on the way out.

Once home, I have battled one of the worst bouts of sickness in my memory. To shorten the whole mess, I ended up in the E.R. with I.V. antibiotics and finally made a turn around. I'm so thankful to say the worst is behind me! Now, I feel a little congested, but it's hardly worth mentioning in comparison to where I was! Praise God for healing!! The kids are now at the tail end of the battle I hope...I'm very eager to bid the germs farewell from this house!

Greeting the New Year is something I usually feel more prepared in doing. I admit, I'm a little caught off guard!

I started to write that I have a lot of catching-up to do, but I'm realizing the power of those words. Really, it's not catching-up with anything. I'm actually starting each day afresh and dedicating myself 100% to the task at hand. You can never "catch up" with lost time and lost to do lists. The important thing I have to focus on now is January 2011.

2011. I'm so blessed to have been given the breaths to greet another year. I look forward to all it will bring.